Denise Mac Donald is the President and Founder of eReadingPro, a Canadian reading programme. She recently spoke and exhibited at the World Down syndrome Congress in Dublin. Her website is www.ereadingpro.com.

She is currently planning a workshop in Dublin, for Saturday the 28th of November. Workshops are typically 3 hours in length, and attendees will learn the details of how to teach their child to read, as well as how to use the programme. (If they choose to – there is no obligation to purchase)

The reading programme was designed specifically for children with Down syndrome, and was created using all of current existing research on how children with Down syndrome learn, and more specifically, how they learn to read. Since most individuals with Down syndrome are very visual learners, the programme uses the whole-word approach to teach reading. Then it shows users how to progress into phonics after the child has mastered words. The reading program is a progressive and systematic approach to reading, taking the learner from single words, to couplet, phrases and then sentences.

Benefits to this system are:

·         Teaches reading

·         Improves vocabulary

·         Improves verbal articulation

·         Develops grammar skills

·         Improves reading fluency

·         Improves reading comprehension

·         Improves ability to form sentences verbally

Thhhe workshop will take place on Saturday the 28th of November in the Dublin West Education Centre in Tallaght and the cost per participant will be € 20.(sponsored by the Dublin branch of Down Syndrome) If you are interested please contact Eileen Fitzgerald on 01 4914829, mobile 086 6043978/e-mail fitzgeraldem@gmail.com or Marie Brady 05791 21202, mobile 0874154983 /e mail marietbrady@hotmail.com