Re: Learning words by sight, not sound, is helping children with Down syndrome

May 30, 2008

Thank you, , for sharing this! I really needed this, today! Last week, during our visit with my parents, my mother wrote out a check for us to order Love & Learning, for ! I feel so blessed! We have ordered the first 2 kits, and I'm looking forward to getting started. Then, yesterday, I made the mistake of telling 's speech therapist about it, and she said only negative things about Love & Learning: it is over-priced, the word cards and books are just black & white, we could make much more attractive word cards and books ourselves and save $$... I didn't debate with her, but, with nine children, when would I find the time to do that?! Each set also comes with a DVD and a cd. And I thought the black and white was for a reason. Because those colors have the sharpest contrast, it helps the child to focus on the details of the shape of the

word. will be 3 in August and is basically nonverbal. He knows at least 30 signs which he can do after us, and about 20 of those he will sometimes initiate. But any vocalizing he does is very primitive, like "da" for "that" and "di" for "this", "ba ba" for "bye bye." The only time he uses "ma ma" is when he is upset and someone else has him and he wants me. To get my attention, he just yells "Aaaaaaa!" or cries; and most of the time, he will grunt, growl, or point to indicate what he wants. Lately, he has been hitting himself in the head in frustration, when we don't do what he wants (usually because we haven't figured out what he wants) or when we tell him "No" or take something away from him. I am hoping that by using the Love & Learning program with him, new pathways will be created in his brain, and he will begin to "get it." I'm

hoping his vocabulary will grow and his frustration will decrease. Any pointers, helpful hints, advice from those of you who have used Love & Learning would be most welcome! The speech therapist feared that we'd be disappointed with it. Well, I don't plan on being disappointed! I have been disappointed with "speech therapy"! In her 30 min. a week, she hasn't even established a relationship with , and he does not respond to her or use the signs he knows or attempt to vocalize. I've gotten a few ideas from her for things we can do at home, so it hasn't been a total waste of time. So, how can we maximize the potential of the Love & Learning program?! 's success could change the opinion of the therapist. Thanks! D

wrote: Learning words by sight, not sound, is helping children with Down syndrome There are two common perceptions about people with Down syndrome. The first is that they are happy and lovable. The second is that they will never make much academic progress. Until 20 years ago, most teachers and parents assumed that there was no point in trying to teach them to read. This consigned them to a life of total dependency. But

recent research has shown that reading is important to these children, helping them to talk and think more clearly. If they are introduced to reading at an early age (two or three) about 10 per cent can learn to read at an age appropriate level, even if their mental age is much lower. And many others will benefit from acquiring some reading skills that will help them lead more independent and interesting lives. Children with Down syndrome need to start learning to read in a different way from others. Whereas the typically developing child will learn their first language from listening to and imitating speech, children with Down syndrome learn better by the visual route: seeing the word on the page and understanding its meaning. Although they can progress to learning by the phonic method, they should not start with it. It was not a teacher or a psychologist who first spotted this, but a parent. In 1979 Duffen wrote to Sue Buckley, a

psychologist specialising in developmental disability, about his daughter , who was 11 years old and attending a mainstream school. was making exceptional academic progress for a child with Down syndrome and felt this was because he had introduced her to reading from the age of three. He felt that she had learnt to talk from seeing rather than hearing the language. Professor Buckley set up the Down Syndrome Educational Trust and, with colleagues, began to look into ’s suggestions. They found that he was right: they were able to teach pre-school children with Down syndrome to recognise words by sight and this helped their language and development. http://www.tes.co.uk/2625185 (one and only wife to Fred; mom to Kari, Melody, Faith, Heidi, Isaac, Josiah, , Alana, and ! Yes, they're all ours!) Is. 40:31 "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

