Supporting reading and literacy development for teenagers with Down syndrome

Introduction

Most teenagers with Down syndrome will have been introduced to reading and writing during their primary school years, but individual rates of progress vary widely. Some teenagers will start their secondary school education able to read and write at a typical 8-9 year level at 11 years of age. [TODO: references 1] This is quite a competent level of literacy skill and they will be able to record their work and to write short texts. Some other teenagers will be at the beginning stages of literacy development and a number of authors have suggested that pupils with Down syndrome may show greater aptitude and interest in learning to read during their teenage years.[TODO: 2],[TODO: 3]

This module, therefore, provides information and activities that can be used to teach reading, writing, spelling and phonics from the beginning to more advanced levels - as well as discussing a functional approach to teaching reading skills for independence. The authors take the view that reading, like number, is a basic skill which should continue to be taught as such in secondary school.

The activities and advice in this module are equally relevant for teachers in mainstream or special education settings.

The reading achievements of individuals with Down syndrome have been steadily increasing during the last 20 years. [TODO: references 3] ,[TODO: 4],[TODO: 5] Research studies have shown that learning to read and the activity of reading accelerates the development of memory skills and the acquisition of language knowledge for typically developing children [TODO: 6],[TODO: 7],[TODO: 8] and for young people with Down syndrome.[TODO: 9],[TODO: 10],[TODO: 11] Reading activities can also improve the spoken language of young people with Down syndrome.[TODO: 10-13] Reading comprehension and learning to write should always be taught and developed alongside reading instruction. The beneficial effects of reading activities for development are significant for young people of all reading and language abilities and all reading achievements can produce gains in life skills and independence.

This module focuses on how to teach teenagers with Down syndrome to develop useful and independent literacy skills. However, the authors wish to stress that being involved in the literate community is the right of every young person and does not depend on being able to read or write independently. [TODO: references 14] Many of the benefits for knowledge and for language learning that come from being able to read can be gained from being read to every day. This should include the daily reading of story books and poems. It should also include the making of individual books and project books, which are read together. Enjoying stories and participating in story telling through acting, making picture representations of stories, and creating poems can be group or whole class activities. An excellent resource containing many ideas that can be used in any classroom is Literature for all.[TODO: 15]

What do we know about the literacy achievements of teenagers with Down syndrome?

There is very little published information available on the literacy achievements of teenagers with Down syndrome. Most of what is available is reviewed in the Reading and writing overview in this series.

The authors recently collected some fairly detailed new information on the literacy progress of 46 teenagers with Down syndrome in Hampshire, UK, and this information is included to provide a guide to the range of achievements that might be achieved by teenagers.

The information in the study was collected using two questionnaires which were completed by parents. The data in [Table 1] and [Table 2] presents the data on reading and writing, combined from both questionnaires, the Written Language Scale of the Vineland Adaptive Behaviour Scale [TODO: references 16] and the reading section of the Sacks and Buckley Questionnaire [TODO: 3] - these measures are explained in more detail in the [Teenage overview] and in the full papers reporting the research. [TODO: 10],[TODO: 11]

The researchers contacted all families in the county of Hampshire, UK, with teenagers between 11 and 20 years, and 46 families agreed to take part. Some of the teenagers (18) had been educated in mainstream, inclusive schools from 5 years of age and the rest (28) had been educated in special schools for children with learning difficulties. The placement of the children was based on where they lived, not on ability, as inclusion began in one part of the county much earlier than in the rest of the county.

Table 1. Reading achievements by teenagers with Down syndrome, 1999

In the tables, the information is based on 41 teenagers, as the five ‘least able’ teenagers in the special schools have been excluded from the comparison of mainstream and special school outcomes. These teenagers have significantly greater developmental delay and different needs. (See the Teenage overview for a more detailed discussion of this issue).

The information in these tables should not be interpreted as indicating what levels of literacy can be achieved by teenagers with Down syndrome. The authors do not have sufficient information about the teaching offered to these pupils to be confident that they have progressed as far or as fast as they are able to.

Until very recently, many teachers assumed that literacy skills were beyond the cognitive capabilities of individuals with Down syndrome and even now, there is not clear agreement among experts about how and at what age to introduce reading.

Most teachers in special education classrooms will not teach reading in the primary school years at the same pace or in the same way as teachers in mainstream classrooms. Our experience would also suggest that higher expectations and the models provided by typically developing peers contribute to the higher literacy achievements of those teenagers educated in the mainstream classrooms.

Teenagers in mainstream schools

The figures in [Table 1] indicate that some 90% of the teenagers educated in mainstream schools have achieved functional (practically useful) reading skills or better, as some 94% can read at least a Year 2 (6-7 year level), read simple stories aloud and read instructions.

Some 83% can gain information from a newspaper, 89% know the sounds of all the letters of the alphabet and 78% can ‘sound out’ new words after reading. Some 65% can read at an 8/9 year level, according to their parents’ estimates, with 53% reading books at this level on their own initiative and some 30% are able to use a dictionary and table of contents.

Reading skills seem to be somewhat ahead of writing skills, as the figures in [Table 2] indicate that, while 94% can read at a 6/7 year level, 71% can write a short note or message and 61% can write a short story or short letter. Being able to read with comprehension is easier for most teenagers with Down syndrome than being able to put their thoughts on to paper. However, some 60% of these teenagers have achieved basic literacy skills which they can use flexibly.

Table 2. Writing achievements by teenagers with Down syndrome, 1999

A further 20% have sufficient skills to write their name and short sentences. The 20% of teenagers in this group are likely to be able to read bus destinations, street signs, to read and write the names of important people such as employers, carers and family members, to read and write greeting cards and their own and others’ addresses, to read menus, directions, weather reports and TV schedules, and to sign their names for the bank. This is a list that Pat Oelwein (a teacher with wide experience of teaching pupils with Down syndrome) indicates as achievable with 6/7 year reading skills. [TODO: references 17] This level of reading ability will definitely enhance their adult lives and ability to function in the community and the work place.

Teenagers in special schools

The figures in [Tables 1] and [TODO: references 2] indicate that the reading and writing achievements of the teenagers in special schools are more limited, but we believe that this reflects differences in learning opportunities and expectations. The teenagers in the mainstream schools have been fully included in age-appropriate classrooms with a high level of individual support from a Teaching Assistant. They have taken part in daily literacy lessons, with work planned for them on an individual basis. They have also had support to read and to record their work in all other curriculum lessons each day.

The teenagers in the special schools have been in classes of about 6 to 8 pupils, all with significant levels of learning disabilities. They will not have had the same level of individual support from a Teaching Assistant. In addition, the teacher will have planned literacy teaching with the needs of the whole class in mind, and the goals and pace of instruction will have been very different from those in the mainstream classroom. The special education teacher’s class may contain teenagers with severe autism, or with significantly limited language or significant behaviour problems. Planning meaningful literacy experiences might include reading a poem together or acting a play. The point being made is that it would be extremely difficult to create the same opportunities for reading and writing instruction in the typical special school class, however committed the teacher, compared with the literacy teaching and learning opportunities in the mainstream classroom.

The authors collected similar data with teenagers in special schools in the same county in 1987. [TODO: references 18] Reading achievements for those in special schools have not changed in that time, despite an increased emphasis on literacy in the curriculum, suggesting that it is indeed difficult to provide an optimum learning environment in special education classes.

Reading is a relative strength

Readers who have also read the number data from the Hampshire study [TODO: references 10] [TODO: references 11] will see that the reading achievements for this group of teenagers tend to be well ahead of their number achievements. For many, reading abilities are a significant strength, as reported in other studies.

Table 3. Vineland Written Language Age - Group means

Progress with age in teenage years

The data in [Tables 1] and [TODO: references 2] give percentage achievements for the whole age group (11 to 20 years old). [Table 3], presenting the reading and writing data from the Vineland Written Language Scale for three age groups, indicates that we should expect significant progress in literacy skills during the teenage years for most pupils. There is no evidence that a learning ‘plateau’ has been reached or that it is too late to begin reading instruction.

Teaching reading and writing to teenagers with Down syndrome

Principles for learning

Encourage a love of books

Young people will be much better prepared to learn to read if they have had plenty of experience of enjoying books. They will know that books are full of exciting and fun ideas, pictures and stories. They will also have seen print, and if the person reading with them has drawn their attention to the words as they read, teenagers will realise the reader is using the words on the page to tell the story. It is important to continue to read stories, poems and plays at home and at school, in teenage years and beyond, especially to young people who cannot read for pleasure by themselves. Unfortunately when young people are delayed, they may be read to less than other children their age when they could benefit from being read to more, with the use of activities to support their enjoyment and understanding of the text. [TODO: references 15] Making books as an individual or group activity may be a good way to begin literacy instruction for teenagers.

