Reading, writing and literacy

The ability to read and to write is a clearly valuable skill which increase any persons opportunities in daily life and in employment. Twenty years ago, most people believed that literacy skills were beyond the capacities of anyone born with Down syndrome.

The pioneering work of the Trust in the 1980s changed that view and there has been a significant increase in research into literacy worldwide in the last 10 years.

Research studies not only indicate that a majority of children with Down syndrome can attain useful levels of reading and writing skills but that literacy is often a strength that is they read better than might be expected for their general cognitive or mental age levels. In addition, reading instruction can lead to improved spoken language and memory skills.

Research

Early reading in preschool years

The Trust's first reading study began in 1980 and investigated the reading abilities of preschool children with Down syndrome. A number of the children were able to learn to read words, from as early as 2 years and 6 months and some found it surprisingly easy^[1,2], confirming the reports available from parents at the time.

Case studies

The Trust has continued to collect and publish case study data working with children in the Trust's Early Development groups and with parents around the country and abroad. These case studies often demonstrated high levels of literacy skills - sometimes at age appropriate levels despite general cognitive delays - accompanied by good spoken language, again better than usually expected for children with Down syndrome^[3,4,5].

Reading progress in school years

In the 1980s almost all children with Down syndrome were educated in special schools, did not receive academic teaching and therefore their literacy learning could not be studied. A small study in special schools demonstrated that a number of the children could begin to learn to read and that reading helped some of the most delayed children.

In 1988 the Trust pioneered the development of inclusive education in the local area and in the 1990s it became possible to begin to study the literacy progress of representative groups of children with Down syndrome who were being taught on a daily basis in mainstream classes.

From 1993 to 1997 the progress of 24 children was followed longitudinally to evaluate their reading progress, their use of phonic strategies, and any links with language and memory progress. The reading skills of the children varied quite widely, as did their rates of progress over this period. They tended to have better reading skills that would be expected for their other cognitive and language abilities. Their reading skills tended to be some 2 years ahead of number and language skills. Over time, readers with word reading skills over 7 years demonstrated phonological awareness skills (the ability to detect the sound patterns in words) and the ability to understand and use phonics for decoding and spelling.^[6,7,8]

Another look at preschoolers

From 1997 to 2000 a study of a group of preschool children with Down syndrome confirmed their early reading abilities and a number of the children had age appropriate reading skills in their first year in full-time school^[8,9].

Data on reading from other Trust studies

Data collected as part of memory training research indicates that children educated in mainstream classrooms achieve higher levels of reading ability. It also provides some evidence to indicate that instruction in reading and writing can improve speech, language and working memory skills^{[10, 11]}

Data collected to look at the progress of teenagers and the effects of different educational environments demonstrates that while reading achievements vary among individuals with Down syndrome, they achieve higher levels of literacy when educated in fully inclusive environments - that is within a mainstream class^[12,13].

Impact

The work of the Trust on reading in the 1980s and early 1990s changed attitudes and expectations worldwide and led to a realisation that children and adults with Down syndrome could indeed learn to read. It also encouraged researchers to begin to investigate the reading abilities and achievements of this group of children. Many thousands of children world wide have learned to read following the advice on teaching methods provided by the Trust since 1983.

Education

The Trust has published 4 books and two videos illustrating the progress of children and describing effective teaching methods for parents and teachers from preschool through to secondary school. Trust staff have also written 8 invited chapters on the teaching of reading and writing for publishers in the UK and USA. They have published 5 papers in refereed journals with a further 3 in preparation. The Trust has published 4 articles in other journals and presented 48 keynote, invited and peer-reviewed papers on reading at national and international conferences all around the world. The Trust delivers many workshops and training days on teaching reading an writing each year, in the UK and across the world.

References

1. Buckley, S. J. (1985). Attaining basic educational skills: reading, writing and number. In D. Lane & B. Stratford (Eds.), Current Approaches to Down's Syndrome. (pp. 315-343) Eastbourne: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
2. Buckley, S. J. & Wood, E. (1984). Reading and language development in children with Down's syndrome. Booklet and videotape. Portsmouth: Portsmouth Polytechnic.
3. Buckley, S. J., Bird, G. & Byrne, A. (1995). The practical and theoretical significance of teaching literacy skills to children with Down syndrome. (pp 129-146) In J. A. Rondal, L. Nadel & J. Perrera (Eds) Down Syndrome: Psychological, psychobiological and socioeducational perspective. London: Whurr.
4. Buckley, S. J., Bird, G. & Byrne, A. (1996). Reading acquisition by young children with Down syndrome. (pp 268-279) In B. Stratford & P. Gunn (Eds) New Approaches to Down Syndrome. London: Cassell.
5. Buckley, S. J. (1995). Teaching children with Down syndrome to read and write. In L. Nadel & D. Rosenthal (Eds.), Down Syndrome: Living and Learning in the Community. (pp. 158-169) New York: Wiley.
6. Byrne, A (1997) Teaching reading to children with Down syndrome. PhD Thesis. University of Portsmouth.
7. Byrne, A., MacDonald, J., & Buckley, S. J. (2002). Reading, language and memory skills: A comparative longitudinal study of children with Down syndrome and their mainstream peers. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 72(4), 513-529.
8. Buckley, S. (2001). Reading and writing for individuals with Down syndrome - An overview. Portsmouth, UK: The Down Syndrome Educational Trust.
9. Appleton, M (2000) Reading and its relationship to language development: a comparison of pre-school children with Down syndrome, hearing impairment or typical development. MPhil Thesis University of Portsmouth.
10. Laws, G., Byrne, A. and Buckley, S. J. (2000) Language and memory development in children in mainstream and special schools: a comparison. Educational Psychology, 20 (4), 447-457.
11. Laws, G., Buckley, S.J., Bird, G., MacDonald, J. & Broadley, I. (1995). The influence of reading instruction on language and memory development in children with Downs syndrome. Downs Syndrome Research and Practice. 3. (2) 59-64.ISSN: 0968-7912.
12. Buckley, S., Bird, G., Sacks, B., & Archer, T. (2002). A comparison of mainstream and special education for teenagers with Down syndrome: Implications for parents and teachers. Down Syndrome News and Update, 2(2), 46-54. ISSN: 1463-6212.
13. Buckley, S., Bird, G., Sacks, B., & Archer, T. (2002). The achievements of teenagers with Down syndrome. Down Syndrome News and Update, 2(3), 90-96. ISSN: 1463-6212.

A full list of publications related to work in this area is available.