May 30, 2008

sorry I cannot help - is very verbal and was at a young age (now that he is 10 I wish he wasn't so verbal!!). He found the Love & Learning too slow paced for his taste (he is a VERY active kid) but I know others that have loved it. Good luck - hope it works for you. Thank you, , for sharing this! I really needed this, today! Last week, during our visit with my parents, my mother wrote out a check for us to order Love & Learning , for ! I feel so blessed! We have ordered the first 2 kits, and I'm looking forward to getting started. Then, yesterday, I made the mistake of telling 's speech therapist about it, and she said only negative things about Love & Learning: it is over-priced, the word cards and books are just black & white, we could make much more attractive word cards and books ourselves and save $$... I didn't debate with her, but, with nine children, when would I find the time to do that?! Each set also comes with a DVD and a cd. And I thought the black and white was for a reason. Because those colors have the sharpest contrast, it helps the child to focus on the details of the shape of the word. will be 3 in August and is basically nonverbal. He knows at least 30 signs which he can do after us, and about 20 of those he will sometimes initiate. But any vocalizing he does is very primitive, like " da " for " that " and " di " for " this " , " ba ba " for " bye bye. " The only time he uses " ma ma " is when he is upset and someone else has him and he wants me. To get my attention, he just yells " Aaaaaaa! " or cries; and most of the time, he will grunt, growl, or point to indicate what he wants. Lately, he has been hitting himself in the head in frustration, when we don't do what he wants (usually because we haven't figured out what he wants) or when we tell him " No " or take something away from him. I am hoping that by using the Love & Learning program with him, new pathways will be created in his brain, and he will begin to " get it. " I'm hoping his vocabulary will grow and his frustration will decrease. Any pointers, helpful hints, advice from those of you who have used Love & Learning would be most welcome! The speech therapist feared that we'd be disappointed with it. Well, I don't plan on being disappointed! I have been disappointed with " speech therapy " ! In her 30 min. a week, she hasn't even established a relationship with , and he does not respond to her or use the signs he knows or attempt to vocalize. I've gotten a few ideas from her for things we can do at home, so it hasn't been a total waste of time. So, how can we maximize the potential of the Love & Learning program?! 's success could change the opinion of the therapist. Thanks! D <christina7yahoo (DOT) com> wrote: Learning words by sight, not sound, is helping children with Down syndrome There are two common perceptions about people with Down syndrome. The first is that they are happy and lovable. The second is that they will never make much academic progress. Until 20 years ago, most teachers and parents assumed that there was no point in trying to teach them to read. This consigned them to a life of total dependency. But recent research has shown that reading is important to these children, helping them to talk and think more clearly. If they are introduced to reading at an early age (two or three) about 10 per cent can learn to read at an age appropriate level, even if their mental age is much lower. And many others will benefit from acquiring some reading skills that will help them lead more independent and interesting lives. Children with Down syndrome need to start learning to read in a different way from others. Whereas the typically developing child will learn their first language from listening to and imitating speech, children with Down syndrome learn better by the visual route: seeing the word on the page and understanding its meaning. Although they can progress to learning by the phonic method, they should not start with it. It was not a teacher or a psychologist who first spotted this, but a parent. In 1979 Duffen wrote to Sue Buckley, a psychologist specialising in developmental disability, about his daughter , who was 11 years old and attending a mainstream school. was making exceptional academic progress for a child with Down syndrome and felt this was because he had introduced her to reading from the age of three. He felt that she had learnt to talk from seeing rather than hearing the language. Professor Buckley set up the Down Syndrome Educational Trust and, with colleagues, began to look into Â’s suggestions. They found that he was right: they were able to teach pre-school children with Down syndrome to recognise words by sight and this helped their language and development. http://www.tes. co.uk/2625185 (one and only wife to Fred; mom to Kari, Melody, Faith, Heidi, Isaac, Josiah, , Alana, and ! Yes, they're all ours!) Is. 40:31 " They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint. "

May 30, 2008

Dear : My son is 2 years and 7 months and he says some words, not many, and several words endings. We speak Spanish at home, he also listens to Portuguese because we live in Brasil and I introduced him to English with the Love & Learning program. I have seen very positive results. Even though the pictures are in black and white he likes them and he has learned the parts of the body in English with these pictures and now points to them on his body. He says the words "up" and "down" and understands the meaning. My son likes the videos but he does not like to watch them many times, he likes Barney better, he could watch Barney all day long without being bored. What I can advice is do not start with the book of the alphabet (letters alone), it was boring at least for my son and they don´t

need to learn the letters first. When you read them with him do it fast (You will see this instructions on the DVD) if you drill and keep repeating they get bored. Our kids are very intelligent and contrary to what many people believe they do not need to see eveything in slow motion to be able to learn. How I have done it is: a take one book and read it once in the morning and once in the afternoon and I have found that my son already knows some words just by seeing the words not the pictures because when I turn the page to the word "fingers" for example, before I say the word he shows me his fingers and we are not native English speakers we speak Spanish at home. What I have done now that he is into coloring is a photocopy some of the pictures and have him color them too. He likes this a lot. It is true that all kids are different and like

