Did You Know We Offer Literacy Tutoring?

Each individual learns to read and develop literacy skills at a different pace. The GiGi’s Literacy Program builds a foundation in whole word recognition, phonics, vocabulary, comprehension and improved articulation through one-on-one literacy tutoring adapted to fit the learning style of individuals with Down syndrome.

The ability to read opens doors for individuals with Down syndrome in the workplace, schools and the community.  Developing reading skills also leads to improvements in speech and language development, auditory perceptual skills and working memory function.  

Our goal is to foster a love for reading. Trained tutors work at the level of the child, continually challenging and encouraging him/her to reach their Best of All.  Students can start in our program as early as age 3 or any year after that. It’s never too late to start! 

This program is session based which means we offer a session 3 times throughout the year (each session is 10-15 weeks long.) The student and tutor meet for approximately 45-60 minutes weekly. For more information on our Literacy program, please click here.

The Principles of our GiGi’s Literacy Tutoring Program are to: 

• Teach using materials that are meaningful and relevant to the student to maximize interest.
• Teach with a multi-sensory approach to build confidence and reinforce learning.
• Teach students to  practice,  transfer  and  generalize  newly learned skills.
• Teach students to comprehend and use information gained from reading to apply to their real-world experiences.

Goals:

• Increase self-esteem and confidence.
• Educate and inspire students to have a lifelong love of learning.
• To develop the ability to recognize letters, letter combinations, and accompanying sounds (phonics/phonograms.)
• To develop the ability to recognize whole words through matching, selecting & naming.
• To increase text comprehension using leveled reading texts.
• To increase the ability to read independently.

“The Literacy program at GiGi’s Playhouse has been instrumental in helping shape basic reading foundations for my daughter Nora. I am so grateful for her tutor Elizabeth who generously gives of her time every Saturday morning. It has been such a joy to watch the two of them work together and have formed a special bond. Nora knows, “read first and then play.” Thank you for offering such a tremendous program.”

-Beth, Nora’s mom