Uneven ability profiles and a wide range of ability

Research indicates that children with Down syndrome learn to read in the same way as other children and the same teaching approaches are successful. [19-21] They proceed through the same stages as other children in first establishing a sight vocabulary (logographic reading) and then being able to use phonic knowledge to spell and to decode words (alphabetic reading) but they rely on logographic strategies to read successfully for longer (that is at higher reading levels) than other children. However, their language knowledge will be less than most other children when they begin to learn to read; their ability to write and to plan and order their ideas will also be delayed. In other words, the range of skills and abilities that are needed to become a reader and writer will be much more varied in children and teenagers with Down syndrome than they are in most other children. Teenagers with Down syndrome may have a very uneven reading profile, with word reading ability a strength, but the use of phonics more difficult to master and language knowledge more limited than most other pupils with the same word reading abilities.

While proceeding through the same steps as all other children as they learn to read words, to decode and to spell, to read with comprehension and to write, children with Down syndrome may need each step broken down into smaller steps, with more practice and support for learning at each stage, than many other pupils.

The large number of variables that affect the teaching of teenagers with Down syndrome include their language comprehension, age, hearing loss, speech skills, phonological awareness, reading skills, writing skills, handwriting skills, spelling skills, memory skills, conversation and communication skills. Their opportunities for enjoyment of fiction, non-fiction, poetry, drama, support for learning at home, and their interests and leisure activities, will influence their interest in reading. Their independence and approach to working and learning with a variety of media, including the computer, and their social and academic confidence also affect their teaching and learning.

Some teenagers will follow a course of development similar to most other young people in school, although they may require extra focus on language comprehension and sequencing of ideas. Some may be able to read, comprehend and spell (with magnetic letters or the computer), but be unable to speak clearly enough to be understood or have considerable difficulty learning to write by hand. Others may speak, read and spell well, but have difficulties extracting or producing the main points or ideas in their reading, writing or spoken language. The characteristics of teenagers’ individual profiles enable teachers and parents to design activities to promote their development in all areas of functioning. They should value and use any literacy skills that young people have developed and recognise that they can be used to promote the development of their speech, language, communication, cognition, behaviour and achievements across the curriculum.

The links between reading and spoken language

Activities at each teenager’s comprehension level

When introducing reading instruction to teenagers with Down syndrome, the links between reading and spoken language knowledge need to be considered at all stages. Teenagers can only read with understanding if they already know and understand the words, the grammar and the sentence structures used in the text. Therefore it is important to introduce reading activities at each teenager’s language comprehension level. Teenagers with Down syndrome will almost always be delayed in language comprehension and it is important to use vocabulary that they understand and short simple sentence structures.

As young people with Down syndrome progress and begin to read simple text with confidence, using language that they already know, then reading is a powerful tool to use to teach new vocabulary and grammar.

Speech and language therapy advice

The advice of a speech and language therapist is valuable when planning literacy activities as the therapist can tell you the level of language comprehension that a teenager has reached and advise on appropriate vocabulary and sentence structures to ensure that they can read the material with understanding. Teenagers’ speech and language therapy goals can also be included in literacy work. However, many parents and teachers will be working without the support of a speech and language therapist and it is possible to follow a very simple rule to be sure that the language level of literacy work is appropriate.

!

Figure 1. This teenager constructed this story, with support from a scribe. This was a differentiated task for the 14-year-old teenager to write a story about an animal. His peers in mainstream school wrote animal fables. The teenager read his story to the class.

Expand the teenager’s speech to create written sentences

Listen to the teenager, take his/her own words and make the shortest correct sentence for them. For example, if the teenager says ‘’coke’’ or ‘’buy coke’’ when asked ‘’What would you like?’’ in a shop or canteen write ‘’I would like to buy a coke’’. The reader will notice that this is the way we help all children develop their spoken language, it is an example of expansion - the term used when we speak to young children and expand their one and two word utterances in this way. If this simple rule is followed, the language used in literacy activities will be at the level of the individual’s language comprehension and it will help them to learn the grammar of and to say longer sentences ( [Figure 1]). If vocabulary and grammar checklists are being used for the teenager, they will provide a detailed guide to appropriate words and sentences for reading for the young person.

The importance of active involvement of the teenager

If a young person is going to enjoy learning to read and reading activities are going to help speech and language development, they must be actively involved in the whole activity, not just passively reading or copying work prepared for him or her by a classroom assistant. This is not always easy to achieve and clearly less advanced teenagers may need more help to decide on words and ideas to record than more advanced teenagers, but it is a very important principle.

Teenagers should be encouraged to choose what they want to record by discussing the activity with them. Use flashcards and encourage the teenager to choose the key words and then to build the sentence, or build the sentence on the computer first, even if you then write it out for the teenager to copy. Active thinking and engagement in the task is necessary for learning.

Resources

Young people of all ages and ability will need a variety of resources for teaching and learning. Some resources can be bought although many are likely to be created at school and home. These will include:

• word cards, (bought, home or school made, printed from a computer, laminated, on card or thick paper)
• a computer and software packages, both with content and content-free software for personal content creation. Some computer packages link with reading schemes
• books, worksheets and activities, home or school made - (differentiated if necessary, i.e. simplified to the teenager’s level of understanding and skill)
• published reading, phonics and writing schemes, text books, worksheets, booklets and programmes of work
• a language book, to practise grammar targeted for the individual, e.g. comparatives, pronouns, tenses
• tape recorder, for recording ideas for writing
• resources and apparatus for meaningful writing - e.g. letters, diaries, newspapers
• a scribe, to record from spoken language and tape
• a range of conceptual aids and techniques to enhance recording, e.g. spider diagrams, webs, maps and other types of writing frames
• creative use of pictures to support understanding of concepts and to aid memory
• a conversation diary, for personal language, to aid communication, speech and language

Teaching methods

Teenagers with Down syndrome learn to read in the same way as all other children but they may need smaller steps, more practice and more structured guidance to achieve success. [TODO: references 22],[TODO: references 23] Teaching methods (input - e.g. spoken and visually supported) and pupil response methods (output - e.g. writing, flashcards, computer) that provide structure and guidance, with graded levels of support, will promote successful learning for all levels of work.

Methods will include:

• matching games of various types
• copying games
• selecting games
• choosing for a missing word or ‘cloze’ task to complete sentences ( [Figure 2])
• finding the last word or part of a sentence (by selecting a word card, sentence card, or on the computer)
• offering limited choices for pupils to choose answers from, rather than asking them to say or think of the answers
• and a graded progression from supported work to self created and independent work
• encouraging pupils to write down words they are learning to read
• teaching spellings

! Filling in missing words on a worksheet (‘cloze’ activities)

Figure 2. Filling in missing words on a worksheet (‘cloze’ activities)

Remember that learning from listening only is difficult for teenagers with Down syndrome and that their strength is in visual learning. Beginner readers will learn by ‘look and say’ methods and games described below to teach a sight vocabulary. They should also be encouraged in phonic activities.

Hearing loss

The incidence of mild to moderate hearing loss in children with Down syndrome is high and remembering some simple guidelines can help to compensate for their difficulties. Many teenagers may only have a small amount of hearing loss, although hearing levels can fluctuate and vary, but even a small amount of hearing loss affects listening in the classroom and can affect behaviour, performance and language learning. Reading and phonic work requires good auditory discrimination. Therefore, for teenagers with Down syndrome it is advisable to take account of possible hearing difficulties at all times.

Words, sentences, phonics and text work

The rest of this module provides teaching strategies and ideas for the teaching of reading under four main headings, teaching word reading, building sentences and grammar, teaching phonics and teaching reading and writing with comprehension. Each of these topics is relevant for teenagers at all stages of reading and writing, and a single literacy activity can include the pupil’s targets in each of the four areas. Graded lists for [reading], [writing], [phonics] and [handwriting] are included at the end of this module, as a further aid to identifying targets.

The reader should note the links here with speech and language targets for teaching vocabulary (words), grammar (sentences) and speech work (phonics). Reading is a language activity and all reading activities will help to improve spoken language abilities. When planning reading activities, remember to take account of the teenager’s speech and language targets and incorporate them into reading targets whenever possible.

Reading for meaning

All reading activities should be designed to be meaningful and fun for the teenager. The first experience for beginning readers is to enjoy gaining meaning from the text, with the help of a teacher or peer. The targets in each of the four following sections will help you to build a teenager’s basic literacy skills, so can be kept in mind when planning each literacy activity - but the activity should be meaningful and interesting as a whole.

