Our technique and materials (DVDs, audio tapes, books and computer
programs) help Infants and Toddlers with Language and Reading development. We
originally developed these materials for our daughter with special needs. Maria
exceeded our expectations by being able to speak, read and understand 250 words
at 3 years of age and over 1,000 words at 5 years of age. We offer an easily
do-able, loving manner of teaching that values the individuality of each child
and helps nurture self-esteem.
For
Older Children/Adults
Downloadable Vocabulary and Reading Computer Program
When
Nick was 3 and 1/2 years old, I purchased the first 3 kits of Love And Learning
and followed the directions faithfully. Within 3 months he was reading all the
kits, so I ordered more kits and by the time he was 4 and 1/2 years old, he
had mastered all of the kits and was now reading other books. At 5 years old,
I am so impressed by his reading that it amazes me still. But your kits offered
our family so much more than just reading. They taught us how to teach Nicholas,
and that with hard work he can learn. He learned many of the preschool concepts
and therefore was able to understand what was being taught at the church preschool.
He tells me what the weather is and does simple addition. I am a better advocate
for him and a better parent because I now know how capable he is. We still watch
the DVD's occasionally and will continue to do so throughout kindergarten. I
think this is a great program for any child and I would highly recommend it.
Thank you for taking the time to create this program and continuing to develop
new ones. Kathy
Dear
Joe and Susan, Just wanted to tell you that our 3 year old son is doing so well.
He has been doing your books and tapes for almost a year and a half now. He
is very interested in books and letters and numbers. People are amazed that
a child with Down Syndrome can know that much already. He sight reads a few
words from your books and other people can understand what he is saying. I think
much of this is due to the fact that when he does Love And Learning the words
are broken down into smaller parts so he can say them correctly. We just ordered
kits 5 and 6 and I am excited to see how he does with them. Thanks for all you
hard work to make this program available to other families. Love, Tonya, Jonathan,
Rachel, Jordan, and Jacob Harwood- ThinkCrossword.com
- ScienceCrossword.com
116991
Dear
Joe and Susan, I just wanted to write and express my thanks for your program.
We started using it last August, after our son, Jonathan, turned 2. He has tried
to say things all along, but recently (at about the 10 month mark) he has showed
major recognition and can either sign or say most of the words in the first
two kits. The therapist who works with him says that the dendrites in his brain
are making connections and every thing is now coming together for him. It is
so encouraging and you have saved me a lot of time from making the things you
already have. It really has helped reinforce and give him a jump start to learning.
Many folks are shocked that he can sight read, can identify 12 letters and sounds
of 5 more, knows 8 colors, and is now saying some numbers. Thanks again, Tim,
Sherry & Jonathan Cheatham
We received sets 3 & 4 two months or so ago and our 12 year old, Clare-Marie,
is enjoying set 3 very much. She seeks me out to read the books to me every
evening. She is taking a new interest in all our story & library books lying
about. It is so gratifying to see this development & interest of Clare's blossoming
as we are a reading and homeschooling family. The teaching of the alphabet &
reading had been very slow going for Clare over the years. But your wonderful
kits have changed all that! And I've found that when I am having a busy day,
Clare can watch one of her learning DVD's by herself and have her reading skills
re-enforced when I don't have time to do much school with her. At first I was
afraid that the kits wouldn't be as effective for my daughter, for she has a
late start using them. So many of your letters are from parents who found the
kits when the children were babies. But I have found that my daughter is getting
so much pleasure out of them and so much good; self confidence, her speech is
becoming clearer, and her general interest in school work has grown tremendously.
And all this without a struggle....These kits are worth every penny! Clare loves
to do her school now and joins her brother & sisters in studying & reading.
