Portland Literacy Launch Pad

You'll see there's new button over on the sidebar...

Click on it and it will take you to the brand new website of our local parent group, Portland Literacy Launch Pad. The website has been a long time in the making, with a lot of hard (and free) labor contributed by some very busy parents. We're very proud to have it blast off and we hope you'll enjoy it.

If you're interested in how our group came about, you can read all about it in the blog post, "How it All Began".

We're a local group, but we're also a Learning Program Partner. The Learning Program, based at the Down Syndrome Foundation of Orange County in California, teaches parents to be effective "first teachers" for their children and prepares children for success in school. Here in Portland, we're in the midst of our first Learning Program course, with monthly classes for parents of preschool-aged children. We have 17 families enrolled for the 10-month session-- not a bad start!

Here's Anthony working on his matching with one of his Learning Program books.

But you don't have to be enrolled in the Learning Program to be a part of Literacy Launch Pad. We have monthly get-togethers so families can connect while the kids play, and an active Facebook Group where we share information and advice. We hope the new website will be a resource for families to learn more about early literacy and to share their experiences teaching their children.