Welcome wendyb5267 and ayusmom/Laura! 
Welcome Wendy and Laura! So happy to have you here and it is exciting to hear of the little onesâ progress! Wendy, it seems you are doing great, even just a few activities through out the day go a long ways! Have you tried Little Reader trial yet? You can even print out the flash cards straight from there and use them in different setting throughout the day, or put sights around the house with names of different objects, etc. Yes, there are a lot of information out there, and it is easy to get overwhelmed. Try to not feel like you need to do it all. Just have fun with your girl and give her opportunities to explore and try new things. Reading together, naming things around the house, playing simple games. It does not have to be complicated to be fun and educational, and it looks like you are doing it all just great!
Laura, my boy is about the age of your girl ( tiny bit younger), isnât it such an exiting age?! Please share your progress with us, we are so happy to have you here!
Hi,
My son was born with down syndrome. We had a surprise diagnosis. No markers in pregnancy. He is 14 months old now. I came to know about brill kids when he was 7 months old and downloaded some flash player files and flash cards and I showed him for a short time but then forgot about it. I really want to work with him seriously. When I was pregnant, I had so many dreams. I will try to make sure my dreams come true. He should have a bright future and should live independently on his own. That is my biggest dream.
Hi, Ash! For each of our dreams there is at least one way to make it come true :yes:
Iâm sure you have all it takes to do it. Our dreams can always be true, we just have to be flexible and open-minded because the same dream has many ways of expressing itself in real life.
Best wishes!
Welcome! 
Hello, all! My youngest child is Down Syndrome, and he is now 8 years old. I heard about this program today and have spent the last few hours checking it out to see if it will help my little blessing learn reading and math. He is reading some and he knows some numbers, but not anywhere near his capability. Since this program was really created for babies, I wondered if anyone had testimonies about how it helped their special needs children, also. I am doing the free trial download to see if it will be helpful in our situation. Responses are appreciated!
Welcome!
Although BrillKids is created for babies & young children, I think it would be great for any child that you want to teach to read with sight words who is not yet reading.
Often, kids with DS donât have as long of a working memory, so sight reading is best until their memory reaches a digit span of about 5 or 6.
If you want to see how well the program works, check out my blog which i in my siggy. I talk a lOT about BrillKids, early reading, & even have a bunch of videos of my dd reading from ages 2 to 3.5.
My daughter who also has DS is reading at a 2nd grade level at age 4.
Hi All
Just wanted to introduce myself. I have 3 children, my youngest has Down Syndrome, diagnosed at birth and is now 5 years old. I also have 2 more children of 12 and 9. I home school my older 2 and Gianna has never been to nursery or anything like that and we are just starting to do some reading learning. I signed up for the BrillKids free trial to see how we get on with it. By the way we live in the UK.
Best wishes and happy reading to you all.
Elvina
Hi there! We have 5 kiddos- the youngest two both have Down Syndrome. Our only guy, Charlie, is just over 2, and Celia is 9 months. I cannot wait to start BrillKids with them more consistently. We have had a full couple of years with open heart surgeries for both little ones and Celiaâs feeding issues (still NG fed but progressing with oral feeds!!!Yay!!). Any words of wisdom are so welcome! We homeschool all of our children but for some reason this site is a bit overwhelming to me. Probably just because I am new to it?! I have heard nothing but wonderful things about the program, though, so canât wait to get my hands dirty.
Welcome Elvina and nogreatergiftmom!
Feel free to ask questions on the forum, no matter how silly you think they may sound. Weâre all helping each other here and there are a lot of parents who have a great experience in teaching their children (very early).
