More on the issue of early reading opportunities

Victor Bishop

Victor J. Bishop adds to recent discussions on early reading intervention, highlighting the case of his son Emmanuel.

Bishop, V. (2003) More on the issue of early reading opportunities. Down Syndrome News and Update, 3(3), 91-91. doi:10.3104/dsupdate.242

Sue,

What a great issue (DSNU 3(2)) with articles by Erik de Graaf and Rosie Cross ! I will photocopy the article by Cross for Emmanuel's violin teachers.

Regarding Maria Kotlinski's 98th percentile, that is one point I always make in my "Early Literacy and Down syndrome" presentations (the last one was a week ago to the New Orleans Down Syndrome Association that had a booth at National Down Syndrome Society) is that my son has mental retardation/developmental delays, and just like Maria or Sarah Duffen, if my son had been tested at age 24 months for word recognition, he would have scored 99.9%, not because he could sight read 10 words, but rather all other children had not been taught to sight-read yet.

The last thing I want to give my audience is the impression that what Emmanuel is accomplishing is far past attainable to most of their children. The purpose of my talk is so we have less parents asking themselves like Ruth Palatnik from Israel on page 57, why didn't I start to teach my child with Down syndrome to read earlier.

Emmanuel Bishop

My son Emmanuel (born Dec 21 1996) read a welcoming speech at the 2003 NDSS Conference in St. Louis, I enclose the PowerPoint screens.

French

Bonjour! Je m'appelle Emmanuel Bishop.

J'ai 6 ans.

Je suis n'ici à St.Louis.

A tous les peres et les meres, bienvenue à la conference.

Spanish

¡Buenos días! Me Ilamo Emmanuel Bishop.

Tengo 6 años.

Nací en St.Louis.

A todos los papás y mamás, bienvenidos a la conferencia.

English

Good morning! My name is Emmanuel Bishop.

I am 6 years old.

I was born in St.Louis.

I want to welcome all the fathers and mothers to the conference.

My son is being raised bilingual English/Spanish and is tutored in French. The objective was to show parents with toddlers with Down syndrome that an early sight-reading, visual based programs like the Love & Learning kits for ages 0-3 (https://www.loveandlearning.com) or Glenn Doman's "How to teach your baby to read" (flash cards) is a good adjunct to early intervention.

Regards,

Victor J. Bishop

Illinois, USA