This is very sweet to see, after spending so many years of struggling with trying
to teach her reading from much less effective materials. May God reward your
family for your efforts in sharing this learning method and bringing so much
joy and accomplishment to other families. Mrs. Cheryl Danz 
Hi Joe and Susan, I have a four year old, Grace, with Down syndrome. She started the program at 12 months and at 22 months, she was reading 13 words. Now I have lost count. She is the only one reading in her peer group, typical children and special needs children. Thanks so much, Laura Davis
Dear Joe and Susan, I just had to write you an update on our daughter, Isabel,
who is now 3 1/2. Not long after I wrote last year, we purchased Learning Kits
5 and 6 and began showing them to her. Shortly before her third birthday, we
started to notice that Isabel was reading things other than her Love and Learning
books. She began reading words everywhere we went--on the cereal box at breakfast,
signs along the road, on grocery bags, etc. Many of these words were not ones
I had ever taught her. So I began getting her beginning readers from the library
and was amazed that she could, indeed, read them! Everyone has been amazed at
her reading--educators, therapists, friends and family. Last week, we went to
a Joni and Friends Family Retreat for families with special needs. They wanted
Isabel to read name tags for the talent show! :) Whenever people have asked
about Isabel's reading, I have told them about your program. Thank you for giving
Isabel this opportunity to have a special ability that will help her learn and
bring her much joy all her life. Rebecca and Milt Jones
Hi, I am Stephanie, mother of Megan who is 2 1/2 and also has a little something
extra...DS! Your DVD's have made a big impact on my daughter Megan's life. She
has the first two DVD series memorized and can sight read from the books, can
identify letters of the alphabet when shown and can tell you the next word in
the movie before it happens. I am truly amazed and feel like this has made a
positive impact on not just Megan's life but her entire family's since her younger
sister is benefiting from it too. We watch the #2 video everyday and your two
girls remind me so much of my own. Here is a picture for you to enjoy. Thank
you so much for what you have given to me and my family. Sincerely, Stephanie
Bissol 
We
ordered kits one and two for my four year old child that is autistic and non-verbal.
After two weeks he was making one word requests! He loves the part of our morning
where we read his books, and already knows his alphabet! God Bless you. Your
system has helped him make the connection between speech and actions (asking
for things gets results) The other day I accidentally left the books out, which
is foolish of me because he thinks paper is as good as bubble gum... Anyway,
when I heard him in the living room, I went out to rescue the books and instead
found him seated on the couch reading, out loud, the kit two books!! Sometimes
he would turn the page, get a confused look on his face, skip ahead, check the
picture, flip back and say the word. He went through all four, and set them
down carefully before walking off. Thank you so much! Amanda Mills
Dear Joe and Susan, Just a quick note to say how pleased we are with all of
the kits. A real life gauge for its success is that our Caleb gets to attend
the mainstream Kindergarten reading group because of his excellent reading skills.
He regularly attends the PPCD (Preschool Program For Children with Disabilities)
which services children from ages 4 - 7. The teachers and para-professionals
are continually amazed at his current mastering of the English language. Thanks
so much for all your long hours of labor for the benefit of so many families!
Many blessings, Paulette Carson 
I am so very excited to say that my son, Mychal, now almost 4, is reading
the alphabet!!! He is also able to read several of the words from Kit 1. This
is the greatest gift that my son has received, the gift of being able to read.
I am also so proud to report that the 2 year old that I adopted last May,
who has Autism is also learning from your tapes and books. My heartfelt thanks
go to you for making my son's furtues so much brighter, you are a blessing
to our special children. Thank you again for a brighter future for my sons
and for me. Love and Learning is a gift that has far reaching effects that
will be shared always. I have mentioned this program to all of the therapists
and to various people that I feel can benefit from the gifts of Love and Learning.
Sincerely, Jill Mather
We wanted to take this opportunity to thank you for the Love and Learning Program.
We have been using it with Jared, our three year old son. He has made great
strides not only in his reading skills, but also in his ability to speak. Jared
knows the alphabet, numbers to ten and can read/speak most of the words in levels
1-4. His learning seems to thrive on the visual component of the program. Additionally,
Jared is able to apply his learning as he recognizes letters, numbers and words
in print in other contexts. He continues to WOW us as well as everyone he meets.
THANKS AGAIN! Nathan and Annette Bowen
Dear Joe and Susan, We have purchased the first two Love and Learning DVDs
for our 2 year old daughter with Down Syndrome, and we have had tremendous
success. Her therapists can't believe how well she can identify words and
letters and how great her attention span is. She can sign and vocalize the
words in the booklets, and it is unbelievable to watch her in action. Your
program is a true Blessing, and people are constantly amazed when they see
Chloe vocalizing and signing the words in your booklets. The DVDs have been
priceless in Chloe's speech and reading development, and the Love and Learning
program is truly a priceless asset that will assist in our daughter reaching
her potential. Kurt and Margie Kondrich - Picture
by: Picturesque Photography & Gifts
Our daughter Colleen, who has Down syndrome, began using the Love & Learning
program when she was three years old. Six months later, she began reading and
signing several of the words in the alphabet program. As you might imagine,
this amazing ability came as a great and wonderful surprise to us. It was also
a major turning point in our daughter's life. Colleen's ability to read at such
a young age dramatically changed our perception of her cognitive potential.
