The kids love the Super Sorting Pie. It's been a versatile toy since Christmas (2011) and great for learning colors, sorting, counting, fine motor practice with tongs, and even pretend play.
Three 2-sided cardboard inserts come with the pie and provides a good visual for the kids to remember how I am asking them to sort the fruits. The inserts are easily interchangeable by simply lifting the sectioned-off part of the pie.
Elizabeth enjoys sorting by color and by type of fruit.
I've even used it for simple addition and subtraction practice with Matthew.
When not sorting or counting, the kids play with it many days in the week pretending to bake a fruit pie in their play kitchen. Today, they were so cute playing together. Matthew was telling Elizabeth what fruit he needed and how many and Elizabeth listened, understood him (she usually always does despite his struggle with articulating some words), and played along. I would've taken a longer video but stopped right after Elizabeth announced, "I'm pooping." Thankfully, she still wears diapers.
As of today, it's selling on amazon.com for less than $20. It's also available on the Learning Resources website but it costs more.
In January this year, I emailed Matthew's physical therapist (PT) at school to ask how he was doing during his PT sessions. One of the things she said was that in the group he had difficulty staying in a tall kneeling (on knees, not sitting on buttocks) and half kneeling ( one knee up the other down on floor and balancing in this position).
When googling for information on tall kneeling, I came across Adaptivemall.com. We didn't need the equipment but it was very interesting to see that adaptive equipment to help with tall kneeling actually existed. Also to quote from the site:
Tall kneeling is achieved when someone is kneeling and the buttocks are not resting back on the feet. Tall kneeling can assist with the development of balance and leg strength. Note: This position can be difficult for people who have limited ankle bend (plantar flexion) or who wear ankle foot orthotics (AFO).
Matthew doesn't wear orthotics but he does have insole wedges in his shoes for ankle support since he has pronated ankles(but I don't think that matters). The gluteal/buttock muscles are needed to maintain the tall kneeling position. I imagine his gluteal muscles didn't inherently have the tone to easily get into a tall kneel and maintain it. He always preferred to sit on the backs of his feet to stabilize himself.
And of course, I wanted him to develop better balance and leg strength because that will make more physical play activities easier for him. So what do we do? We work on it at home!
How to Position?
His PT and NACD evaluator gave me a few suggestions:
- try kneeling at support surface.
- work on him imitating you go from sitting on heels to tall kneeling position, or in front of a mirror.
- (if he were still in diapers) try bridges, like when his diaper was being changed, ask him to raise his bottom up with knees bent and feet flat on the floor. Hold the position for 5-10 seconds....move a train, ball under his hips to keep hips up.
- have him get on hands and knees and cross creep (crawl on hands and knees). Then while facing him, model getting up into a tall kneel and ask him to do it. From there play something or sing something while maintaining that position.
- practice kneewalking around the room to get things off of the sofa or low tables.
Which strategy worked for him? Asking him to cross creep and then get into a tall kneel to kneewalk and then pause in the tall kneel position helped him understand the concept of tall kneeling. So we played around with kneewalking a lot. He liked jumping and running on giant bubble wrap so I used that as our kneewalking activity motivator.
Within days, his kneewalking improved. More importantly, he was developing the balance and strength to maintain the tall kneeling position for longer periods of time. He'd still sometimes take 3-second breaks to sit on the backs of his feet but he could now easily return to the tall kneeling position without falling over.
Just yesterday, Matthew, Elizabeth, and I had lots of fun playing a fast-paced game of rolling the beach ball back and forth to each other in the tall kneeling position.
At age 2, Elizabeth had no trouble with tall kneeling at all. Seeing her easily play in tall kneeling was one of the many reminders of how much more work Matthew had to put in just to achieve what Elizabeth could do so naturally and effortlessly (relatively). It's at moments like that when one simply appreciates each child's development as it is and admires and learns from Matthew's determination and can-do attitude.
Here is a list (and some video) of Elizabeth (2-yrs old) and Matthew's (4-1/2 yrs old) favorite apps these days. I've categorized them as best as I could. Some apps are listed in more than one category. Please feel free to comment and share your favorite apps with us.