different things but I think a big key here is to read the books fast. I hope this helps. Jannette Keener escreveu: Thank you, , for sharing this! I really needed this, today! Last week, during our visit with my parents, my mother wrote out a check for us to order Love & Learning, for ! I feel so blessed! We have ordered the first 2

kits, and I'm looking forward to getting started. Then, yesterday, I made the mistake of telling 's speech therapist about it, and she said only negative things about Love & Learning: it is over-priced, the word cards and books are just black & white, we could make much more attractive word cards and books ourselves and save $$... I didn't debate with her, but, with nine children, when would I find the time to do that?! Each set also comes with a DVD and a cd. And I thought the black and white was for a reason. Because those colors have the sharpest contrast, it helps the child to focus on the details of the shape of the word. will be 3 in August and is basically nonverbal. He knows at least 30 signs which he can do after us, and about 20 of those he will sometimes initiate. But any vocalizing he does is very primitive, like "da" for "that" and "di" for "this", "ba ba" for "bye

bye." The only time he uses "ma ma" is when he is upset and someone else has him and he wants me. To get my attention, he just yells "Aaaaaaa!" or cries; and most of the time, he will grunt, growl, or point to indicate what he wants. Lately, he has been hitting himself in the head in frustration, when we don't do what he wants (usually because we haven't figured out what he wants) or when we tell him "No" or take something away from him. I am hoping that by using the Love & Learning program with him, new pathways will be created in his brain, and he will begin to "get it." I'm hoping his vocabulary will grow and his frustration will decrease. Any pointers, helpful hints, advice from those of you who have used Love & Learning would be most welcome! The speech therapist feared that we'd be disappointed with it. Well, I

don't plan on being disappointed! I have been disappointed with "speech therapy"! In her 30 min. a week, she hasn't even established a relationship with , and he does not respond to her or use the signs he knows or attempt to vocalize. I've gotten a few ideas from her for things we can do at home, so it hasn't been a total waste of time. So, how can we maximize the potential of the Love & Learning program?! 's success could change the opinion of the therapist. Thanks! D <christina7> wrote: Learning words by sight, not sound, is helping children with Down syndrome There are two

common perceptions about people with Down syndrome. The first is that they are happy and lovable. The second is that they will never make much academic progress. Until 20 years ago, most teachers and parents assumed that there was no point in trying to teach them to read. This consigned them to a life of total dependency. But recent research has shown that reading is important to these children, helping them to talk and think more clearly. If they are introduced to reading at an early age (two or three) about 10 per cent can learn to read at an age appropriate level, even if their mental age is much lower. And many others will benefit from acquiring some reading skills that will help them lead more independent and interesting lives. Children with Down syndrome need to start learning to read in a different way from others. Whereas the typically developing child will learn their first language from listening to and imitating speech, children with Down

syndrome learn better by the visual route: seeing the word on the page and understanding its meaning. Although they can progress to learning by the phonic method, they should not start with it. It was not a teacher or a psychologist who first spotted this, but a parent. In 1979 Duffen wrote to Sue Buckley, a psychologist specialising in developmental disability, about his daughter , who was 11 years old and attending a mainstream school. was making exceptional academic progress for a child with Down syndrome and felt this was because he had introduced her to reading from the age of three. He felt that she had learnt to talk from seeing rather than hearing the language. Professor Buckley set up the Down Syndrome Educational Trust and, with colleagues, began to look into ’s suggestions. They found that he was right: they were able to teach pre-school children with Down syndrome to recognise words by sight and this helped their

language and development. http://www.tes.co.uk/2625185 (one and only wife to Fred; mom to Kari, Melody, Faith, Heidi, Isaac, Josiah, , Alana, and ! Yes, they're all ours!) Is. 40:31 "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

Abra sua conta no Yahoo! Mail, o único sem limite de espaço para armazenamento!

May 30, 2008

Love and Learning was the absolute best thing I ever did for academically. At first I had to bribe her to do the booklets by reading other books to her as the reward. But as she got familiar with the videos and started making some connections with the words etc then the booklets became the reward for doing other things - she loved them that much.

