When Judy O'Halloran's son Casey was growing up, the conventional approach to teaching reading to children with Down Syndrome focused almost exclusively on whole-word sight memorization. But Judy found that approach hit a plateau so she started looking for another approach that could help Casey surpass the plateau.
She discovered the concept of phonograms and explicit phonics instruction and it was transformative and Casey's reading greatly improved. Judy completed training in what's called Orton-Gillingham methods and worked as a teacher before turning her focus directly to parents to give them tools to help their kids themselves.
Marilee Senior found 'whole language' literacy education was leaving too many kids behind — especially kids with learning disabilities — and she also immersed herself in explicit phonics and Orton-Gillingham principles, and she and Judy together set out to help individuals with learning disabilities and Down Syndrome by co-founding Raising Robust Readers. They offers programs that are designed to help families and educators teach reading, and help new readers of all ages achieve authentic literacy.
Rather than stopping at the 26 letters of the alphabet, their curriculum teaches 72 core phonograms of the English language (like single letters like m, or digraphs/trigraphs like ch, igh, or eigh).
Their 2023 book “Phonics the R-igh-t Way for Children and Adults with Down Syndrome" breaks down how parents and professionals can help individuals with Down Syndrome and other learning disabilities become truly literate.
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