Prior to this achievement we had believed the general "professional"
prediction that Colleen would likely be very delayed in her ability to read
and talk. Because of her great success in the program, we now know without a
doubt, that our child has an unlimited potential for learning. Our daughter
entered kindergarten with a reading vocabulary of approximately two hundred
sight words. This accomplishment was a direct result of our consistent, daily
practice in the Love & Learning program and a proactive change in our expectations.
We will always be grateful to the Kotlinski family for developing such a fun
and effective early reading program and for sharing their knowledge with other
families. Diane Hample
Dear Joe and Susan, I have three boys - and my youngest, Garrett, was born with
Down Syndrome. As I was researching about D.S. I found your website and quickly
ordered your first kit. Garrett has been watching the ABC and Horse videos and
reading the books since he was 6 months old. He is not quite one and a half
- and the part of the day he gets most excited about is when he watches his
Love and Learning videos ( and of course when he plays with his brothers ).
He is just starting to sign consistently and his second spoken word was "eat."
He says it each time we get to the "eat" page. It was SO exciting to see him
putting this together. I can hardly wait to watch his vocabulary take off. THANK
YOU for these kits and your dedication to helping children with Down Syndrome.
Thanks, again! Jenny Fitzgerald 
Dear Joe and Susan, I wanted to write and thank you so much for your wonderful
program. Our daughter Isabel is 2 years 6 months old and has Down syndrome.
We started her on your reading kits a year ago on the recommendation of a friend.
About 5 months later, she began adding a lot of new words to her vocabulary
and we quickly noticed that most of them were from Kits 1 & 2 reading videos.
Right away, we ordered the next two kits! Now, Isabel recognizes almost all
the letters of the alphabet, the numbers 1-10, counts up to 10 and can read
almost all of the words in the books for kits 1-4. Her language development
has benefitted so much from your program--her speech therapist calls her a "text-book
case" and is very pleased with her progress. Isabel loves your products and
daily asks to watch the videos and read the books. They have sparked her interest
in letters, sounds, words, numbers, and shapes. When she started OT 4 months
ago, it helped that she already had concepts and words for lines, circles, and
other shapes. She has always loved books and we are thrilled that she's well
on her way on the road to reading. Thank you again for making these wonderful
products available to help our sweet little girl and so many others. Rebecca
& Milt Jones 
Dear Joe and Susan, Thanks so much for the learning kits! Sam has learned
so much from them. He turned two only three days ago and he is reading all
the words from the first kit and most of the words from the second kit. I
have told many other mothers from our family support group, Manasota Buds,
about your kits and they have been amazed at the progress Sam has made. I
have also been amazed and completely delighted. May God bless you for the
richness you have brought to our lives through your kits. Sincerely, Lisa
J. Brode
Dear Joe and Susan, We love your literacy materials. With very little effort
on our part, our son Simon who has Down syndrome and is delayed in many abilities,
is ahead in reading ability compared to most children his age. He can read all
the words in Kit 1, and most in Kit 2. His speech is really being helped as
he practices all the speech sounds along with the videos and uses words from
the videos to express himself. He is mainly using two and rarely three words
together; but last month he surprised us by expressing a desire on his own initiative
by saying, "May I please have book?" He generalized from the sentence in Kit
2, "May I please have milk?" I have written Kit 1 and 2 words, similar size
as those in the booklets, on a Magnadoodle, and he is able to read them in that
format, too. - Judy Cole
My
son, Jacob, (now 4 1/2 years old) has been using the Love and Learning tapes
since January 2004 and is now able to sight read over 100 words (he was able
to sight read the first series within 1 1/2 months!). Your system has definitely
helped Jacob read and understand language/word structure. Even though he does
not talk yet (and uses sign and a DynaMyte augmentative computer), he does understand
words and constantly amazes us. Thank you for such a wonderful program! - Heidi
Moore
At 10 months old while attending Christopher's Early Intervention class, his
Service Coordinator/Teacher introduced us to the Love and Learning kits. She
put the ABC video in for us to view. Immediately the video captured Christopher’s
total attention. Towards the middle of the video my boy started to squeal
with delight. His little arms and legs were thrashing to and fro with excitement.
