Literacy Program Experience

We hear about a literacy tutor’s first experience at the Playhouse below!

First, Please join us in wishing Angela Rosenberg, our Founding President and current Literacy Program Coordinator, all the best in all her future adventures as she steps down.   Thank you, Angela, for ALL your hours of work making our Literacy program fantastic—from assembling materials to recruiting, training and mentoring tutors, you have done a fabulous job, and we are so grateful.

We are also welcoming a new Literacy Program Coordinator, Vicki Sorber, today’s blog author!   We are so excited to have her taking the reins of this high quality, much-needed program!  We’d like to share something Vicki wrote after her first experience tutoring a child with Down syndrome through this program in the Fall Session.  So inspiring!  If you are considering becoming a tutor, we hope this will encourage you to take the leap.  You CAN help someone with Down syndrome learn.  That’s a gift that will stay with them their entire lives and can open the door to the joy of reading, reading to learn, job opportunities and more.

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GiGi’s Experience

By Vicki Sorber

Tutoring my first “student” with Down syndrome- I will call him Jack…

 

Anticipation: Will I be a positive influence on him?  Will I be able to help him find the way through his through processes to learn how to expose his exceptional abilities?

As a retired teacher, I know I have the teaching experience and education that should help me discover the secrets of this amazing, intelligent young child’s ability to learn.  Millions of thoughts rush through my head: “embrace his gentleness and loving nature,” “understand his abilities are not easily accessible to him,” “whatever I do, I cannot discourage him,” “I know he is capable but how do I help him release his capabilities?” “I cannot become impatient…no matter what…” “Oh please, please, don’t harm him with my own insecurities,” “If I don’t help him, who will?”  So, I tell myself that I must do the best I can and rely on my belief that he can…I think of Jonathan Livingston Seagull and his message: If you think you can, you can…if you think you can’t, you can’t.  So, here I go, stepping into a new challenge that is absolutely my most important challenge….

I prepared my lesson plan for the first meeting with Jack.  I read everything I could about basic instruction for children with Down syndrome.  I had all the objectives set, and knew I was prepared!  Then I met Jack.  He totally threw me for a loop!  He knew more than I thought he would.  No, he didn’t sit down so I could teach him…his ability to stay on task was about one to two and one-half minutes.  He saw everything around him and wanted to do everything all at the same time… He did it with a zest I have not experienced.  Finally, I found something he liked- music!  He could sing the song “Head and Shoulders, Knees and Toes,” as well as perform the movements to this song.  We laughed and made this a positive experience for us both (I realized I was actually the one learning how to obtain insight into Jack and he was my teacher).  I spent the remainder of this session learning…

Jack’s mother told me that Jack’s teacher at school said he was struggling and had a behavior problem?!?  With this information in mind, and my first experience with Jack, I again prepared a lesson plan for the second meeting.  This lesson plan could be used as the model of all lesson plans, except, it didn’t work.  Although Jack’s ability to focus on a task was expanded from the prior lesson, I did not feel as though I was helping him.  So, I threw out my well-intentioned lesson plan and decided to really focus on Jack.  From my own experiences throughout life, I realized I had introduced too much- the surroundings were full of interesting toys, tools, etc.  I went into the classroom and removed anything I felt was distracting.  Instead, I put the “Mat Man” body figure on the wall so that I could use it as a tool for his beloved head and shoulders song!  It worked!!  Then, I used the same form that enabled him to put wooden and plastic body parts on “Mat Man.”  It worked!  Of course, as we went through these exercises we had a lot of fun, high fives, hugs, claps, praise, etc.  Jack and I were having fun and he showed me what he already knew!

Going through his family pictures further enhanced my knowledge of what Jack knew and how he expressed it!  We incorporated the “match” game and it was totally successful!   Jack had finally cotton through to me!  Every now and then he would point to a letter somewhere in the room and let me know he knew what it was.  For example, he pointed to the D and said Daddy!  He pointed to the P and said Pop.  He pointed to the M and said MaMa.  WOW!!  He stayed on task with the family pictures for 15 and one half-minutes; he stayed on task with the “Mat Man” for 10 and one-half minutes.

Jack was able to let me know when he was tired of a project- he folded his hands and put his head down.  It was time for our reward- we went in the hall and played hop-scotch and tunnel-man—games we made up as we went.  Another reward activity we used was the “treasure box.”  He opened it up, pulled out a music (mariachi and tambourine), and we had fun dancing and singing various songs (more head and shoulders too)!  Overall, Jack’s ability to show me how he “works” was very successful!

After juice, hugs and laughter, Jack and his family left.  I must admit, I cried all the way home that evening because I felt a real connection with this “all boy” child.  I truly believe him to be extremely intelligent and he has a lot to offer this world!

***

At GiGi’s Playhouse, we Educate. Inspire. Believe. In people who have Down syndrome.  We live by our Generation G promise to “Be accepting.  Be generous. Be kind”.  This story embodies our mission and the ripple effect of what we all have to offer each other when we live and give these principles.  The first step is grabbing this opportunity!  Come meet us, learn more about Down syndrome and share your gifts with us.  You will give someone with the lifelong gift of learning!

Literacy Tutor Training for our Spring Session is Saturday, December 15 from 1:30-3:30pm.  Call the Playhouse with any questions or RSVP here: https://gigisplayhouse.org/fortmyers/event/literacy-tutor-training-3/

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