Each Christmas or birthday I had the grandparents buy another kit. It's hard to gage how much it helped her speech as she was only 12 mos when we started and not speaking at all then. But she could read the words in the first kit by age 28 mos and in first grade was decoding on a 6th grade level. The kits are great, you won't be disappointed!

Kathy

Re: [DownSyndromeInfoExchange] Learning words by sight, not sound, is helping children with Down syndrome

Thank you, , for sharing this! I really needed this, today!

Last week, during our visit with my parents, my mother wrote out a check for us to order Love & Learning, for ! I feel so blessed! We have ordered the first 2 kits, and I'm looking forward to getting started. Then, yesterday, I made the mistake of telling 's speech therapist about it, and she said only negative things about Love & Learning: it is over-priced, the word cards and books are just black & white, we could make much more attractive word cards and books ourselves and save $$... I didn't debate with her, but, with nine children, when would I find the time to do that?! Each set also comes with a DVD and a cd. And I thought the black and white was for a reason. Because those colors have the sharpest contrast, it helps the child to focus on the details of the shape of the word.

will be 3 in August and is basically nonverbal. He knows at least 30 signs which he can do after us, and about 20 of those he will sometimes initiate. But any vocalizing he does is very primitive, like "da" for "that" and "di" for "this", "ba ba" for "bye bye." The only time he uses "ma ma" is when he is upset and someone else has him and he wants me. To get my attention, he just yells "Aaaaaaa!" or cries; and most of the time, he will grunt, growl, or point to indicate what he wants. Lately, he has been hitting himself in the head in frustration, when we don't do what he wants (usually because we haven't figured out what he wants) or when we tell him "No" or take something away from him. I am hoping that by using the Love & Learning program with him, new pathways will be created in his brain, and he will begin to "get it." I'm hoping his vocabulary will grow and his frustration will decrease.

Any pointers, helpful hints, advice from those of you who have used Love & Learning would be most welcome! The speech therapist feared that we'd be disappointed with it. Well, I don't plan on being disappointed! I have been disappointed with "speech therapy"! In her 30 min. a week, she hasn't even established a relationship with , and he does not respond to her or use the signs he knows or attempt to vocalize. I've gotten a few ideas from her for things we can do at home, so it hasn't been a total waste of time. So, how can we maximize the potential of the Love & Learning program?! 's success could change the opinion of the therapist.

Thanks!

D <christina7> wrote:

Learning words by sight, not sound, is helping children with Down syndrome There are two common perceptions about people with Down syndrome. The first is that they are happy and lovable. The second is that they will never make much academic progress. Until 20 years ago, most teachers and parents assumed that there was no point in trying to teach them to read. This consigned them to a life of total dependency. But recent research has shown that reading is important to these children, helping them to talk and think more clearly. If they are introduced to reading at an early age (two or three) about 10 per cent can learn to read at an age appropriate level, even if their mental age is much lower. And many others will benefit from acquiring some reading skills that will help them lead more independent and interesting lives. Children with Down syndrome need to start learning to read in a different way from others. Whereas the typically developing child will learn their first language from listening to and imitating speech, children with Down syndrome learn better by the visual route: seeing the word on the page and understanding its meaning. Although they can progress to learning by the phonic method, they should not start with it. It was not a teacher or a psychologist who first spotted this, but a parent. In 1979 Duffen wrote to Sue Buckley, a psychologist specialising in developmental disability, about his daughter , who was 11 years old and attending a mainstream school. was making exceptional academic progress for a child with Down syndrome and felt this was because he had introduced her to reading from the age of three. He felt that she had learnt to talk from seeing rather than hearing the language. Professor Buckley set up the Down Syndrome Educational Trust and, with colleagues, began to look into ’s suggestions. They found that he was right: they were able to teach pre-school children with Down syndrome to recognise words by sight and this helped their language and development.

http://www.tes.co.uk/2625185

(one and only wife to Fred; mom to Kari, Melody, Faith, Heidi, Isaac, Josiah, , Alana, and ! Yes, they're all ours!)

Is. 40:31 "They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint."

May 30, 2008

I have been very happy with Love and Learning. They are overpriced and the

production quality is nothing like Signing Times, but my son loves them. He

is 3 1/2 and knows his alphabet and is just starting to say single words, in

part because of Love and Learning. My advice would be to let go at

his own pace. We started with the DVD's then stopped for a couple of months

because Ben lost interest, but now he loves them again (and asks for them).