For the beginning reader, this will mean scaffolding success by interpreting the text with him or her and prompting success with word, phonic and text level work.

Learning to read words

Most young people with Down syndrome can learn words by sight before they are able to recognise, learn or apply the rules of letter sounds, phonemes and graphemes. For them, whole word learning is a strength and will give them reading success, even if they have poor speech and auditory discrimination skills.

• Learning to read whole words (a sight vocabulary) can teach word meanings that will help to build speech, language and literacy skills. A visual image of a word is particularly helpful for people who are good visual learners, especially those who find it difficult to develop an auditory image or memory for sounds, words and sentences. Learning to read words can be beneficial for people with Down syndrome of all ages and abilities.
• Learning new word meanings by reading develops vocabulary knowledge and helps teenagers learn about the world.
• Learning to read words that are already understood enables teenagers to learn about how words work together, or how to understand and use language.
• Saying words, individually and in sentences, helps teenagers to improve the clarity of their speech, so reading words also provides practice for learning to speak more clearly.
• Learning to read words in semantic categories, or associating words with similar or linked meanings, builds teenagers’ understanding of language in an organised, integrated way and may make it easier for them to use their language knowledge when communicating.
• Learning to read also helps teenagers to improve their working memory function. Improved working memory enables people to process and remember information more easily and to choose the correct words to express their feelings or ideas more quickly and accurately.
• Learning to read words with similar sounds in them, rhyming words, and similar spellings or word families helps teenagers to recognise the sounds within words, link these with their other reading activities and develops their ability to use phonics (phonological awareness). This will help them to speak, to spell, to write as well as to read.

How to choose words and teach them

! Words for lessons and teachers

Figure 3. Words for lessons and teachers

The choice of words for any teenager will depend on the stage the teenager has reached in learning language, his/her age, cultural and family background, his/her interests and things they likes to communicate about, and the teenager’s school curriculum. This section describes recommendations for beginning to teach reading using whole words, how to extend vocabulary and how to encourage reading for pupils of all ages, levels of ability and rates of progress. It also stresses the importance of schools and families working together.

Words that the teenager needs or wants to say clearly can be targeted, e.g. ‘sausages’. Social phrases can also be learned through reading aloud, much like a play script. Words from a reading scheme, and support materials such as Wellington Square [TODO: references 24] and words from a programme for reading remediation are also likely to be chosen and practised. Words that have been chosen should be practised daily. Words for reading can be based on the teenager’s vocabulary knowledge, on vocabulary in school that links with school life (school vocabulary, routines, reading scheme vocabulary, as in [Figure 3] and [Figure 4] as well as words linked with home life (such as family names, friends’ names, routines and interests).

!

Figure 4. Days of the week word-cards

Much vocabulary will emerge from lessons in school. Reading, writing and saying the words will improve the teenager’s articulation, e.g. for maths ‘measure’, ‘centimetre’, ‘metre’ and ‘ruler’ might be read, copied and said, for PSE, ‘deodorant’ and words for feelings, like happy, sad, delighted, surprise, jealousy or anger.

For teenagers beginning reading, it is important that the words and materials selected and style of interaction used with them are age-appropriate, although the stages and principles are similar for beginner readers of any age.

Content words and high frequency words

As teenagers’ reading skills develop they will need to learn words that are common in written and spoken English. Many of these words can be taught as words or flashcards with matching games, or other teaching activities that offer frequent repetition.

They will also occur and be read in the grammatically correct sentences in conversation diaries. Reading high frequency words in sentences helps to give them more meaning, and enables them to be practised with purpose.

Many teenagers find learning function words (prepositions, pronouns, auxiliaries) as sight words difficult to achieve, whereas content words (nouns, verbs and adjectives), where meaning can be illustrated with a picture, symbol or more visual representation are likely to be learned more quickly.

!

Figure 5. High frequency words practised daily in school

Many of the ‘high-frequency’ words ( [Figure 5]) that are essential for fluent reading are function words and should not, on their own, form the foundation for learning to read for young people with Down syndrome. They do need to be learned though, and this can be achieved by including them with equal numbers of content words that can be more easily remembered.

Differentiation and vocabulary learning

Work is likely to be differentiated (simplified) for teenagers with Down syndrome of all ages, to varying extents. Words can be chosen from across the curriculum to extend vocabulary knowledge and enable teenagers to access the curriculum, revise and remember what they have learned ( [Figure 6]).

Schools and parents should work together

Parents can be included in planning for schemes of work so that vocabulary can be chosen with the teenager’s interests and life experience in mind, and can also be reinforced by parents at home. For example, parents could contribute ideas for the books that will be used in literacy lessons, for topic work and maths words. Parents can help to identify words the teenager needs or would like to be able to say more clearly, so that these can be included in reading work.

Vocabulary from reading schemes

Words that are part of a core vocabulary from a reading scheme can be taught to teenagers at school and practised at home.

! Reading and writing new vocabulary in history : topic World War II

Figure 6. Reading and writing new vocabulary in history : topic World War II

It is important to find reading books with age-appropriate content for pupils in secondary school. Wellington Square [TODO: references 24] is popular, and Wolf Hill [TODO: references 25] for the younger age range. Wellington Square has activities books and activities available on CD-Rom as well as supporting language activities.

Other books for reading ages 6 to 12 years are likely to be suitable. If possible, several sources should be tried with a teenager, to find a personal preference. Non-fiction books can also be used to develop vocabulary and reading skills. Many teenagers will enjoy factual books that they can relate easily to their daily lives and experiences.

Visually supported reading using pictures, symbols and objects

Most people with Down syndrome are able to learn to read using ordinary text from the beginning and the authors discourage the use of symbol systems to teach reading unless a person has made no progress with learning to read after appropriate literacy teaching. Picture symbols are all around us in the environment and they can enhance learning and support our understanding in many ways but using symbol systems as an aid to reading words and sentences introduces another symbolic system they may not need. However, for teenagers who practise often but still seem to find it difficult to select or remember words, picture symbols (such as Makaton symbols [TODO: references 26] and pictures can add to the fun and success of reading. These can be taught in the same way as teaching written words, with matching games initially, and combinations of words, symbols and pictures can be used together.

! Using pictures to illustrate meaning - keeping safe! Using pictures to illustrate meaning - hygiene

Figure 7. Using pictures to illustrate meaning

! Food chains. The pupil’s own drawings support learning

Figure 8. Food chains. The pupil’s own drawings support learning

Working with symbols is different from working with words. Symbols do not necessarily map on to all of the words in a sentence. For this reason, symbols do not easily support the learning of sentence grammar. However, symbols can support understanding of ideas represented in words (for example, question words), text, locations, events, time, routines and sequences. Symbols can be added to pages or next to words and sentences, as can other visual aids and objects to help teenagers understand and remember. As a general rule, introduction of picture symbols for teenagers is not necessary for learning to read written words, although use of pictures and symbols may make recorded work and activities more interesting and aid comprehension by illustrating concepts ( [Figure 7] and [Figure 8]).

Computer software is available to support writing with symbols and words. [TODO: references 27],[TODO: 28] Whether or not symbols are used, continue to teach reading throughout secondary school years, as people with Down syndrome may learn to read at any age [TODO: 2],[TODO: 23] and some are more motivated to learn to read as teenagers or young adults.

Supporting memory, learning routines, following instructions and learning to be independent

As a result of auditory processing and auditory memory difficulties, teenagers with Down syndrome are likely to have some difficulties in processing spoken language in the classroom, and may not remember new instructions.

Being able to read written instruction or follow lists helps teenagers to work more effectively in the classroom. They can keep to their task for longer periods of time, feel more confident that they have not forgotten anything and check where they are on the task. For events and activities that happen regularly, they can use a variety of timetables, for parts of days, whole days, school weeks and calendars of events at home. Timetables are likely to use text and pictures to help teenagers remember orders and sequences, focus on their immediate task and reflect on the past and the future. Whole words and sentences can be chosen to support the development of self-management and independence in the classroom and at home, for example, daily tasks at school, the order of activities at home before going to school and regular after school events.

All teenagers rely on written information for their school work, for homework, for following lesson instructions and keeping to their task. Teenagers with Down syndrome who can write or copywrite can also make their own records and lists, with help from a Teaching Assistant as appropriate ( [Figure 9]).

