Learning Without Limits

[Guest guest]

Learning Without Limits

Meet :

came to our Literacy Program in January with the reading ability of a

preschooler. She knew a few words, recognized her name and had a

stubborn desire to learn more. She is 35 years old.We started

out much like I did with my other students, with beginning level books,

matching words to words with pictures, working with farm animals first.

That's when things started to get interesting. started to FLY.

When I pushed her past what I thought was her limit, and asked her if

it was too difficult she would say, " I like easy and I like hard. I

like them both. " There was no technique or new reading game she

wouldn't try. She would work for an hour solid without batting an eye

so I was kept on my toes coming up with things for her to do! By the

third session, she was matching words to pictures, labeling each item

with very few errors. was READING. We moved into some basic

readers donated to us by a local school. I like these readers because

the story lines are funny and they repeat a lot of the same words so

each new book builds on the vocabulary of the last book. could

look at each new book and see right away that she already knew a lot of

the words. Two sessions ago, she read a book to me without any help and

with full comprehension. When the story was funny, she laughed. She is

reading and enjoying what she reads. I am so unbelievably proud of her.

I know her loving mom and dad are too.A few years ago, I would

have met , learned about her situation and it would not have

occurred to me that something could be done about it. That a 35

year-old with Down Syndrome is perfectly capable of learning how to

read, but more importantly, that they NEED to learn. They DESERVE to

learn. Now the thought of all the times she has looked around and not

been able to interpret the written language we depend on absolutely

breaks my heart.But she is going to change that and I am going

to do my very best to help her. She knows what she is capable of and it

is far greater than what people see, what even I can see. So I'll keep

bringing the books and the flashcards, but I'll let her show me what she can do because as soon as I think I've put my finger on her limits, she just surprises me again and again.

So once again, let me introduce you to my friend :READER!

Posted by

Hladish

at

Friday, April 17, 2009

-- Carol in ILMom to , 8 DSMy problem is not how I look. It's how you see me.Join our Down Syndrome information group - http://health. groups.yahoo. com/group/ DownSyndromeInfo Exchange/

http://downsyndromeinfoexchange.blogspot.com/Listen to oldest dd's music http://www.myspace.com/vennamusic

Arnold Schwarzenegger  - " I have a love interest in every one of my films - a gun. "