We don't do the CD's at night since Ben likes to fall asleep to music. We

ask for them for gifts and in my opinion, they have been well worth it.

Good luck and just have fun with them,

Amy

>

>Reply-To: DownSyndromeInfoExchange

>To: DownSyndromeInfoExchange

>Subject: Re: [DownSyndromeInfoExchange] Learning words by sight, not sound,

>is helping children with Down syndrome

>Date: Fri, 30 May 2008 09:02:24 -0700 (PDT)

>

>Thank you, , for sharing this! I really needed this, today!

>

> Last week, during our visit with my parents, my mother wrote out a check

>for us to order Love & Learning, for ! I feel so blessed! We have

>ordered the first 2 kits, and I'm looking forward to getting started.

>Then, yesterday, I made the mistake of telling 's speech therapist

>about it, and she said only negative things about Love & Learning: it is

>over-priced, the word cards and books are just black & white, we could make

>much more attractive word cards and books ourselves and save $$... I didn't

>debate with her, but, with nine children, when would I find the time to do

>that?! Each set also comes with a DVD and a cd. And I thought the black

>and white was for a reason. Because those colors have the sharpest

>contrast, it helps the child to focus on the details of the shape of the

>word.

>

> will be 3 in August and is basically nonverbal. He knows at

>least 30 signs which he can do after us, and about 20 of those he will

>sometimes initiate. But any vocalizing he does is very primitive, like

> " da " for " that " and " di " for " this " , " ba ba " for " bye bye. " The only time

>he uses " ma ma " is when he is upset and someone else has him and he wants

>me. To get my attention, he just yells " Aaaaaaa! " or cries; and most of

>the time, he will grunt, growl, or point to indicate what he wants.

>Lately, he has been hitting himself in the head in frustration, when we

>don't do what he wants (usually because we haven't figured out what he

>wants) or when we tell him " No " or take something away from him. I am

>hoping that by using the Love & Learning program with him, new pathways

>will be created in his brain, and he will begin to " get it. " I'm hoping

>his vocabulary will grow and his frustration will decrease.

>

> Any pointers, helpful hints, advice from those of you who have used Love

> & Learning would be most welcome! The speech therapist feared that we'd be

>disappointed with it. Well, I don't plan on being disappointed! I have

>been disappointed with " speech therapy " ! In her 30 min. a week, she hasn't

>even established a relationship with , and he does not respond to her

>or use the signs he knows or attempt to vocalize. I've gotten a few ideas

>from her for things we can do at home, so it hasn't been a total waste of

>time. So, how can we maximize the potential of the Love & Learning

>program?! 's success could change the opinion of the therapist.

>

> Thanks!

>

> D wrote:

>

> Learning words by sight, not sound, is helping children with Down

>syndrome

>

>There are two common perceptions about people with Down syndrome. The first

>is that they are happy and lovable. The second is that they will never make

>much academic progress. Until 20 years ago, most teachers and parents

>assumed that there was no point in trying to teach them to read. This

>consigned them to a life of total dependency. But recent research has shown

>that reading is important to these children, helping them to talk and think

>more clearly.

>

>If they are introduced to reading at an early age (two or three) about 10

>per cent can learn to read at an age appropriate level, even if their

>mental age is much lower. And many others will benefit from acquiring some

>reading skills that will help them lead more independent and interesting

>lives.

>

>Children with Down syndrome need to start learning to read in a different

>way from others. Whereas the typically developing child will learn their

>first language from listening to and imitating speech, children with Down

>syndrome learn better by the visual route: seeing the word on the page and

>understanding its meaning. Although they can progress to learning by the

>phonic method, they should not start with it.

>

>It was not a teacher or a psychologist who first spotted this, but a

>parent. In 1979 Duffen wrote to Sue Buckley, a psychologist

>specialising in developmental disability, about his daughter , who was

>11 years old and attending a mainstream school. was making

>exceptional academic progress for a child with Down syndrome and

>felt this was because he had introduced her to reading from the age of

>three. He felt that she had learnt to talk from seeing rather than hearing

>the language.

>

>Professor Buckley set up the Down Syndrome Educational Trust and, with

>colleagues, began to look into ’s suggestions. They found that he was

>right: they were able to teach pre-school children with Down syndrome to

>recognise words by sight and this helped their language and development.