! Information in preparation for a cookery lesson

Figure 9. Information in preparation for a cookery lesson

Learning to read from phonic teaching

Some teenagers with Down syndrome may be helped to begin to learn to read through mastering phonics. Teenagers with Down syndrome with word reading ages of seven years and above have usually developed phonic skills and are able to use them for reading, writing and spelling, even though they began reading by learning whole words. Those in good reading instruction programmes will have learned phonics in parallel with their whole word reading, and at some stage their visual and phonological skills become interwoven. The time and way in which this happens is very varied. Both teenagers’ abilities to speak clearly and their experience of speaking affect this process.

Some teenagers with Down syndrome may have found it difficult to remember whole words in their younger years and, even with early phonic teaching, may not have been able to use their phonic knowledge for reading in their younger years. At a later stage, with greater phonological awareness, language skills and improved speech, they may be more able to use their phonic skills for learning to read. Teenagers who did not progress with whole word teaching methods at a younger age may learn to read well with a combination of whole word learning and phonic teaching between the ages of 11 and 16 years. They are likely to be able to achieve this through greater experience of speaking as well as sustained teaching of phonic skills, as a part of a comprehensive literacy teaching programme at primary school. All teenagers should continue to learn with simultaneous teaching of phonics as well as whole word reading throughout their education.

Encouraging reading for reluctant readers

Any progress in learning to read should be valued and celebrated. All teenagers should receive reading instruction and sufficient opportunities to learn to read, with materials chosen and made to link with their language and interest levels. Teachers and parents should convey to teenagers that learning to read, at any level of proficiency, is valuable, whatever their rate of reading skill development.

There are many ways of making reading or ‘visual language’ fun and encouraging teenagers to want to learn to read. Reading in a group, with a meaningful literacy activity that includes word, sentence and text level activities, is strongly recommended to develop interest and skills in reading and writing, for example making a newspaper, reading and writing journals and letters. Many teenagers are interested in learning to read when they realise that reading skills will give them new and much desired independence outcomes e.g. reading a shopping list or following a recipe.

Building sentences and grammar

By building and reading sentences teenagers are building their language knowledge.

• Reading simple sentences, at or just beyond the teenagers’ level of comprehension for spoken language, will teach them to understand grammar that they are also learning from listening to spoken language.
• Written words do not ‘disappear’ like spoken ones do, and teenagers are helped to be aware of and remember words and part of words. They have more time to think about the words and to develop their understanding of words and sentences through illustrations and comprehension activities.
• Reading grammatically correct sentences enables teenagers to practise speaking in grammatically correct sentences they could not construct themselves at that stage in their speech and language development, even though they may understand the constructions. Where they do not understand the construction they are reading, they can be taught to do so with comprehension activities.
• Saying longer sentences does not only help language learning - it also helps teenagers to speak and use their language knowledge to communicate more effectively. They do not have to think of the words or the order of the words they want to use when they are reading - these are already provided for them, so they can focus on saying the words and learning the pattern of words in the sentence. The effect of this on self-esteem can be dramatic for teenagers, who, perhaps for the first time in their lives, know that they are saying and using language that sounds like the language used by others.
• Where teenagers have some understanding of phonics, the letters in words also help them to say the words more clearly. In turn, reading the words in the sentence will help them to develop phonic skills and increase their phonological awareness.

Developing writing skills alongside reading

When teenagers can read words in a sentence, they can also write the sentence, by ordering the words. To begin with, this will be by copying, for sentences they have been taught, or short sentences they have memorised from their individual reading books. They can also match whole or parts of a sentence to the whole sentence.

When teenagers have learned a bank of words that includes function words and words that they will need to produce grammatically correct sentences, in writing or speaking, they can create their own sentences by joining word cards together or using appropriate computer software, such as Inclusive Writer. [TODO: references 28]

Choosing grammatical structures and teaching understanding

The best guide for developing the sentences for teenagers to read and write that will help them to learn grammar, is to write in simple sentences about everyday life. More complex sentences can be written for more language able teenagers. Individual books about teenagers’ life at home and at school are good starting points for young people. Who are their family members? What do people do? What happens to them during the day? Use holiday and school photographs and write simple grammatical sentences to accompany these everyday activities and ideas. Do not oversimplify the sentences - do use the grammatically correct forms that you would use when speaking to any other person. This will introduce parts of grammar the teenager needs to learn, quite naturally, for example, tense words, negatives, pronouns, question and answer forms. Teenagers can say what it is they want to tell you about an event, picture or story, and you can write an appropriate, expanded, grammatically correct short sentence to go with a picture.

For example:

• Teenager says ‘’Mum’‘. You write’‘This is my Mum’’.
• Teenager says ‘’Dad’‘. You write’‘This is my Dad’’.
• Using tenses:
• Teenager says ‘’Go football’‘. You write’‘We are going to see the football match.’’
• Teenager says ‘’Went shops, buy crisps’‘. You write’‘I went to the shops. I bought a bag of crisps’’.

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Figure 10. Example pages from a conversation diary

As teenagers’ language knowledge and speech develops, and their reading and writing skills increase, these sentences will be developed further with more complex forms, such as conjunctions (‘’and’‘,’‘because’‘,’‘but’‘), question forms and answers (’‘Why is the girl laughing?… Because…’’), and embedded sentences. These are described in the Speech and Language Overview and DSra grammar checklists DSra-04-01 in this series. Many aspects of language may be represented in even a few sentences in a short text ( [Figure 10]).

Sentences for communication

All the time that everyday language is written down, read back, applied to real situations, classroom work and events, and teenagers are encouraged to create their own sentences, language comprehension is being taught and learned.

Sentences written in the first person, about the teenager’s frequent, real life events have the added advantage of modelling phrases and sentences that the teenager wants to use to communicate with others. Reading communicative phrases can be particularly useful for teenagers who can read but lack social confidence or communication skills, for example ‘’What’s your name?’’ ‘’My name is (first and second names), or’‘Where do you live?’‘,’‘I live at ….’’. Examples of language for conversation skills are included in the DSra Interactive communication checklist. DSra-03-01

Schools and families can work together to write sentences for what has happened at the weekend or at school and practice them in a conversation diary - that is, writing down the sentences the teenager would use to tell what has happened.

A written sentence can help to rehearse information for a situation that may otherwise be difficult, for example, answering the register, giving messages around school, answering the telephone or asking for goods from a shop.

! A time diary

Figure 11. A time diary

At school, sentences can be built during class activities shared with the whole class. This is one of the most important tasks for differentiating the curriculum for pupils. The language used may need some shortening and simplification, particularly if the teenager is going to write the sentence as well as read it - by matching word cards, tracing over, copywriting underneath or copying onto a separate piece of paper.

The authors recommend that sentences be built by using the language spoken to teenagers, language for the ideas that the teenager wants to express, the language of the classroom, social and curricular, and the language that relates to the teenager’s interests, cultural and family life. This will help to develop useful language skills and vocabulary that will be heard and practised often. It also makes the task of choosing sentences easier and within the ability of everyone working with and supporting the young person ( [Figure 11]).

Grammar checklists

Grammar learning checklists and guides can be used to check that important aspects of language learning are being taught and learned. Guidance for this can be provided by each young person’s speech and language therapist. For example, targeting the teaching of the pronouns ‘’he’‘,’‘she’‘,’‘his’‘,’‘her’‘, past and future tense verbs, more advanced prepositions (e.g.,’‘above’‘,’‘below’’), question and answer forms and comparatives.

However, the people who are spending time talking and interacting with teenagers every day (parents and teachers) are in a far better position to teach language and grammar than the teenager’s speech and language therapist. The authors wish to reassure parents and teachers that it is quite difficult to go wrong when creating sentences for teenagers to develop their language through reading, if you use the simple, grammatically correct sentences that are used in everyday language.

Teaching understanding of words and sentences

New vocabulary is introduced naturally in conversation, literacy teaching and in project work across the curriculum, at home and in the classroom. Teenagers will be introduced to new grammar and vocabulary through reading books, and similarly these will teach and model speech and language skills.

Pictures help to teach language comprehension, and can be combined with sentences to ensure that understanding is illustrated or emphasised.

To help teenagers to demonstrate their understanding, especially before they are able to speak or write well enough to convey their understanding, activities can be created or worksheets used in a variety of ways. Some of these are listed in the ’ [Tips for preparing worksheets]. ’ box, reproduced from [Accessing the Curriculum - Strategies for differentiation for pupils with Down syndrome]* These methods can also be used to monitor progress and to help children participate in assessment and test activities.

Some published reading and writing schemes have accompanying work books that teach and test comprehension at the sentence and text levels.

