Sunday, October 3, 2010

You Baby Can Read Month 6...

We have done it.. We have completed 6 months of using this program with my 4 year old twin boys who happen to have both PDD-Autism and Down Syndrome.  Who only communicate via sign language and who have a busier schedule than almost every child that I know.  We endured a fractured femur and a SPICA cast for 8 weeks, learning and gaining strength to walk again finally after having the cast off for 5 weeks now, transitioning back to preschool and starting speech therapy with a new rehabilitation facility.  Its been a little tough to get the time and energy needed to dedicate to doing volume 4 with the boys.  We did, progress has been made again, and we are so VERY HAPPY to have been given the chance to try this out on our boys.  They amaze me, they amaze those that we show them off to, they amaze themselves I think :)

Volume 4, however, has proven to be more difficult for the twins.  Not because of the vocabulary words introduced, but the speed at which the words flash across the screen.  I presume they are able to read them, but they can in no way sign them fast enough to communicate them to us.  When shown the words, they can sign them one at a time, but when shown three words, they will only sign one of them.  This is another hurdle we face with them being non-verbal.  They know well over 250 to 300 signs, but they still don't put them together in sentence form at all.  I will continue to use volume 4 with them for another month. 

Just for fun, both boys LOVE for me to write words on the magna doodle.  They love to show off.  They love to learn new words. My husband Tom has even written words down that are not on the flashcards, books, or video and they have signed it right.  We were amazed!!!! I think because they watch Signing Times videos as well... these videos teach children to sign with animation, music and sign language BUT they also have the written word on the screen.  I believe the boys are learning those words as well now. 

I am totally happy with this program.  I would totally recommend the program to anyone on the fence about starting it.  I plan on continuing with the program and beyond.  I thank Dr. Robert Titzer, Ph.D. for coming up with a program that teaches children who are very visual learners to succeed in their reading journey.

1 comment:

Anna said...

been reading blogs from "unringing the bell " list. Ive been wondering about this reading program for our little one. When do the signing time videos start putting the word on the screen too? do you mean in between signs?
We recently adopted lil G , she will be five soon and had no spoken language, shes learned all the signs of the first three Dvds in just 4 months, I am trying to decide which videos to get next and thinking about making photo flashcards with the words on it for the signs we know.