Support Services Resources
We are thrilled to partner with The George Center to offer FREE music therapy sessions throughout this period of social distancing, with new sessions each week for young children, teens, young adults, and older adults. You may see them pop up on our social media as well.
We ask that when you utilize these videos, you follow this link to Pay What You Can. The George Center and National Down Syndrome Congress will split the proceeds so that we may continue to provide you with the highest quality care during these unprecedented times.
To learn more about the benefits of music therapy, you can view the recording of our recent webinar by Hannah Rhinehart, Director of The George Center.
Gross Motor Skills/Physical Therapy Resources
Down syndrome Program MassGeneral-During this COVID-19 pandemic, we know that many therapy services have been postponed for toddlers, preschoolers, and school-aged children with Down syndrome. Christina Cossa, one of the pediatric occupational therapists in our MassGeneral Hospital Down Syndrome Program, has put together some helpful tips for caregivers trying to manage from home.
Tips for Speech Therapy at Home for Children with Autism- This guide addresses the needs of our children with co-occurring DS-ASD. It provides useful tips to be used with children with autism and Down syndrome alike and gives details as to how parents can conduct speech therapy interventions at home. It includes ideas for speech therapy activities divided by age groups, including infants & toddlers, pre-schoolers, school-age children, and adolescents.
Jump Jump Froggy-This app features four fun activities: Jump up, 30-second speed hopping challenge, sit-ups, and push-ups. Fun animations come to life with each activity; the on-screen action is a direct result of the player’s engagement in the activity. Kids can play to beat their high score and there is a multi-player mode so kids can compete with their friends and family.
Super Stretch Yoga– (By The Adventures of Super Stretch LLC) This fun app created for kids provides an interactive experience for doing yoga. Using storytelling, animation, and video examples, kids can practice 12 different yoga poses (there are videos of children performing each pose). You can go through all the poses at once or choose 1 pose to do at a time and repeat as often as you like. (Free)
Spinny Wheel–Give kids control over the number of each exercise that they do and even what they are doing! This spinner will go round and round and then randomly stop in one segment that you can customize with exercises, number of reps, etc. Customize colors and sounds! ($0.99)
NFL Play 60–Developed by The American Heart Association, this app encourages kids to run, jump, and play their way to 60 minutes of whole body movement per day. Kids can stay motivated by collecting coins to get football power-ups! (Free)
Sworkit Kids –Sworkit guides kids through fun exercise routines. Sworkit Kids uses kids for the videos to make it easy to follow along and is completely ad-free! (FREE)
Speech Therapy Resources
Home Speech Home provides information & apps that promote speech and language development therapy at home.
Speech Sound Word Lists/Pictures (separated by sounds) – These speech and articulation worksheets are free to download as a support material to the related articles found on this site, and they are intended for use in your home or therapy setting to help your child.
Speech and Language Home Practice (Free TpT download)
No Prep Therapy Activity – Basic Concepts Scavenger Hunt
Do2learn provides thousands of free pages with social skills and behavioral regulation activities and guidance, learning songs and games, communication cards, academic material, and transition guides for employment and life skills.
Infercabulary is a web-based, visual vocabulary and reasoning program using the Semantic Reasoning method. Special offer of 2 free months
Quia, pronounced key-ah, and is short for Quintessential Instructional Archive. Quia provides a wide variety of tools, including Tracy Boyd’s online language games
InferCabulary is more than just a vocabulary app, it’s a great tool that helps students use critical thinking to learn the nuanced meanings of vocabulary broadly and deeply with a growing list of thousands of words.(Offering two month free-trial)