Teaching phonics and spelling

Teaching phonics

Learning how letters and sounds link together is necessary for being able to use an alphabetic strategy for reading and spelling. Readers who can use an alphabetic strategy make faster progress, but it requires the ability to hear the individual sounds in words as they are spoken (phonological awareness) and link them to the written letters.

To become an alphabetic reader requires more than just a knowledge of letter sounds. The alphabetic reader can decode an unfamiliar word by sounding out the letters and then ‘blending’ them to guess the word. The alphabetic speller has to be able to say the word, break it into sounds (segmenting) and then work out the probable letters needed for spelling. It takes a typical child two years to progress from knowing letter-sounds (basic phonics teaching) to being able to use phonics to decode and to spell.

• Learning how letters link with the units of sounds that build words helps to develop teenagers’ phonological awareness. Teaching that helps to make the sound system of a language more explicit helps teenagers to recognise, produce and monitor the sounds that they say and write.
• Linking sounds with letters or groups of letters (graphemes) may help speech perception, phonological awareness, reading, spelling and writing, and speech production. It is also likely to help their higher order language processing, by increasing their perception of grammatical words and promoting the development of grammar comprehension.

Teenagers with Down syndrome will bring different degrees of phonological awareness (the ability to hear the sounds that make up words) to the reading task. They will have differing abilities to produce or say sounds even when they can perceive them, different abilities to recognise sounds in words, even when they know them as isolated sounds, and different abilities to say single words, words of different length and complexity, and sentences. Individual starting points and rates of progress will vary, as will the stage at which the learner will begin to use phonic skills for reading and writing and the extent to which their skills will develop. There is no accepted pattern in the way that teenagers with Down syndrome will hear, perceive, identify, recall or produce sounds, although learning to read, write and spell, practising speaking and developing clear speech will all affect this system of learning.

Skilled readers with Down syndrome, who began early and have continued to develop literacy skills with their peers, may be very good at reading using their phoneme and grapheme knowledge. It is not unusual for such readers to be able to read and pronounce, and sometimes spell, words that are considered to be years ahead of their chronological age, for example, word reading similar to typically developing 16 year olds when they are 11 or 12.

There is an accepted order for teaching phonics that is used in most phonic teaching schemes. Learning to finger spell letters of the alphabet may help teenagers to learn letter names and sounds. A phonic teaching system used for teaching typically developing children in school may be helpful, but teenagers may need more age-appropriate materials than the typical infant resources. Blank cards, the size of playing cards, can be used to create age-appropriate materials for teaching phonics. The letter is drawn on one side of the card, and an item chosen or selected by the teenager drawn on the reverse. The teenager can practise saying the letter, turning the card over to say the word, and reversing this process.

Teenagers will learn how to hear and see the letters in words, beginning with short phonically regular words of two and three letters. They will practice seeing and hearing where the sounds are in the positions of the word, written and spoken. Working with rhyming sets of words helps to simplify the task.

Teenagers with Down syndrome will be enabled to participate in this type of work by showing their choices manually, rather than verbally. They will also be helped by having a smaller selection of choices, even two, to choose between. Letter cards, letters that can be handled, or pointing to select letters from a short list, will all make this easier for them ( [Figure 12]).

! !

Figure 12. Choosing sounds for words with magnetic letters

! Letter sound and handwriting practice

Figure 13. Letter sound and handwriting practice

Teenagers who are developing their handwriting skills may be able to write letters as they participate in phonic teaching games and activities ( [Figure 13]). However, many will need to use letters on card, made of sponge or plastic, letter magnets, and suitable computer software, e.g. Starspell [TODO: references 29] until they have learned to write the letters of the alphabet. Teenagers with Down syndrome can be explicitly taught to read, write and say sounds together to develop their speech production alongside reading and writing skills.

Teenagers with Down syndrome are likely to be learning phonic skills more slowly than the majority of pupils, but there are many other young people in secondary schools that have difficulties in this area of learning and development. The same resources are likely to suit all of these young people, for example, teenagers with dyslexia, Down syndrome, hearing impairments, language impairments, developmental delay and teenagers learning English as a second language.

Teenagers with Down syndrome vary greatly in the development of their phonic skills. They need the same variety of teaching methods for learning to read and write as other children, with some additional methods to compensate for language, memory and handwriting developmental delays. They do not need phonic skills to make progress with learning to read, as they will learn using their good visual memories, but they benefit from learning phonics to build their speech, language, reading, writing and spelling skills. Many young people with Down syndrome will be able to use phonic skills to read novel words and to write and spell, and some will accelerate in their reading and writing development once they have mastered these skills.

Teaching spelling

Functional spelling

Teenagers need to learn to spell the words they need to write. This includes their first and second names, family names, friends names, words that help them to write cards or address presents, for example, ‘’to’‘,’‘love’‘,’‘from’‘,’‘Dear’’. As pupils get older they will need to sign their names, for writing their names on lists or for opening a bank or savings account or other types of permission. Learning to spell and write their address and telephone number as well as the name of their school, so they can name and label their own books and belongings, will also promote their independence. Representing oneself, by use of the written word, is powerful for independence and self-esteem, and pupils will appreciate the value of doing this for themselves instead of someone else doing it for them. Family, social and functional spellings are important for teenagers and they should learn these as part of their spelling programmes.

As teenagers become more skilled at spelling, they are able to develop their writing skills, communicate and record their thoughts more easily.

Methods

The same methods for teaching spelling to all children can be used for teaching teenagers with Down syndrome. Spelling and handwriting can be taught at the same time. Some teenagers will have spelling skills in advance of their ability to write them down due the slow development of their fine motor and handwriting skills.

The need to spell when writing focuses attention on the letters in words and the use of alphabetic knowledge so it can be counter-productive to use flashcard words for sentence building for too long.

Teenagers with Down syndrome may be later in developing the ability to spell using phonic skills than other children with similar reading skills, as this requires good auditory discrimination.

Teenagers need encouragement and practice to begin to try to spell familiar words without a visual prompt and so teaching can be graded, starting with short rhyming words.

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Figure 14. Flipchart to teach spelling

The method of ‘look, learn, cover, write and check’ can be used with pupils of all ages. The teenager literally follows these procedures, and aids can be made to make this easier or more fun - such as a word written in a larger size and a personalised cover for the teenagers to use.

Additional memory games can help to develop the rehearsal skills necessary to memorise the order of the letters. For example, look at, say and write the first letter, then look at, say and write the first and second letter consecutively, then look at, say and write the first, second and third letters consecutively, etc., until the whole word has been memorised. This makes the process of learning in ‘look, learn, cover, write, check’ more explicit and builds up words letter by letter ( [Figure 14]). Another method could be to copy out the word 3 times, by hand or with letters or on the computer first, and then try ‘look, learn, cover, write, check’ methods.

Multi-sensory methods help teenagers to remember the order of letters, for example, tracing over the letters in the word, verbally rehearsing them simultaneously, or ‘writing’ the letters on a table with a finger, reading and saying each letter aloud in sequence.

Mnemonics (for example, pictures, characters or attributes that can be associated with a word) may help teenagers to remember the way the letters are arranged within words. Teenagers can also learn to break the word up into ‘chunks’ or try to visualise the word by taking a ‘photo’ of the word in their mind. This is likely to be particularly useful for words that look similar or belong to word families ( [Figure 15]).

As teenagers’ reading improves, they will begin to associate sounds with letter strings and patterns - so draw their attention to strings, e.g. ‘’ing’‘,’‘tion’’ patterns and sounds as they are reading.

If teenagers misspell a word consistently, return to word matching and help them to discriminate the word for the correct version through matching tasks.

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Figure 15. Spellings showing word families

Finger spelling may help some teenagers remember letters and letter patterns and learning to finger spell can be an enjoyable activity for a group of teenagers to learn together.

There are many structured spelling schemes available and preferred by individual schools and all of these are likely to be suitable, as long as pupils are motivated and provided with opportunities for regular practice.

If teenagers cannot write letters by hand, use magnetic or other types of letters, a spelling board and a computer.

More advanced spellers can practise creating sentences with their new spellings, so that they understand how to use new words in their writing and understand the meaning of new vocabulary ( [Figure 16]).

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Figure 16. Using a new spelling in a sentence

Beyond words and sentences: reading and writing with understanding

Reading with comprehension and putting thoughts onto paper are addressed together in this section. Teenagers with Down syndrome, like many other pupils, will usually need help with both tasks.

As the reading skills of teenagers with Down syndrome develop, they may be able to accurately read text that they do not understand. They need sensitive support to help them to understand what they are reading about and to teach them comprehension skills.