Short-term Working Memory
NACD Simply Smarter
Expanding Knowledge
Mini Adventure Animals - I love integrating this app into our reading time, especially when we read about animals. Great real-life photos and youtube videos AND it's customizable.
Matching Jobs
ABA Animals flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Earth Science (by kindergarten.com)
Sesame Street Podcasts - not an app but free short videos featuring the letter of the day and things related to it.
Learning Concepts
Photo Touch Concepts (by Grasshopper Apps)
ABA Problem Solving What Rhymes (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Problem Solving Which Go Together (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Which Does Not Belong? (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive by Function (by kindergarten.com)
Little Matchups Opposites (by Grasshopper Apps)
Little Matchups The Matching Game (by Grasshopper Apps)
Learning Patterns/ Critical Thinking
Caboose - Learn to Recognize and Complete Patterns
Little Patterns
Monkey Mathschool Sunshine
Little Solver Preschool Logic (by Alligator Apps)- this game gets progressively harder as Matthew gets more successful with the basic patterns.
Injini/ Injini Lite
Early Numeracy Skills & Math
KidCalc - Great app except I don't like the number tracing activity on this app. It's overly responsive and allows random screen swiping to trace the numbers.
Monkey Mathschool Sunshine
Grover's Number Special
Kinder Add
Line 'Em Up
Preschool Prep Meet the Numbers
PhotoTouch Numbers
123 Toddler Counting
Counting Bear (by Grasshopper Apps)
Montessori Counting Board (by Grasshopper Apps)
Speech Production & Articulation
SmallTalk Phonemes
NACD Apraxia
Talking Tom (and other Talking Friends)
Just For Fun
Monkey Mathschool Sunshine
Monkey Preschool Lunchbox
Talking Tom (and other Talking Friends)
Grover's Number Special
Matching Job
More Breakfast
More Pizza
Cupcakes!
Your Teddy!
Balloonimals
Fruit Ninja
Scout's ABC (by Leapfrog)
Books and Activities
I Like Books (by Grasshopper Apps)
The Monster at the End of this Book
Another Monster at the End of this Book
Lightning Was Here Puzzle Book
Thomas the Train books - Some (or maybe all) of the books have a memory matching game that's both auditory and visual.
Sight Words
Verbs with Milo
Noodle Words
A+ Dolch Pre-primer and Primer Sight Words
300+ Sight Words
Little Reader Three-Letter Words (by Grasshopper Apps) - I just wish the words were in lowercase letters instead of uppercase letters.
Little Reader Four-Letter Words (by Grasshopper Apps)
Language Input/ First Words/ Phrases
My First Couplets (by Smart Baby Apps)
ABA Animals flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Sports flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
My Home (by Smart Baby Apps)
Animal Kingdom (by Smart Baby Apps)
Food Festival (by Smart Baby Apps)
Around Town (by Smart Baby Apps)
My First 1000 Words (by Smart Baby Apps)
My First Words (by Smart Baby Apps)
ABA Vehicles flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Things You Wear (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Musical Instruments (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Things You Play With (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Actions (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Fruits & Nuts (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Vegetables (by kindergarten.com)
Noodle Words
Sentence Construction/ Reading Comprehension
Sentence Maker
I Like Books
ABA Alphabet flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Shapes flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
Sentences Builder (by AbiTalk)
Drawing & Writing
Drawing Pad
iWriteWords - I haven't used this app with the kids yet because we're not actively working on writing yet. I downloaded it because I wanted to try it. I'll use it when we start working on writing.
Paint Sparkles
Letter/ Color/ Shape Recognition
Monkey Preschool Lunchbox
123 Color
Preschool Prep Meet the Letters (uppercase)
Preschool Prep Meet the Letters (lowercase)
Preschool Prep Meet the Colors
Preschool Prep Meet the Numbers
Preschool Prep Meet the Shapes
ABA Alphabet flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Shapes flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
Audiobooks
Tales2Go - Since both Matthew and Elizabeth like listening to age-appropriate audiobooks, I'll be using this app in the car so they can listen to books in the car instead of their usual kid music sometimes.
