You may recognize today’s special guest if you keep up with The Lucky Few podcasts.

Terry Brown from So Happy to Learn at Mrs. Brown’s House joins Vickie and Amanda to discuss the philosophies behind her teachings, her ideas for a child’s potential, setting expectations high, and not limiting what we think a child can do.

She also covers better ways that we can be supporting and teaching them to help set them up for success. You don’t want to miss this fascinating and educational conversation!

Show Highlights:

• Terry’s program was born from some ideas she read in a book about teaching children with Down Syndrome how to read.
• While a paraprofessional, she was given the freedom to test these ideas in the classroom.
• Within six months, the students with Down Syndrome - who went from running around the classroom and hiding under the desks because the previous work made no sense to them - became readers, learners who were excited to learn, and working independently during that 45-minute class period.
• Having zero experience with anyone with Down Syndrome until this setting, working with them became her life.
• Parents started asking her if she could work with their children after school. Three of the children that she started helping after hours had Down Syndrome, one had autism, and one had a learning disability.
• During this time, Terry went from an SDC class to a mixed class to a full-inclusion class.
• She was told that she couldn’t work with Down Syndrome anymore because people were wanting to come to the school she was at just to work with her. 
• She eventually left the school district for private practice.
• Starting with author Patricia Logan Oelwein’s work as a foundation, she discovered over the years while teaching many hundreds of Down Syndrome students how they learned best, and she would make activities that were specific to them.
• Terry is still working with the three children with Down Syndrome that she originally started working with. They are 25 and 26 now. 
• Amanda, Vickie, and Terry discuss Terry’s holistic approach to her students.
• The difference between - and the importance of - questioning and testing is explained. This is pivotal for success!
• How to rewire a child’s brain for learning math. 
• There is value in repetition.
• Ways to improve reading comprehension.
• Ideas for making writing a successful experience.
• There’s a saying in the educational system that Down Syndrome kids plateau at age 5. That is a myth; it is more often the teachers that plateau.

Links/Resources:

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