When they are asked to write about texts or record other information, including their thoughts or their feelings, they may need strategies or tools to help them to order their knowledge and convey their thoughts onto paper. The strategies and tools described below can be used for developing both reading comprehension and writing skills. One of the best ways to encourage understanding is to ask teenagers to write about what they have read, therefore the main techniques are described below for comprehension in both reading and writing. Sentence level comprehension and writing is described earlier in this module.

Strategies for developing skills

Comprehension and production of text can be affected by teenagers’ comprehension of vocabulary, grammar, life experience and general knowledge, the difficulty of the reading task, the amount of information presented to them in the text and their ability to remember what they have read. Many texts assume that the reader will draw on their knowledge and can use inference to understand implied meanings in stories. [TODO: references 30] Teenagers with Down syndrome usually find inferencing difficult. Lists of strategies for encouraging understanding and participation, and supporting recording and responding are shown in the adjacent boxes.

Vocabulary knowledge

New vocabulary or vocabulary that teenagers may have some idea about can be explained to them in words that they understand, using written language. For example, for learning the word ‘’vet’’ it may be helpful to explain ‘’a vet is a doctor for animals’’.

Grammar comprehension

The complexity of the grammar used in sentences may be difficult for teenagers to understand. They may need someone to explain what the sentence means, and to rewrite complex sentences into several simpler sentences. They may need extra sentences inserted into the text to make clear links between sentences and to reduce the need for inference ( [Figure 17]).

! Written record for interactive lesson year 8 in secondary school (pupil aged 13 years)! Written record for interactive lesson year 8 in secondary school (pupil aged 13 years)

Figure 17. Written record for interactive lesson year 8 in secondary school (pupil aged 13 years)

Content and interest

Sometimes when teenagers show little interest in what they are reading about it is because the ideas expressed in the text are too far removed from their knowledge, life experience and interests at school and home. If this is suspected to be the case, teachers and parents can try to link the content of text to teenagers’ life experience, people and places the teenagers know, or use more illustrations and dramatic effects to help focus their interest and develop understanding ( [Figure 18]).

! Magazine about interests (pupil aged 14 years)

Figure 18. Magazine about interests (pupil aged 14 years)

Alternatively, parents and teachers may choose reading materials that teenagers are already interested in, which enable them to more easily relate the content to their existing knowledge. More challenging reading material can be introduced periodically to encourage teenagers to widen their interests and to allow for their interests to change with increasing maturity and changing motivation.

Some teenagers with Down syndrome are motivated to read, understand and learn from the same texts as their peers, regardless of the initial level of difficulty. The effects of social and academic inclusion on learning and motivation should always be considered first and teenagers should not be excluded from accessing literature based on assumptions about ability. Teenagers sharing texts with their peers in lessons will mostly need help in the form of differentiation, encouragement and discussion to develop their understanding of difficult texts. In contrast, teenagers who prefer to work independently without individual support or discussion in lessons are likely to need even more changes made through differentiation to enable them to access the English curriculum and share texts ( [Figure 19]).

! Worksheet and record for English in secondary school

Figure 19. Worksheet and record for English in secondary school.

Level of reading and speaking difficulty

If sentences are difficult for teenagers to read and say, they may put all their effort into reading aloud and focus less on understanding what they have read. For texts at a challenging word reading level the texts should be easier to understand to allow for this. Many teenagers are helped by being read the text by a support worker, so that they can also follow the text visually before or after they read it, or both. Listening to or reading the text a second or third time gives them more opportunities to understand and think about the information conveyed.

Remembering and building comprehension for reading and writing

Remembering what has been read, relating new information to that on previous pages and linking this with existing knowledge, are functions of memory, in particular working memory. Information stored in more permanent long term memory is retrieved, and used or combined with new incoming information in working memory to facilitate understanding. Therefore understanding what has been read and planning what is going to be written are both heavily dependent upon this memory function. Teenagers with Down syndrome who are progressing well in all other aspects of their development are usually more delayed in the development of their working memory system. Working memory difficulties are common in the classroom, affecting many other slow learners.

To compensate for this processing weakness teenagers with Down syndrome need help to extract and build their understanding as they read, at the word, sentence and text levels. As well as talking about what has been read and prompting teenagers to remember verbally, they can be encouraged to choose ‘key’ words or short sentences, for parents and teachers to write down for them. After building their understanding in this way, they can then be asked to write about what they have read, or to answer specific questions ( [Figure 20]).

! Worksheets and records for English

Figure 20. Worksheets and records for English

With single word records

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Figure 21. Wizard of Oz ‘Mind Map’

When recording ideas and stories in single written words, understanding will involve at least two lists, one for the ‘people’ and one for the events or ‘things that happen’. If places are needed then these will make a third list. As teenagers become skilled at this they will learn to choose and write key notes themselves. When reviewing or rehearsing using these lists, teenagers can draw lines between key words to build up a plan or map. Extra pictures that illustrate or convey meaning will help them to remember even more.

Two column lists will help teenagers to remember, although even more interesting and useful plans or maps can be built using ‘concept’, ‘mind’ or ‘model mapping’ techniques. As well as placement of words, different coloured pens can be used for the different types of information being recorded. These and other ways of building understanding and showing links between information visually can be used to help teenagers remember, understand and learn, for both comprehension and writing skills. Teenagers will need to learn how to follow one type of plan, web or map initially so that they can use it for helping to organise, remember and manipulate information across the curriculum ( [Figure 21], [Figure 22] and [Figure 23]). [TODO: references 31] [TODO: references 32]

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Figure 22. Wizard of Oz flow chart

! Spider diagram

Figure 23. Spider diagram

With sentences

Teachers and parents can write sentences on strips of paper or card and ask teenagers to arrange the sentences to match parts or the whole of stories and texts. Teenagers can be encouraged to re-read the original text to find the information they need to order the sentences and ideas they represent correctly.

Storyboards ( [Figure 24]) and other forms of writing frames can be adapted for use with words and sentences. Storyboards have a series of boxes for recording illustrations or drawing pictures. Time order (what happens ‘’first, in the middle and at the end’‘, or’‘first, next, next, and in the end?’’) or content type (names and descriptions, places, events), or a combination of both approaches can be used.

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Figure 24. Worksheets and records for English

Many worksheets linked with text books (across the curriculum) are ‘writing frames’, as are specifically created worksheets ( [Figure 25]).

! Worksheet used in food technology

Figure 25. Worksheet used in food technology

The techniques described in this section are taught to all teenagers receiving literacy instruction in UK schools. However, the need to practise remembering and understanding what you read in order to build comprehension and develop knowledge is especially important for all teenagers with working memory and language delays.

Assessing comprehension

Assessing and monitoring reading comprehension skills are made easier for teachers and parents by developing use of the tools described above, which help teenagers structure the information that they read and write about. Teenagers are more likely to be able to talk about what they have understood using a plan to prompt them and, with practice, can move towards more independent and spontaneous description, discussion, and question asking and answering.

Their difficulties can and often do lead to their comprehension being underestimated, and with some thoughtful help and teaching, they can do much better. Maps, webs and visual plans help teenagers to demonstrate their understanding in ways that are not necessarily sequential, and do not require verbal or writing skills, e.g. [Figure 20].

With purely verbal questioning by a teacher or parent, teenagers may forget questions before they are able to answer them so written questions will support them in this process. They can also be asked to point or act upon what they have read, to manipulate pieces of paper, words and pictures, order sentences prepared on card or paper, write answers, select words by ringing them, complete cloze procedures or talk into a tape recorder to demonstrate and develop their understanding.

Sequencing pictures and sentences to teach time and event order

Pictures can be used to help teenagers sequence ideas. Where pictures clearly represent the actions of the story or text, these activities can help to develop and demonstrate comprehension and planning beyond the single sentence level. They can support writing activities. Photographs are particularly useful for teaching the language and developing understanding of time, e.g. [Figure 11].

Writing development

It is usually easier for teenagers with Down syndrome to write about familiar topics or well known stories and information than to create new stories or poetry. Like most teenagers, they are likely to begin by writing known or well rehearsed information (this need not all be factual, but could be based upon favourite songs, stories or TV ‘soap’ characters (as shown in [Figure 18]) and lead into more creative styles of writing, or writing based on new information they are learning about from their school curriculum.

Writing about everyday activities

Writing about sequences that relate to daily life will help to teach these sequences, as teenagers can read them and practice them, as well as act them. This two-way process can be used to enhance daily living skills and improve behaviour as well as teach language and writing skills. Families and schools can begin with personal books of everyday sequences, for example, getting organised for regular routines at home or at school. Schools and families can work together to write sentences for what has happened at the weekend, or at school, and practice them.