Object Identification/ Visual Scanning
PhotoTouch Toys
Little Finder (by Alligator Apps)
ABA Animals flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Sports flashcards (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive Identification by Class (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive Combined (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive by Feature (by kindergarten.com)
ABA Receptive Identification by Noun (by kindergarten.com)
My Home (by Smart Baby Apps)
Animal Kingdom (by Smart Baby Apps)
Food Festival (by Smart Baby Apps)
Around Town (by Smart Baby Apps)
Injini/ Injini Lite
Back in private swim lessons this first week in July, after having been in private swim lessons with the same teacher in the first two weeks of June, and this week he's putting more and more together. He willingly dove off the side of the pool this week - yes, head first. His swim teacher says that besides Matthew's cousin, Matthew is the only other kid who is enthusiastic about diving. Not bad for a 4-1/2 year old, right? I didn't learn to dive like he can now until I was 8 or 9 years old.
He is learning fast and getting better at coming up for a breath after jumping or diving in. He brings himself up to the surface and kicks his way to the side of the pool with just a little hand assist and no floatie. He can even get diving rings close to the bottom of the 3-1/2 foot shallow end of the pool. (Matthew is 37 inches tall.)
He is definitely more successful at learning to swim in just 3 weeks this summer than when he was in swim lessons at the YMCA almost all year last year. I think this rapid progression is because of a combination of factors:
- private swim lessons have much been better for him at keeping him focused and engaged during the whole lesson instead of having to wait his turn and being easily distracted during group lessons at the Y. If I could go back in time, I would get him in private lessons instead of putting him in group swim lessons last year.
- his current swim teacher has a no-floatie-method style of teaching. It's very effective with him. She also keeps expectations high with him.
- he's a year older and has better gross motor coordination and strength this year.
- he LOVES swimming and is fearless in and around the pool.
I don't know if Matthew will be an Olympic swimmer or even be interested in competitive swimming. He has always loved the water and we had him in the swimming pool since he was 8 months old. He uses putty-type ear plugs to keep pool water out of his ears. He's on his 2nd set of ear tubes.
He was in group swim lessons most of last year at the Y's indoor pool. This summer is the first time Matthew is in swim lessons this year - private lessons this time. I think the individual attention has been better for him.
My immediate goal: I would like him to be able to swim without a float or swim vest. He still needs to develop overall strength in his legs to be able to propel forward effectively when he kicks in the water. He's also still learning to put movements together like kicking while keeping his head in the water, not just one or the other. He'll improve with practice and other strength building activities outside the water.
Here's a short video of his lessons during the first week.
A few months ago, Elizabeth seemed to be taking an interest in sight words. She wanted to participate when Matthew and I looked through his sight word flashcards. She was recognizing "Matthew" and "Elizabeth".
So I jumped at the chance to make her a set of sight word cards. Unlike the picture/ word cards that Matthew started with, Elizabeth's word cards do not have pictures. Each is made of 5-1/2-inch x 14-inch white posterboard with huge red letters, patterned after the word cards described in Glen Doman and Janet Doman's book "How to Teach Your Baby to Read." But like the initial word cards I had made for Matthew, I used words that were of high interest to her.
It took me several evenings to make around 60 words and plan which ones to start with. Then I started with our sight words. After a few days, it didn't seem like she was really paying attention to the words. Maybe I took too long making the cards and she lost interest. Maybe she just wasn't ready to learn it. Maybe she was just interested in the idea of it - the "if big brother is doing it, I want to be part of it" thought process.
So I stopped and decided we would try again in a few months. We put the giant word cards away.
Recently, we rediscovered her word cards. But instead of using them as flashcards, we scattered a few on the floor and hopped on them. It became an addictive and fun sequencing game for both of them.
Taking turns, I'd give Matthew a sequence of 3 or 4 words to hop on. Elizabeth received 1 or 2 word sequences. She wasn't really recognizing all the words yet but with some guidance, she was happily hopping on the words like Matthew was. "What big brother can do, I can do too."
His very first remote control truck toy! At age 4, we felt he was ready for one. We found the Fisher Price Big Action Construction Site with Remote Control at Toys R Us. It's also available on amazon.com.
When we first started playing with this, controlling the truck using the remote didn't come naturally to him. Being a visual learner, it helps that directions are color coded on the truck and remote controller. To move the truck forward, he has learned to push the green button. He has learned that the red button makes the truck move backward.
