Counting Crackers - Early Number Concepts

Just two months ago, Matthew didn't have a good grasp of early number concepts. I had been teaching him to count up to 3. I hadn't taught him to count from 1 to 10. I had been showing him the difference between big and small as well as same and different, which are prenumber concepts. But I hadn't been doing it as often as I feel I should have. I had been reading counting books to him like "Very Hungry Caterpillar" but he was more interested in other books two months ago.

If I asked him to give me 1 block, he would give me whatever he could hold in his hand. He was excellent at matching and sorting shapes and colors though.

In an effort to teach Matthew the concept of counting, identifying and naming numerals, and sight reading number words zero to ten, we counted everything of high interest to him like crackers, toys, steps, and many other things. We read more counting books. We sang more counting songs. I made number word flashcards since I was also teaching him sight words.

I also made a "Counting Crackers" video for him using my photos of goldfish crackers and Windows Movie Maker. He loves goldfish crackers, looking at photos, learning to sight read new words and watching videos. It was a huge hit and he evidently learned from it.



Progress
He can now count from 1 to 10 in the correct order and without prompting, also known as rote counting. He is also beginning to count objects by pointing to them one to one. He can now recognize numerals and number words zero to ten. He says "two" and "eight" the clearest.



The other day, while eating goldfish crackers, I asked him to give me two crackers. I held my hand out and he put two crackers in my hand, one cracker at a time.

Early Math Resources
The Down Syndrome Foundation of Orange County's (DSFOC) "The Learning Program" offers materials for free on their website. Registration required. They have an "Everyday Math" handout with plenty of activity ideas for prenumber concepts and early number concepts. Prenumber concepts include sorting, comparing objects and patterning. Early number concepts include rote counting, counting with meaning and number symbol (numeral) recognition.

For a more multi-sensory approach to learning math using manipulatives, there are teaching resources like Numicon, which was developed in the UK and is available at downsed USA's online store, or Math-U-See, which was designed by a math teacher and father of a child with Down syndrome. It looks like the DSFOC's Learning Program uses Numicon.

We decided to try Numicon so I ordered the Firm Foundations kit and the book to adapt it specifically for kids with Down syndrome. Beth at Hannah's Shenanigans shares her daughter's experience using Numicon in several blog entries. At this time, I have no blog links to share for personal experiences with Math-U-See.

The book "Teaching Math to People with Down Syndrome and Other Hands-On Learners" by DeAnna Horstmeier also has many activities for learning prenumber and early number concepts.

Alphabet Home Videos

Instead of TV time, I created a couple of short alphabet videos for Matthew last month using Windows Movie Maker. They serve as Matthew's electronic flashcards. I decided to hold off on buying pre-made early reading programs. With these videos, he enjoys a limited amount of screen time but it's not an obsession, like it was his DVDs and TV.

The first alphabet video doesn't have any photos. It's just the alphabet appearing on the screen one letter at a time and my recorded voice saying the letters as they appear. I use lowercase letters only in this video because I want Matthew to learn lowercase letters first.



The second video is a phonic alphabet video. It's my 2nd edited version. It will probably go through more revisions when I add or remove photos. And I'll definitely have to redo the audio because I messed up the letter "i". The toys, clothes, animals and food in the photos are things Matthew owns or is familiar with.



How I use these videos
1. As a supplement to our homemade picture cards. I mentioned our picture cards in my previous posts Speech and Reading Connection and Book Review: Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome.

The videos are not my main alphabet/word/speech teaching tool though. With the videos, Matthew hears the alphabet, how each letter is said and how they sound, sees the letters, the words and corresponding photos but he doesn't see how they are said - how the mouth, lips and tongue move to say certain letters. Letters like p, b and m don't require any tongue movement while d, l, t, n and a few others do. Of course, there are letters like k wherein the sound is made from the back of the tongue.

So I use our picture cards and show him how I say the word. Sometimes I prompt him. For instance, he says "aight/ ayt" for "light". I'll say "la la light". He parrots that and eventually says "light". It doesn't work for everything though. I'll say "mmmmm ma!". He'll say "mmmmm pa". We'll keep working on that one.

2. I usually watch these videos with Matthew on my lap. Sometimes, I'll hit the pause button when a photo appears on the screen and say "What's that?" prompting him to tell me what he sees on the screen. This has been helping Matthew's speech. Pausing it makes it interactive and keeps him alert. Sometimes he'll push my hand away from the mouse because he doesn't want me messing with the video.

The personalized electronic flashcard videos aren't perfect and I'm sure there are better videos out there but this works for us. That being said, I'm sharing these videos anyway in case anyone's interested.

UPDATE (8-28-2010):
Here's the 3rd revision of the phonic alphabet video now with 3 seconds between letter/word/photo transitions. It's a little slower paced and probably easier to follow, especially if pausing during the video is not an option.


Related posts:
Book Review: Teaching Reading to Children with Down Syndrome
Early Reading Programs
Speech and Reading Connection
TV Time