> http://www.tes.co.uk/2625185

>

>(one and only wife to Fred; mom to Kari, Melody, Faith, Heidi, Isaac,

>Josiah, , Alana, and ! Yes, they're all ours!)

>

> Is. 40:31 " They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength;

>they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and not be weary,

>they shall walk and not faint. "

>

May 31, 2008

Hi and others,

I have not used Love & Learning myself, but I have seen great results

with a friend's child. She is now a FLUENT reader (age 8) with

little to no modifications in the regular 2nd grade classroom for

reading.

After reading Sue Buckley's book, which is not available online (for

free!) as a download, I started teaching my son at age 2 1/2 to read

sight words using Oelwein's method (Teaching Reading to

Children with Down Syndrome, abvailable at Woodbine House). When he

entered school at age 3, he could read 11 words with no picutre

support. I was thrilled. Most school officials were impressed as

well. But there's always one that will say something to set us

parents off! IGNORE what your speech therapist said. There IS a

reason that the words are black and white.

So, here's my recommendations to you:

Use Love and Learning. Also make a family unit of picture/flashcards

for your child. You use a photo of each family member and their name

below it " Mommy " (all described in Oelwein's book). Then you have a

word card with the same word (Mommy) to match to the card with the

picture. This does NOT have to be fancy ( I see you have 9

children!). Use whatever language your family uses. If you are

called Mommy, Mama, or Mom, use the one that your family uses. One

of your older kids could actually make this. ALl you need is

pictures. my first materials for my son were done with pictures and

construction paper. Keep it simple!

I now teach Literacy at GIGI's Playhouse and we have digital photos

and nicely laminated materials. The ONLY reason for laminate is to

prolong the use of the materials (especially if little ones " mouth "

them). Again, at home you can keep it simple.

Somebody else posted a GREAT website for FREE ready made sight word

materials a few weeks ago. Visit the Down Syndrome Foundation of

Orange County site and print off free stuff for your kids. It's

really good stuff! www.dsfoc.com or maybe .org I can't remember

right now. This is great for teaching food words, number words,

etc. BUT, I would start with the familiar! Use your family words

first. The more meaningful the words are to the child, the faster

they will learn them.

For example, if they love Dora, the Wiggles, or whatever, you can

make units like that! VERY motivating!

Also, to help my non-verbal children at Gigi's, I make a unit of

words that match their signs. If they sign please, more, etc. I make

word cards with matching signs for those words. It has worked so

well. It actually taught one of my students what signing is...that

it is communication! She suddenly understood that SHE could tell

someone to come here, sit down, stand up, go bye-bye, etc. What

power! (Writing with Symobls or Boardmaker usually have pictures of

the signs. You might be able to access these pieces of software at

the local library, your therapy clinic, school, or another mom.)

Good luck with all.

If you want more info, let me know.

Beth

PS If you want to read Buckley's book online, it's very simple and

short. I will post it in a second message.

>

> Thank you, , for sharing this! I really needed this,

today!

>

> will be 3 in August and is basically nonverbal. He knows

at least 30 signs which he can do after us, and about 20 of those he

will sometimes initiate. But any vocalizing he does is very

primitive, like " da " for " that " and " di " for " this " , " ba ba " for " bye

bye. " The only time he uses " ma ma " is when he is upset and someone

else has him and he wants me. To get my attention, he just

yells " Aaaaaaa! " or cries; and most of the time, he will grunt,

growl, or point to indicate what he wants. Lately, he has been

hitting himself in the head in frustration, when we don't do what he

wants (usually because we haven't figured out what he wants) or when

we tell him " No " or take something away from him. I am hoping that

by using the Love & Learning program with him, new pathways will be

created in his brain, and he will begin to " get it. " I'm hoping his

vocabulary will grow and his frustration will decrease.

>

> Any pointers, helpful hints, advice from those of you who have

used Love & Learning would be most welcome! The speech therapist

feared that we'd be disappointed with it. Well, I don't plan on

being disappointed! I have been disappointed with " speech therapy " !

In her 30 min. a week, she hasn't even established a relationship

with , and he does not respond to her or use the signs he knows

or attempt to vocalize. I've gotten a few ideas from her for things

we can do at home, so it hasn't been a total waste of time. So, how

can we maximize the potential of the Love & Learning program?!

's success could change the opinion of the therapist.

>

> Thanks!

>

May 31, 2008