Some limitations: the truck doesn't move diagonally forward or diagonally backward. The left and right buttons make the truck spin left and spin right. And we can only push one button at a time on the controller. It only comes with one controller and truck. I wish there were two (so I can play at the same time.) Elizabeth isn't very interested in this toy yet. In fact, she doesn't like the truck moving toward her.
The most fun part is driving the truck on the lower elevator, which goes up as soon as it senses the truck on it. Then the top elevator descends as soon as the truck is on it.
Overall, it's been an interactive and fun toy for learning basic directions and improving hand-eye coordination.
Materials needed:
white posterboard, cut into 8-inch x 8-inch square
colored posterboard, cut into 3/4-inch x 8-inch strips (2cm x 20cm)
ruler (for measuring)
pencil (for marking cut lines)
scissors and cutter
Cut out alternating strips on the 8-inch x 8-inch square posterboard so you are left with a frame containing vertical bars of paper.
The weaving activity may still be too challenging for the younger ones, like Elizabeth. But she still found it fun to play with the colored strips of paper - naming colors and watching Matthew weave his strips of paper "over" and "under" the white frame.
Not all kids really get into train toys. Matthew did. Our little train engineer will play with this train set for at least 15 minutes - that's relatively longer than other non-electronic toys and non-screen based games. Elizabeth, his assistant train engineer, enjoys it too. The kids started out with the Water Tower Figure 8 set and then inherited a large plastic tub of tracks from older cousins.
They have two battery-operated metal trains - Salty and Percy - and all the other trains are made of wood. Train Engineer Matthew has mastered the art of connecting the interlocking wooden tracks. Matthew is very particular about how the track is set-up and which trains are on it. If we add another train without his approval, he says "Nooooo!" and takes it off the track. Both little engineers always make sure the trains stay on track. The battery-operated trains tend to go off-track if the tracks aren't connected just so. Some reviews online cite this as annoying but I think it's a good way to hold the kids' attention.
I honestly enjoy playing with the train set too. Bill says I seem to enjoy it more than the kids when I help make elaborate railroad lines. It's just so much fun to think of the possible configurations with bridges, tunnels, twists and turns and then watch the battery-operated trains pull the other trains along the track.
Thomas & Friends books on iPad/ iPhone
Matthew, in particular, has been enjoying Thomas the train so much that I have borrowed Thomas & Friends books from the library. We also have all 13 apps on my iPhone and iPad.
The apps are mostly developed by HIT Entertainment and some by Callaway Digital Arts. The HIT Entertainment ones feature an interactive book, a coloring sheets (6 choices), puzzle, and voice recording capability. The Callaway Digital Arts ones feature an interactive book, a matching game, puzzle, coloring sheets (6 choices), and a short video excerpt of the story.
All books are narrated in a British accent. All the stories are quite lengthy (and wordy) and don't hold Matthew's attention. So I usually disable the British narration and make up a shortened story as we manually swipe through the book.
By HIT Entertainment:
Down at the Docks
Thomas and Toby
Thomas Gets a Snowplow
Thomas and the Castle
Thomas Gets His Own Branch Line
May the Best Engine Win!
Calling All Engines
Thomas-saurus Rex
The Special Delivery
By Callaway Digital Arts:
Misty Island Rescue
Day of the Diesels
Engine Activities
Hero of the Rails
He walks on over to the iPod stereo and pushes the "on" button. The radio station is preset to one of the local ones with few commercials and generally (relatively) better music (no explicit versions). Whatever is on, it's usually music with a good dancing beat and Matthew is rockin' it! Matthew LOVES dancing and it seems like he'll dance for as long as I let him.
Almost all literature I've read about individuals with Down syndrome include "love for music". Maybe it's true for all, maybe just the majority - I don't know. But I definitely think it's in his genes because I love dancing too (and so does Elizabeth).
Matthew will increase his visual motor integration skills as demonstrated by holding spring open scissors and paper with both wrists in neutral position, following set-up and cut on a 4" long x 1/4" thick straight, curvy, and zig zag line staying within 1/2" of the line for 75% of data days.
Accuracy is not important to me at this stage although it would be an indicator of any improvement in his hand strength and visual-motor coordination -- two factors that we view as important to be able to do more precise fine motor tasks.
