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 Zoo-phonics and children with special needs
Zoo-phonics works exceptionally well with special needs students.
 Besides learning disabilities, ADD/ADHD and dyslexia, children who, having been diagnosed with autism (including Asperger’s Syndrome), apraxia, cerebral palsy, Down Syndrome, etc., have quickly learned the alphabet, and have been able to learn to read, spell and write through the Zoo-phonics methodology. Children (and their parents) quickly see their own progress, and self-image and confidence grows. Children have been successfully mainstreamed or included because of the efficiency of this program.
Zoo-phonics works exceptionally well with students with learning disabilities because it is concrete, uses pictorial mnemonics, is kinesthetic and multi-modal.
With Zoo-phonics, children learn to read and spell through their eyes, mouth, ears and body. If one perceptual channel is weak, there are three other channels to take over and support the weak one. For example, if a child has an auditory deficit, his/her eyes, mouth and body will take over and help him or her to access, understand, memorize, use and transfer the new information. Children learn though Zoo-phonics when no other program works.
The colorful Animal Letters and Body Movements (Signals) engage the child and hold his or her attention. Because the curriculum is so playful, children not only want to learn, their behavior improves because the children are on task and happy while learning through Zoo-phonics. Instead of telling children to “sit down and be quiet” we encourage them to wiggle their hands and body and make sounds (letter sounds)!
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Zoo-phonics was born in a self-contained special education class!
"We love Zoo-Phonics!!!!! In a little over a week, our boy, a 32-month-old with Down syndrome, learned all the signs and can now make almost all of the corresponding sounds. His speech therapist is elated and so are we! She says he is doing more and better work during speech therapy. He loves playing Zoo-Phonics and often initiates the play himself. The other day he started doing signals and sounds all by himself with no prompting or cards, so in a sense he is doing his own therapy. Thank you so much for this wonderful product! I believe it has changed our son's life."
— Sean King, Parent, Seattle, WA
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Another amazing success story!
“Hello to all at Zoo-phonics! I want to write and thank you for a wonderful product. Our son Hunter (pictured) has many disabilities that make learning very difficult. He has been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, as well as Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and a rare eye disorder. He was getting along socially, and is such a happy boy, but when it came to learning, he did not know the difference between letters and numbers...He could not retain anything he learned. We spent many months in different types of therapy, but nothing worked. He just could not remember the alphabet, or the letter sounds. I searched the web, read all sorts of books, and tried everything to help Hunter learn...Nothing stuck. His teacher mentioned that she was trying a new program called Zoo-phonics...Hunter was excited about the animals, but I thought to myself, “yea whatever, just another thing...” Yes it was another thing, and it has been the BEST thing in Hunter’s life. He is learning the alphabet...He knows the sounds, and HE REMEMBERS!!! There are not enough words to describe our joy. There is hope...Hunter picked up on Zoo-phonics so fast, and continues to make daily progress. His teacher says he will be able to read!!! This is just amazing... We are a family of readers, and I could not imagine my son not knowing the joy of reading on his own, learning about far away places. Zoo-phonics has made this possible. I can never thank you all enough. Hunter has learned the entire alphabet, and is now able to associate the Zoo-phonics animals with everything he sees during the day. He told us a few days ago about the letters in our license plate, and what their sounds were!! Wow...Have I said enough? By the way, your products are all wonderful. After Hunter’s success, I wanted some things at home, to help retain his skills...We are having fun with everything. The Zoo-phonics Fonts are really neat, because we can make coloring and fun activity pages. The stories (Zeke and His Pals) are a bedtime favorite. In closing, I will say thank you again, you created a great product, and you have forever changed our little boy’s life, and given him a chance to go anywhere he chooses in life guided by 26 wonderful animal friends!!”
— Helen Shupe, Parent, Wyoming, MI
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