Writing about special events

Diaries and records that describe life events are popular with individuals of all ages. Taking pictures of these events and writing sentences that describe them to create personal books is one of the best ways of developing writing skills and increasing motivation for independent writing. Also, teenagers who cannot yet write independently will be more motivated to practise handwriting by tracing over words and sentences in such a book than by practising with handwriting sheets that have little or no meaningful content. Pictures that can be developed or printed quickly are the best, and digital cameras are likely to be used in many schools and some homes. Instant cameras can be just as effective for those without access to digital technology. This type of record is helpful for developing memory skills through rehearsal, for talking, reading and writing and supporting conversation. These activities are particularly recommended for teenagers through summer breaks and holidays ( [Figure 25] and [Figure 26]).

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Figure 25. Writing about a special event (pupil aged 11 years)

Writing social stories

Social stories are records with text and pictures that can enable teenagers to rehearse social skills or behaviour they are trying to learn for certain situations in advance of entering those situations. Stories can focus on positive or desired behaviours, so teenagers, parents and teachers can combine learning writing skills with teaching social skills, using language written in the future tense. [TODO: references 33]

Developing writing skills further

When teenagers can write and spell sufficiently (or dictate to a scribe) a series of sentences, many continue to need a guide or frame to help them to progress to producing longer pieces of writing. For example, some teenagers learning to extend their writing skills may begin to write about the topic required and later introduce characters from their family, or add parts of their favourite stories. Writing guides that are frequently referred to and shared planning with a support assistant to produce the guide in advance, will teach teenagers how to extend their writing skills and keep to their original ideas.

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Figure 26. Independent writing using a computer and by hand (pupil aged 11 years)

To develop writing skills in this way often requires a high level of support, to encourage teenagers to say what they want to say or convey, to help them record this - on tape, or in sentences or notes written by the support worker, or on the computer, then transferred onto a writing guide for them to follow.

Some pupils will need continuous support for each stage of writing, some will need help to plan and record, but will then be able to write and some pupils with Down syndrome in secondary schools are able to write independently ( [Figure 26]).

In teenage years, group projects can be developed, with peer group support. For example, a school newspaper or a group report of a curriculum topic or event, or a poem, or a short play could be created - making use of computer skills and graphics, or simply using photographs or ‘cut out’ pictures.

Literacy activities and using computers

A number of authors have identified the importance of literacy activities for teenagers - both to increase their literacy skills and to improve their spoken language abilities. [TODO: references 34] [TODO: references 35] [TODO: references 36 ]

The Latch-On (Literacy and Technology Hands-On) programme of literacy developed at the University of Queensland for young adults with Down syndrome [TODO: references 34] is an excellent example of a comprehensive approach to the development of language, literacy and communication skills. Although it was implemented with young people who had recently left school, the principles are equally applicable to the secondary school age group.

In the teaching and learning activities, computers played an important role - being used to create texts and for email. Students did not have to have a specific level of literacy skill to be included. Significant use was made of photographs, to support story telling, description of events and story writing. Texts were created as joint and group activities, with peers and staff. Teachers would write for students whose writing skills were emerging. Similarly, reading text was a shared activity. The authors emphasise the importance of meaningful literacy activities - such as creating a newspaper together, keeping a diary, and writing a letter. They also found that a tape-recorder was a valuable aid for recording ideas for later text, for aiding memory and to provide feedback for improving oral language. The data being collected as part of this study indicates gains in reading, language and communication abilities.

The value of the computer as an aid to developing spoken language abilities was also demonstrated in the work of Laura Meyers in the USA. [TODO: references 26] She worked with children from 18 months to 16 years of age. She identifies several principles behind her approach which are similar to those identified in the Australian study:

• scaffolding - the teacher works together with the pupil to extend the pupil’s skills and enable them to complete a task
• continuity - learning must be built upon the pupil’s well-established personal knowledge
• power - the intervention must empower the student to perform personally meaningful tasks

Meyers demonstrated the value of the computer as an aid to learning new vocabulary and learning grammar. She describes the power of speech from the computer in assisting children with Down syndrome to talk and extend their spoken language. She also emphasises the way in which written text makes the grammatical markers (such as word endings for plurals, possessives and tenses) and function words (articles, auxiliaries, prepositions) obvious visually, enabling children and teenagers with Down syndrome to process and learn them. In speech, these grammatical markers and words are not stressed and may be difficult to hear and remember.

There is now a considerable range of software available to support language learning and literacy development for teenagers.

Conclusions

Teaching teenagers with Down syndrome to read and write requires enthusiasm and creativity, but the methods are those that will benefit many other teenagers in secondary school classrooms.

It is particularly important at secondary school that teenagers are given reasons for reading and writing. This understanding of and enthusiasm for learning literacy skills produces significant gains for teenagers with varying skill levels.

A range of resources are available with practical ideas to cover all the aspects of reading and writing discussed, some specifically written for working with teenagers with Down syndrome [TODO: references 37],[TODO: 38] and others written for teaching literacy to all pupils with special educational needs.[TODO: 39],[TODO: 40],[TODO: 41] There is also a range of materials available for teaching reading to pupils for whom English is not their first language. Much of this is suitable for teenagers with Down syndrome.

The benefits of being taught to read and fully included in literacy instruction are extensive, but in particular, the spoken language abilities of teenagers with Down syndrome will benefit.

All teenagers with Down syndrome should be included in reading instruction, differentiated and supported as necessary to help them learn, [TODO: references 28] and be provided with reading books and other materials for use in the classroom and at home. They will also benefit from some additional materials to help them to learn, such as personal word cards, adapted and home-made books.

Skilled readers may need additional activities to develop their reading comprehension and writing skills. Many teenagers will continue to benefit from structured teaching programmes.

Teachers and learning support assistants who focus on language teaching through their teaching and learning activities and in the classroom environment, and who use literacy to support and develop working memory and learning across the curriculum, will be very effective in promoting the development of teenagers with Down syndrome.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank the children, parents, learning support assistants, teachers and schools they have worked with in schools across the UK, whose talents have contributed towards this module. They would also like to acknowledge the contribution of Jane Beadman, Consultant Educational Psychologist, Devon, UK, and Sandy Alton, Advisory teacher for pupils with Down syndrome, Oxford Education Authority, UK, to some of the practical ideas and activities included, and to Ben Sacks for helpful comments on earlier drafts.

Terminology

The term ‘learning difficulty’ is used throughout this module as it is the term currently in common use in the United Kingdom. The terms ‘mental retardation’, ‘intellectual impairment’ and ‘developmental disability’ are equivalent terms, used in other parts of the world.

The term ‘teenagers’ has been used as the generic term for this age group, even though the youngest are 11 year olds, as ‘children’ is no longer appropriate.

In this module, we have adopted a straightforward and direct style in which the reader is addressed in the first person. They have done this because the module is mainly concerned with practical activities and instructions, and we have found that this direct, active style has been appreciated by readers in previous publications.

Graded reading activities

These ideas are not strictly in developmental order. Individuals may be learning skills from across the list, depending on their strengths, interests and the support they receives for reading and writing activities.