We have two pairs of spring-loaded kid-friendly scissors at home - brands: Fiskars and Maped. We got both pairs from amazon.com then I saw a pair of the Maped brand scissors at the local Dollar Tree store. Other adaptive scissors are available from stores like TheraPro (search for scissors on their site), Beyond Play, and other specialty/ therapy stores. Matthew currently uses the spring-loaded scissors because he still has a hard time using a scissors manually (without the spring). Other kids at his developmental stage may or may not have the same issue. Everyone's different.
Just last quarter, he needed hand over hand help with using a pair of spring-loaded scissors. His hand strength has increased since then. He didn't want my help the other day.
He's not a pro yet with scissors but he's determined and keeps working hard at it. For him, success with it (with anything) is a confidence booster and becomes a self-motivator to do more.
This game is rated for kids ages 4 and up but even me 1-1/2 year old lassie, Elizabeth, likes to stick the swords into the barrel. It's another way to introduce basic colors and counting. Since Elizabeth is too young to understand the objective of the game, we usually make up our own game rules or simply have no rules except to have fun.
The plastic swords are a good size for pincer grasp practice for me 4-year old lad. The barrel doesn't stay put on the base when sticking the swords in so it presents a good opportunity to practice using two hands - one to stabilize and one to push the sword into the barrel. Aye, all hand hoay (all hands on deck) with this game!
Play time will depend on ye lads and lassies attention spans.
Teaching Matthew independence starts with the little things - like wiping his own chin.
Matthew is generally neat and likes to be clean. But when eating, he doesn't usually sense if some food has strayed to his chin or cheek or nose. And when he does, it's not easy for him to pinpoint it's exact location. So we use a small acrylic mirror (won't shatter if dropped) to show him where he needs to wipe. It works flawlessly for my visual learner.
Birthdays are a fun time for kids. Birthdays can also be a difficult concept especially for kids who may think it's their birthday at every party or kids who may be overwhelmed with all the activity and excitement and people.
The time-honored birthday cake ritual of singing "Happy Birthday" and blowing out the candles was a perplexing for Matthew when he was younger. He wasn't quite sure what to do about the candles until he was 3. And people singing the happy birthday song around him brought forth his lower lip with a downward curve. (Maybe he just thought everyone was off-key and that was upsetting to him??)
With many birthdays to celebrate in our family (with nearby relatives), playing with the Melissa & Doug Birthday Cake has completely helped him warm up to the birthday ritual. Both kids even like to turn the lights off after the candles are put on the cake. Then we sing the birthday song. The lights come back on for cake cutting and eating.
We like this birthday cake set because it is fun and durable. It also nice for counting, sorting, learning to follow directions, and imaginative play. I can see it used for simple sequencing also but we haven't tried it yet.
Integrating some more fine motor work into our birthday cake play, Matthew picks up candles and pieces with tongs.
Here are some photos from Christmas. We went to a few parties and breakfasts with Santa. The kids got to see Santa Claus and have their picture taken with him on 3 separate occasions, at least. At one breakfast event, Santa Claus arrived on a big red fire truck.
Simple, spontaneous moments can be a lot of fun. Sometimes they turn out to be one of the most special moments I have with my kids.
We usually listen to kid music. Matthew enjoys songs by Greg and Steve, The Laurie Berkner Band, songs from the Kindermusik class he was in a couple years ago, and other similar kid music.
The other day, I had my iTunes playing an audio recording of Matthew's cousin reading a book for him. It was in the iTunes list on my laptop. Before I could click on the stop button, a lively jazzy song came on.
Matthew started dancing. He could not contain his excitement. He loves music. He loves to dance. I turned up the volume and we danced. We twirled. We moved around the kitchen. We made up simple dance moves (a fun way to practice listening to directions, reinforce body awareness and body movement).
Elizabeth danced for a little bit then decided to play with cups instead.
"The Blue Room" by Tommy Dorsey from the album "Anthology of Big Band Swing".
It was a lot of fun and brings a smile to my face whenever I think about it. We're going to do this more often.
I remember playing Memory Game as a child. It was one of the many games I enjoyed. It makes me happy to see that Matthew has taken an interest in it too.
