In Reply to: working with a down's syndrome child posted by Heather Fox on November 05, 2000 at 20:34:33:

: i work with an 11 year old girl with down's syndrome and i was wondering how i could learn to understand her speech better. she has a speech therapist at school but i work with her after school and i have a hard time understanding her and it's frustrating for both of us. I feel like i'm missing a lot of conversation with her and am not learning her needs and feelings like i'd like. How can i help her speech myself? i'd really like to do that with her but i need to make it non-confrontational and fun as possible. i spend about 19 hours a week with her and i love her very much. if you could help, i'd appreciate it.

I have an 11 year old! We have a great speech therapist - I suggest you talk to the child's and get ideas. We use sign language for the very important things. Also, we tape record our child and play back to her - showing her that she talks so fast that we can't keep up - this has helped. Good luck!