Hi, I am using Little Reader with my 9 month old daughter and she is absolutely loving it! We have been using the trials of Little Math and Little Musician too and she seems to really enjoy them so I have just ordered Little Math and am hoping to order Little Musician as soon as my bank balance allows lol! I could seriously spend a fortune on this stuff! It is great to find a community of like minded people who believe in early education as most people I’ve told about it seem to think it is a bit odd but I believe that giving my daughter the best start in education can only be a good thing and she does really enjoy all of the lessons. She’s started pointing to the laptop and signing for more whenever I stop now!
I joined the forum awhile back but felt a bit overwhelmed with all the posts! So, I will jump in now and hopefully figure it out as I go.
I have a 12 month old daughter with Down syndrome. I am hoping to start an early reader program very soon.
Hi!
I am Chelsea. We have recently adopted our little girl who will be three next week. She has Down syndrome and I have heard great things about this program for kids with Ds. I’m hoping to learn more about it here.
Welcome, new people! 
We don’t have Down Syndrome but I LOVE these children. When I see them on the street I am about to hug them. They are cute, and smart and wonderful people.
We have a child with CCD - corpus callosum disorder, among others. And learning English with Little Reader (both my boys have started to speak English with it - the youngest understands words and is trying to sing Twinkle Twinkle - this one learned from Youtube), Your Baby Can Read and ReadingEggs and learning to play piano, both hands using Soft Mozart (I can hardly wait the MRI in autumn to see how the corpus callossum looks like now!)
I’ve found here on this forum great support and answers to many questions. Hope you will too!
Love,
Andrea
Hi everyone,
I just posted this message on the main board, but then I found this one! So please excuse the double post.
I have been using the BrillKids software (Little Math, Reader, and Music) with my son who is now 15 months, since he was 12 months old. My son has Trisomy 9, so I thought this would be a good way to jumpstart his vocabulary, speech, and math. All I can say is WOW. I am constantly amazed at how interested and entertained he is with the software. He absolutely loves it and he has learned many vocabulary words just from sitting a few minutes every day. I know this because I also purchased the Little Reader Touch for the Ipad and when the games pop up, he correctly identifies the pictures on the screen. I am SO excited and thankful for this wonderful product! I am looking forward to meeting everyone here in the forum and would especially love to hear from any other parents who have special needs kids who are using the software to learn how you have integrated it into your child’s learning routine.
Kind regards,
Hoda
HI! I am mama to two darling little boys, one with a rare micro duplication on the 17th chromosome. The duplication is in an important area that controls the brain, making it extremely difficult for these children to talk and comes with a significant memory and learning disability. Apparently. I feel quite confident that we can overcome his difficultes with neurodevelopmental therapies and nutrition and supplementation. So onwards and upwards! To wonderful things :-)…
welcome to the forum mahiisland
Hi every one I have just joined brill kids and I am really impressed with the LR
I would like to introduce my kid who is a special need kid with a rare chromosomal deletion.
There are just 20 known cases in the world!
Well, he has sensory processing disorder, hypotonia,is very underweight, delayed in fine , gross motor milestones.
He can walk independently but cannot step up / down stairs on his own , can’t run/ jump
He babbles but not words yet.
He goes to preschool has an IEP, we also do private OT and PT for him.in process for ST.
I try to teach him but I have no idea how much he understands
He is 3.5 yr old.
Hi all! My name is Andrea and I’m a wife and mom to 3 kiddos. Our 2 older kids are 5& 7. Our youngest is 8 weeks old. We had a prenatal T21 dx at 13 weeks. One of the things that really helped me with the dx when I was pregnant was watching other babies with DS on youtube reading. I couldn’t believe my eyes. Here my own typical 5 year couldn’t read a single word and there were little 2 year olds with disabilities reading and signing away. I decided our little one would be just like those kids & help other parents who are scared to feel ok with the dx. So here I am, getting all the information and things necessary to do just that!
Hello all!
Hello all,
My baby girl was born 8 mo. ago and diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. I immediately started reading all the Doman books. I was enthused to follow the suggestions, and we built a crawling track. It was a bit discouraging. Doman advocates tummy time (pretty much all the time!) and she was so content on her belly that she just lay there with her head down and would look at the floor or pick at the carpet until she fell asleep! Her PT said she never saw a baby so content on her belly. We started laying her more often on her back and stimulating her with toys, etc. Now that she can finally hold her head up better we are putting her on her tummy more. To me, her most serious problem seems to be the hypotonia, which has worried me as I think the physical development is related to the neural development.
We recently started the Doman-style reading flashcards. She looks at them and seems to think they are funny
I’m interested in the Little Musician. My older kids have been Suzuki-method trained, and I hear DS babies can excel at music, and love it.
