What does that say?

When I was a toddler--my mother liked to tell the story--one of the first things I said was, "What does that say?" So she taught me to read. She enjoyed telling the stories about me as a toddler, reading the word cards she made for me, understanding what she was teaching me about contractions. I get the impression that was one of the best stretches of my childhood for her.

 

So when I discovered I was pregnant with my first child (somehow I knew it would be a girl, from the moment of the positive test), I was looking forward to that same stretch. I was thrilled. Imagine my dismay (no, don't) who I found out that Anna might have Down Syndrome. All bets were off.

 

Over the past few years, teachers have been working hard to help Anna to learn to read. She loves books--one of her very first words, when she was using signs, was 'book'--so I thought she would probably learn to read eventually. For years she has memorized her favorite books. She has been able to recite 'How Do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight?' since about 2008, I think. But give her a new book and she would always narrate the pictures. Recently, she has started to sound out words--or at least pretend to sound out words. I'll never forget her sounding out a-l-l-i-g-a-t-o-r when the word actually said 'crocodile'. Asking her to look at the words, trying to correct her? Not much point. She wasn't too interested.

 

Last week, she came home from school with an award for good work in phonics. 'Phonics?' I wondered. This week she had a day off school with the usual cold-like thing. Lucy was at nursery, so we got out Anna's reading book, and I made up a phonics game for her. (Games are better, because the rules are part of the fun.) We had fun, and it seemed that she was actually sounding out the words this time. Amazing.

 

And then at dinner, she pointed to the front of Lucy's high chair tray, to the 'chicco' label, and asked me--clear as day--'What does that say?'