Andrea
Iâm Janice, mom to two sons: one in college and the other a teenager with Down syndrome. I read most of the introductions including the first one which said, âAs scary as the words âDown syndromeâ may sound to a pregnant mom, I want everyone to know that the reality of having a child with DS is an amazing & wonderful journey - not the scary diagnosis that it sounds like.â I partly agree with that; having a child with Ds can be an amazing and wonderful journey, and it has been for me, however it is a much MORE scary diagnosis than it sounds like. At least thatâs my take on it. When I found out I might have a child with Ds, I ignored the doctors and refused to have an amniocentesis because I wasnât going to give up my baby for such a silly reason; I knew I would love him just as much if he turned out to have Ds. Ignorance was bliss throughout my pregnancy. Then came his birth and immediate health problemsâscary stuff. I was so ignorant about Ds that I didnât know how common serious congenital health problems are in Ds; I just thought our kidsâ extra chromosome affected their intellect. Well, from all of the stories Iâve heard since then, we got off easy in the health departmentâfortunately; but we didnât exactly escape with no health problems. And no one told me that I might spend his first 10 years sleep deprived, never once getting a full nightâs sleep from the day he was born, or the huge toll that would take on my health. (Fortunately, I finally get to sleep more now that he is older.) No one told me how expensive it would be either. And what about the not-so-medically-based co-morbid conditions our kids can have like ADHD, autism, apraxia, eating disorders, sleep disorders, toileting issues, stubbornness, temper tantrums, wandering⌠Of course, anyone can have a kid with autism that doesnât have Ds, but children with Ds are much more likely to have autism than most kids, autism and probably also all of the other issues I mentioned and more that I didnât bother to list. Having a child with Ds is no walk in the park; it takes a lot of effort and provides a lot of heartache. All that said, that stuff no one wants you to hear until after you have decided not to have an abortion, I know I did make the right decision for my life. My son fills my heart with joy; heâs a fabulous kid, a fabulous kid with lots and lots of major problems, but⌠Well, if you knew him, you would know what Iâm talking about. What a charmer! The sweetest boy! And cute! And such a comedian! What enthusiasm! He fills my heart with joy but also with sadness. He has a great life now, but the chance of him having a great life after Iâm too old to provide it are, unfortunately, pretty slim. Whoâs going to take care of him? He wonât be taking care of himself. He only has one sibling, one who loves him, but he has his own life to live. My son takes most of my time, but I donât have to make a living; who else will ever be able to devote their life to making a great life for him? I fear no one will. I can try my best to put him in a good situation, but I know that we donât have, the state doesnât have, his brother may never have the kind of money it would take to provide for him in the way he deserves. Worry about his future is always in the back of my mind, but I live day to day and make sure he has lots of wonderful opportunities and experiences. And he and I do really enjoy a fabulous life, for now at least.
Hi Janice,
A warm welcome from all of us!
I wish you and your children to find a way for each of you to live a great life, with joy, and wonderful things, more joyful moments that sad ones!
I donât have a DS child but I think that your worries are normal and I hope thereâs a way for your child - and any DS or special needs child in general - to live a life as he needs to, no matter if you or his brother are around.
Andrea
Hi everyone.
I am thrilled that I have found this forum. I havenât started using the free trial but I am eager.
My daughter has Down Syndrome and is the Joy of our lives. She is also taking alternative medicine treatments to keep her healthy and her memory sharp. She is learning two language and has been signing the alphabet since 2. So, it is time to get real and to the point. She needs to started reading and my goal is that she will by the nd of the summer when she will start attending an inclusive classroom.
Anyway. I am happy to have found you all so that I can get support and help with this journey. I am not very good with computers and we have a mac so I am a little nervousâŚ
Looking forward to getting to know you all a little through LR
Welcome lovelightlaughter! Iâm sure youâll find here helpful things!
Andrea
Hi everyone!
Iâm new here. I have 4 children. The youngest,almost 11 months, has down syndrome. He is the reason I am here. I had briefly heard of teaching babies and toddlers to read, but had never considered trying. All my reseach to help my son acheive his highest potential has led me here. I downloaded the free trial versions of LR and LM and I am so excited about them. I canât wait to get started. I want to use it for my 3 year old as well. We homeschool our oldest. He is almost 7. We also have a girl that will be 5 in 3 months, who will we will start officially homeschooling within the next few months.
Welcome to the forum! We are happy to have you here. It is wonderful to meet homeschooling parents, like you and I am sure you would have much to offer to other parents on the forum as well.
Hi Everyone!
I cannot talk about anything yet. We are still getting into this, I mean, getting a Windows computer and all that jazz. However I am totally sold on it.
mko, We are bilingual here and I am really thrilled to hear your liittle one is keeping with both languages. It was such a challenge for everyone (but us) to keep my DD bilingual. I finally found a ST that back us up.
Do you se LR for encouraging the bilingualism or just for one language?
It will be nice to hear from you and your experience.
Itâs so exciting to see so many parents of children with DS doing this programme, with success. My journey to acceptance took some time, I had only heard of peoples struggles with their children, mostly within the school system and them not coping with a child with DS. Itâs also exciting to see so many other parents taking a different/alternative journey with their child. We have only just commenced a neuro development programme for my daughter. This seems like the icing on the cake for us.
Hello! I have 3 childrenâŚmy 8 yr old is in the 2nd grade. I also have a 4 year old son and a 13 month old daughter with DS. Iâm planning on starting the download soon. I originally planned on using it for my daughter but have decided to work with my 4 year old as well. I figure it cannot hurt. Iâm excited and crossing my fingers and praying that she enjoys it and we are successful!
Hi everyone, I am a soon to be step mom to an amazing almost 5 year old with Down syndrome. She is a pure joy and has opened my eyes and heart to how wonderful people with Down syndrome truly are. A mother we met through a DS group highly recommended Brillkids as a learning tool and we are super excited to try ââŹĹLittle ReadersââŹÂ. She is so smart and full of potential we want to give her every opportunity possible when it comes to her education.