Build interest in reading with games

Reading can be difficult for people with Down Syndrome, and there is often a significant delay in reading ability. People with Down syndrome can and do learn to read. It is a skill that needs to be developed into adulthood. Games are a good way to teach reading skills.

Games to teach reading

I am always on the lookout for games that teach reading skills.  I found this game by Discovery Toys, Word Flip. It is sort of like Wheel of Fortune, where you flip tiles to find the letters behind them and guess a word. In this game, instead of a wheel to spin there are two dice. You roll the dice and choose to either add or subtract the two to get to the number tile to flip.

How to play

Flip all the tiles up. Put in a word card. Each person takes turns rolling the dice. You can add or subtract the dice to determine which tile you will flip down. Once you flip a tile, you will either see a letter or blank space. When enough tiles are flipped, the player can choose to guess the word before his turn. The player who guess the word right first wins.

Variation for early readers or delayed readers

Since Joey doesn’t know a lot of words yet, we play a little differently. The person who flips down the most tiles with letters behind them wins. This introduces him to new words.

The game also includes three laminated, blank cards where we can write our own words in. This is great for practicing his sight words. 

Word Flip is a fun educational game that Joey can play and he really enjoys it.  He also likes to play Bingo and Match games as well as games on the computer. What games do you play to help teach reading?