I am interested in people’s experiences with their Down syndrome children’s experience with early education and their physical development, and any advice/suggestions you may have.
Welcome! And congratulations for the success in making your baby happier keep ot going!
I recommend you look at NACD program http://nacd.org/. They combine thousands of methods, including flashcards and Doman style things. They are up-to-date and open compared to IAHP, as one of our dear BK members has seen while going for years to IAHP with her oldest daughter, for the brain injured program. She’s been very happy for 2 years with ABR therapy. as physical recovery program.
When your baby is older she may get big help from learning to play piano to develop fine motor skills and muscles, and the brain for doing math and more - here you have a little girl with DS teaching her sister: http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-music/soft-mozart-everyone-can/msg101173/#msg101173
Take whatever suits your child from the above. I personally don’t know the therapies from their source, I’ve learnt to apply Doman from books.And I’ve seen children progressing great with NACD and ABR or even both.
There are wonderful stories about DS children reading early, for instance or playing piano both hands (her muscles were not helpful but she was persistent and ambitious and she did it).
Andrea
Welcome to all of our new members!
AiAi - have you tried raising the end of the crawling track so the incline is steep enough that gravity helps her to move? We watched dd very carefully but kept it at a very steep incline so that even a small amount of movement allowed her to move down the track.
ilovebooks - We started teaching words & doing encyclopedic knowledge when dd was a baby & not very verbal. She has trisomy 21 (Down syndrome). It was a giant leap of faith but we always tried to assume that she understood everything. She is now 6, doing great in kindergarten while she is behind in some areas she is the most academically advanced kid in the class. She is able to talk well enough to tell me all about her day, is doing grade one math, is pretty good at finding places on the map & is reading at a 4th grade level. I really believe thta fact that we always assumed she was learning everything helped us to remember to be constantly teaching her. It would have been easy to assume everyone else’s low expectations of DS were true but by having crazily high expectations we are helping her to really reach her full potential. Your little guy is probably soaking in way more than you think!
Thank you, andreasro and kmum, for your encouragement and the links.
We do raise the end of the crawling track and now I think we just have to do it OFTEN… she’s really not interested in crawling down it but maybe if we keep basically sliding her down it, she’ll gain interest.
I have spent much of the weekend looking at the success people are having, such as at http://naturallybetterkids.com/, and am filled with excitement that there is so much hope for our little ray of sunshine!
Thank you all!
You’re welcome
10 times per day is a good goal to shoot for but remember. If you can’t get that done don’t worry just try again the next day. It is a goal to shoot for but don’t put too much pressure on yourself to always get done.
Hi All!
So happy to have found this site and excited to start teaching! I have a 7mo old boy with T21. We have read the Doman books and recently started an ND program with him. He has two holes in his heart (ASDs) which are not going away and it looks like he may need surgery down the road - they are moderately sized. This slows him down a bit, but he loves to look at books and flashcards. I am excited to learn from you all!
Michelle
Welcome Michelle! Congrats on your baby boy!
You may have to be a little more aware of his needs & a little more cautious because of his heart but there is still a lot that you can do. Here is a list of suggestions:
http://downsyndromeupupupandaway.blogspot.ca/2011/04/baby-days-how-can-you-stimulate-newborn.html
Thanks so much! I actually used your blog, Q’s and Andi’s to get A TON of info but somehow missed adding brillkids. Not sure how… I remember reading about a therapy bulletin board to keep all his therapies/programming straight… Was it on your blog? I can’t seem to find it… And I need to read through the brill kids stuff to know where to start again. We used the infant stim flashcards when he was tiny… Then I seemed to slack a bit and need to get back to work/fun!
I don’t think it’s my organizing system you’re thinking of:
I’ve been using this system lately:
http://community.babycenter.com/post/a43395442/program_organization_ideas_-?cpg=1&pd=-1
I’m wondering if you’re looking for this post:
http://www.3of21.com/2013/02/special-needs-parenting-and-working.html?m=1
Hi All,
My name is Lauren and I have a 21-month old daughter, Ellie, who happens to have Down syndrome. She is really excelling in all areas and I am very interested in fostering her love of learning. Currently, she has over 40 words, 125 signs, and knows all of her letters. I would love to find an early literacy program that she would enjoy. We love the free Brillkids app but are interested in other resources as well. Can anybody help to point me in the right direction? Thank you! I look forward to learning from everybody here.
Lauren
New here but I am very interested in trying the Little Reader. My son O is 18 months and has Down Syndrome. I am hoping this program can increase his understanding and vocabulary since he is still not signing back to us yet ( we have been signing to him since birth!). I am excited to get started with the program and to read through all of the interesting posts.