Communicating Phonics - The Communication Trust

Communicating PhonicsSection 4 > Different types of speech, language and communication needs > Children with Down’s syndromeYou should also consider the following in your literacywork with a child with Down’s syndrome:Does the child have an individually tailored daily readingprogramme that’s informed by recommendations on teachingchildren with Down’s syndrome to read, teaching phonicsthrough good visual, kinaesthetic programmes alongside awhole word approach, using match, select and name?Is the child supported to develop phonic skills througha programme of activities that takes into phonologicalprocessing; specifically targeting letter sound correspondence,marking syllable structure, discrimination between singlesounds, onset and time and discriminating sounds in words ofincreasing complexity?The outcome of the checkThere will be a wide range in variation in how individuals respondto this check. Some children with Down’s syndrome will be ableto engage with the tasks and demonstrate some phonic skills. Forthose learning to use phonic decoding, if performance is consistentwith performance in other contexts, the check may be an accurateindicator of skills.However, children with Down’s syndrome are likely to rely on wholeword recognition for longer periods than other children and notto use phonic skills for decoding during Key Stage 1. 59 This meansthat checking of phonic skills, during Key Stage 1, is likely to give anunder estimate of functional reading ability.Research has demonstrated particular difficulties with soundsynthesis, which will affect reading of non-words. Many children withDown’s syndrome substitute known words when presented withnon-words in tasks.71