I began teaching Matthew how to play a few months ago. Starting out with just 2 pairs, I'd illustrate how to turn over the cards individually to find the matching card. I had to be quick and enthusiastic about it to keep Matthew's attention and get him interested. He wasn't very interested the first few times I brought out the game.
Teaching him the objective of the game only took up to a minute or less each time we would "play". Whenever I let him have a turn, I applied the "errorless learning" method, wherein he always succeeded at finding the matching card. This involved either hand-over-hand help or me pointing to the right card to flip over.
Gradually, as he started to show more interest, I added a 3rd pair. These days we play with either 4 or 5 pairs while Elizabeth likes to look at the other cards. It's cute to see her pretend to play too. She'll say "Match!"
A couple of iPhone apps helped build upon his interest and understanding of the game too. The app "Monkey Preschool Lunchbox" has a mini memory game in amongst the other games. Another one I have on my iPhone is "Preschool Memory Match".
When Elizabeth is older, Matthew and I will teach her to play Memory Game too.
On Thursday, I noticed a bumpy, pimply-like rash on his left arm near his elbow. He also had a similar rash on his legs. It looked different than the usual eczema he got on his body like in the following photo.
On Friday, a cranky, irritable Matthew whined through eating a slice of his favorite pizza. That confirmed that he wasn't feeling well.
But what was going on? Other than the physical symptoms and general tiredness, both kids still had adequate energy to play with their toys and with each other.
On Friday, Elizabeth had a slight runny nose. Both kids woke up several times that night.
On Saturday, Matthew drooled constantly. Elizabeth's nose needed frequent wiping.
Through Friday and Saturday, Matthew was drinking very little almond milk. He was drinking very little iced water. I thought that was strange. And he often put his finger in his mouth.
I finally checked their temperatures on Saturday afternoon. Both kids were at 100 degrees (Farenheit).
Then I noticed Matthew's hands and ankles had more red dots.
Mother's instinct or paranoia or lucky guess?
I suspected hand, foot, and mouth disease. I tried to look in his mouth as well as I could and spotted a sore in the back of his throat. That explained the drooling! It hurt to swallow his own saliva.
It is caused by a virus that is apparently common for young kids to catch. In an after-hours call to the pediatrician, I was told, "there is no special medication for hand, foot, and mouth disease. Ibuprofen will help provide comfort from a painful throat and high fever. Let it run its course. He can return to school when he is fever-free and no longer contagious."
I started a "conversation book" for Matthew to take to school. I got the idea from a down syndrome education online article "Reading and writing for infants with Down syndrome (0-5 years). (Highly recommended resource!!) It is a photo album with photos of what we did during the week or weekend. I have the photo on one side and on the adjacent page, a short sentence about the photo written from his perspective.
The short narratives I write in the photo album aren't intended to
"test" his reading ability. I have underlined words that are not (yet) in his sight word vocabulary. So except for the underlined words, he can
read and understand the rest. The short sentences help him tell his teacher about what he likes (or does not like) or what he did recently.
I change the photos in the album every week to keep it fresh. He loves looking at photos. And his teacher tells me that he's always excited to show the photos to her.
In a nutshell, here's what I hope to achieve with the conversation book.
- encourage more spoken and spontaneous speech and language. He understands so much but has difficulty in expressing his thoughts.
- use his sight reading (a major strength) to give him the language to express his thoughts.
- encourage speaking in sentences.
- encourage social skills and turn-taking. His teacher had a great idea to also use his conversation book as an ice breaker with his peers since he tends to be shy and quiet around them.
- give him the language he can use in talking or thinking about things he likes and his experiences.
- it will also be a good way for his teacher to get to know him better.
- it's a good opportunity to practice reading and comprehension. He is highly motivated.
Grant's Farm
The first set of photos I put in his conversation book was about our trip to Grant's Farm.
Here's a video of him feeding the goats.
After a week, I replace the photos in the album with photos of a different and recent experience. A few of the old photos are displayed on our refrigerator for the following week but without the sentences. Instead, I use them to just point out different things on them. At the same time, I write short sentences on a small white board for him to read to me, giving him the visual words that I think he might want to say to help him tell me about the photos. So instead of just giving him the auditory input, "say this...", I make use of his visual memory (a common strength in children with Down syndrome) and his ability to read.