• Reads single words as a sight vocabulary e.g.
• 1. Personal vocabulary, e.g. family names, favourite activities
• 2. Reading scheme vocabulary
• 3. Useful content words (nouns, adjectives, verbs) such as colours, numbers, food words,
• Reads words in a sentence as soon as possible, (7 nouns or names with one verb can make 7 sentences, 7 names with two verbs can make 14 sentences). Use the correct grammar of natural language, i.e. include small function words in the sentence e.g. ‘and’, ‘the’, ‘is’.
• Pupil has personal individual books.
• Uses school reading books or scheme, with word cards for core vocabulary.
• Reads a sentence on a sentence strip and place with the correct picture.
• Reads and makes sentences with word cards for carrier phrases e.g. ‘I like’, ‘I can’.
• Check that sentences in school and individual books include varied grammar, including past and future tenses, negatives, pronouns and prepositions.
• Check that the pupil is using a ‘conversation diary’ (record for communication in first person, for reading, with support as necessary).
• Reads teachers and friends’ names.
• Reads school timetable.
• Reads 6-10 words by sight.
• Reads 11 - 20 words by sight.
• Reads 21 to 50 words by sight.
• Reads more than 50 words by sight.
• Check that personal reading books (language books) and school books are used to actively teach grammar - e.g. the pupil reads a sentence and links with the correct picture for meaning e.g. for negatives, tenses, pronouns.
• Reads some ‘high frequency’ words (e.g. National Literacy Strategy list in England and Wales [TODO: references 41] e.g. 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 100+
• Reads two sentences per page, with interest and understanding.
• Uses pictures to support understanding of text.
• Orders two pictures that relate to the sentences they have read.
• Retells a ‘story’ for two sentences.
• Reads and understands three sentences together.
• Dictates a sentence (the pupil’s idea may be conveyed by key words to a scribe) and can read it back.
• Uses reading to learn particular conversation and social skills, with role play.
• Reads and follows written instructions in the classroom.
• Discusses and answers questions about text they have read.
• Completes work books linked with reading schemes.
• Summarises information presented (in text, verbally, through film etc) into three ideas, says, remembers and writes as three sentences.
• Continues to develop reading, spelling and speaking skills.
• Uses notes and lists written for him or her to support understanding, remembering and independence.
• Reads simple stories aloud with ease.
• Reads books for reading ages 6 to 7 years.
• Reads books for reading ages 7 to 8 years.
• Reads books for reading age 8 to 9 years.
• Reads books for reading ages 9 to 10 years.
• Reads books for reading age 10 years and above.
• Reads for pleasure (at any level of ability).
• Reads on own initiative.
• Reads the newspaper to obtain information.
• Can read adult newspaper stories e.g. local news, sports pages.
• Reads adult newspaper stories each week.
• Reads a table of contents when reading.
• Uses a dictionary.
• Uses an index when reading.

Graded writing activities

These ideas are not strictly in developmental order. Individuals may be learning skills from across the list, depending on their strengths, interests and the support they receives for reading and writing activities.

• Make a short sentence with known word cards (e.g. 3 words together).
• Check that sentences in school and individual books include varied grammar, including past and future tenses, negatives, pronouns, prepositions.
• Check that the pupil is using a conversation diary (record for communication in first person, for reading, with support as necessary).
• Make a sentence using word cards or the computer, using more than three words.
• Writes own first name.
• Has weekly spellings to learn, some following phonic rules, some functional words - e.g. family names, Dear, From. (Check use of rehearsal learning method, lift the flap etc, as necessary).
• Writes own first and last name.
• Learning to spell and write some high frequency words.
• Uses spelling software.
• Writes 10 words from memory.
• Orders pictures and sentences (already written down) for a story they have read (3 or 4 ideas, pictures and sentences). May refer back to the text to help - grade tasks in difficulty.
• Writes ‘carrier phrases’ independently - ‘I went’, ‘We went’, ‘I had’, etc, using spelling and language knowledge.
• Dictates a sentence to a scribe, then copy writes and reads back.
• Writes more than 20 words from memory.
• Copies onto a separate piece of paper (out of a book, from a worksheet, from the board).
• Writes a sentence independently, with some grammatical and spelling errors.
• Completes work books and computer activities linked with reading schemes.
• Writes a short personal letter, with help with spelling.
• Writes short notes or messages.
• With help with ideas, writes a known short story or describes events shown in pictures.
• Uses a writing frame to help understand, remember and reconstruct sentences e.g. story board.
• With help with construction, retells and writes down special or personal events.
• Writes a short story, with picture supports for memory.
• Writes simple stories without picture supports.
• Writes personal news, events or school experiences.
• Writes short letters independently.
• Write in styles modelled to him or her, e.g. presenting information on the page in different ways.
• Knows how to record ideas using notes, a spider diagram or word web.
• Uses a diagram or list to write ideas in sentences, with help.
• Copywrites information presented, reads back and makes a diagram with words, lists or frames.
• Summarise information presented (in text, verbally, through film etc) into three ideas, remembered and written as three sentences.
• Continues to develop reading, phonic, decoding, spelling and speaking skills, with all the targets integrated into single topics.
• Uses note-taking and list making skills to support understanding, remembering and independence.
• Writes reports or compositions.
• Addresses envelopes completely.
• Writes advanced letters.
• Writes business letters.
• Uses keyboard and software to support writing appropriately.

Phonic skills and activities

• Discriminates and recognises some sounds heard, with the aid of sound cards, finger spelling or letters of the alphabet.
• Matches letters of the alphabet, associated with the letter sound.
• Selects letters of the alphabet by sound.
• Uses cards with letter on one side and picture and word for item on the other. Learning to say the letter and sound (in imitation), turn card over and say the word/picture.
• Learning to listen to words that begin with one of two consonants and sort into two groups.
• Writes single letters independently from hearing the letter sound.
• Fills in missing letters for CVC words for first consonant (given a choice of two or three letters on card, plastic, magnetic, sponge, or on the computer)
• Fills in missing letter for the final consonant of CVC words.
• Fills in missing vowel for phonically regular CVC words
• Fills in joined vowels, ee, oo in phonically regular single syllable words.
• Uses cards with some blends in letters on one side of a card and a picture of the item on the reverse. Tries to say words and blends.
• Selects blend cards for words they hear (‘sk’ card for skip, ‘sh’ card for shoe).
• Continues to follow stages in phonic learning, appropriate for stage in development, independent of age.
• Sounds out new words when reading.
• Sounds out new words when spelling.

Handwriting activities

Some but not all of these activities are in developmental order. Some pupils may use a keyboard as an alternative or addition. Please try to make activities as meaningful, relevant, interesting and age appropriate as possible for individuals. Handwriting is a useful life skill and activities for teenagers should reflect this.

• Practises handwriting and drawing skills - graded practice.
• Traces over single letters.
• Traces over with finger (if not pen) letters in words they can read.
• Copies at least 5 letters from a model.
• Copies all letters of the alphabet from a model.
• Writes single letters independently from hearing the letter sound.
• Copywrites underneath words.
• Copywrites underneath sentences.
• Copies words or a list from the board or a separate piece of paper.
• Writes in cursive style, or joined writing, some of the time.
• Writes in cursive style, or joined writing, all of the time.
• Finds letters on a keyboard
• Copy types using a key board.
• Writes using a keyboard and familiar software.

References

1. Byrne, A. (1997). Teaching reading to children with Down syndrome. Unpublished PhD Thesis. University of Portsmouth.
2. Farrell, M., and Elkins, J. (1991). Literacy and the adolescent with Down Syndrome. In C. J. Denholm and J. Ward, (Eds.), Adolescents with Down syndrome: International Perspectives on Research and Programme Development - Implications for Parents, Researchers and Practitioners. (pp. 15-26). Victoria, Australia: University of Victoria.
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4. Rynders J. and Low, M.L. (2001). ‘’Adrift’’ in the mainstream: The need to structure communicative interactions between students with Down syndrome and their non-disabled peers. Down Syndrome Quarterly, 6(1) 1-8.
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19. Buckley, S.J. and Bird, G. (1993). Teaching children with Down syndrome to read. *Down Syndrome **Research and Practice*, 1(1), 34-41.
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21. Buckley, S. (1999) Promoting the cognitive development of children with Down syndrome - The practical implications of recent research. In J. Rondal, J. Perera and L. Nadel, (Eds.), Down Syndrome - A Review of Current Knowledge. (pp. 111-123). London, UK: Whurr Publishers.
22. Oelwein, P.L. (1995). *Teaching reading to children with Down syndrome - A guide for parents and **teachers*. Bethesda, MD, USA: Woodbine House.
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34. Van Kraayenoord, C.E., Mari, K.B., Jobling, A. and Ziebarth, K. (2001). Broadening approaches to literacy education for young adults with Down syndrome. In M. Cuskelly, A. Jobling & S. Buckley (Eds.), Down Syndrome Across the Life Span. London, UK: Whurr.
35. Farrell, M. and Elkins, J. (1991). Literacy and the adolescent with Down syndrome. In C.J. Denholm & J. Ward (Eds.), Adolescents with Down syndrome: International perspectives on research and programme development. Victoria: University of Victoria.
36. Farrell, M. (1996). Continuing literacy development. In B. Stratford and P. Gunn (Eds.), *New **approaches to Down syndrome*. London: Cassell.
37. Tien, B., Armour, H., Clelland, C.E.K., Lehn, M., Shyry, C., and Woodward, D. (1999). *Effective **Teaching Strategies for Successful Inclusion: A Focus on Down Syndrome*. Calgary, AB: The PREP Program.
38. Phillips, J., Squire, A., Forrest Smith, L., and Brown, V. (2000). Teaching Reading. Down Syndrome Society of South Australia.
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Resources

Many of the resources referenced in this publication are available via Down Syndrome Education International’s specialist mail-order service. For further information please contact us.