As his mother, I started to laugh and cry because what you don’t know is that
prior to this event, Christopher rarely made a sound or rarely had a physical
response to anything! So of course I knew I had to have this educational tool
(the Love and Learning series) for my son. I consider this method of learning
to have been one of the major building blocks of learning in his young life.
At 21 months of age Christopher started recognizing the alphabet (upper and
lower case). Within months he rarely made a mistake with the alphabet and
was starting to incorporate the sounds of the letters too. By 30 months of
age he was reciting most shapes, colors, animals and animal sounds, body parts
and number 1-10. At 3 years of age Christopher was reading many words. By
3 ½ years of age he can read almost every word from Love and Learning kit
#1 through #7. He reads a lot of words out of age-appropriate books. It is
so Amazing!! (a word from Kit #7!) The first Love and Learning computer program
we ordered was in our home no more than one week and is being used by Christopher
with excellent success already. We are so proud and so blessed to have him
and our other son, Jonathon, in our lives. Thank you and your family for all
your hard work to make things easier for our family. I continue to promote
the Love and Learning program to everyone I meet! The Kukowskis Jon and Marilyn,
Jonathon and Christopher -
Christopher is featured in the 2005 Beautiful Faces calendar. Learn
More
This program uses a lot of repetition, which I believe our kids need.
It has been so amazing to see Karlie’s vocabulary grow so quickly.
Joe and Susan Kotlinski agree that sign language or picture communication
is still helpful, and they don’t steer you from it. But I have found that
I couldn’t have touched on as many areas of life with sign as this program
introduces.
Joe and Susan Kotlinski have a child with Down syndrome and, I believe, have
created a program that everyone should hear about. - Lisa Forrest
Our
daughter just turned 3 March 20th. We bought all the kits from you when she
was 1. Savannah has been reading the books from kit one since she was 16 months
old. She can recognize all the upper and lower case letters and read all the
books provided in kits 1 through 4. We are now working on writing our letters.
Savannah is very verbal and speaks very clearly. I was surprised to read in
her IEP evaluation that she has a 500+ vocabulary. We wanted to share our
excitement and encourage anyone considering Love and Learning. Our typical
12 month old daughter also enjoys the videos and books, we cannot wait to
see the progress she makes as well. Thank you so much for all that you have
done, we really appreciate what Love and Learning has been able to teach our
daughters!
Melissa and Chris Rainier
Jamie's Story: Reading at 2
Featured in the National Association For Down Syndrome
Newsletter - January, 1998
I
have an 18 month old beautiful little boy with Down Syndrome who is now reading,
thanks to Love and Learning tapes. He recognizes over a dozen words. We are
so proud of Jamie and we have told all our friends with children about your
tapes. Jamie's speech therapist is convinced that the children who view your
tapes have a much broader vocabulary.- Lisa Roland. (Update - 8/8/98) Jamie
is now 2 1/2 years old and can read all 500words in the six kits.
See Where our materials work best to determine
if your child can benefit from our technique.
Dear Joe and Susan,
My husband Michael and I have
twin girls named Abigale and Emma. Our little Emma was born with Down syndrome.
When our girls were only six months old we purchased the entire Love and Learning
set and began using it right away on a daily basis. Your program provided
a powerful foundation in teaching our girls language and reading skills. Now,
just before her fourth birthday, Emma is easily reading several hundred words
(I really have lost count)! I am a true believer that every parent should
use the Love & Learning program. The results of using your program are multi-fold.
It not only helped teach Emma to read, it gave her self confidence and pride
too.
EMMA’S GIFTS
The Love & Learning program helped to reinforce
our belief that anything is possible with special children. Emma is main-
streamed in a preschool and at three years old, she and Abby were the only
two children in their class that were reading! This astounded another mother
of a classmate, who is a professor of education, so much so that she asked
me if I'd be interested in doing a documentary film about Emma. We are now
in the midst of making the documentary called EMMA'S GIFTS. Our central focus
is to challenge society's negative preconceptions about the abilities and
gifts of our children with special needs. We would love to be able to include
your Love & Learning program in our documentary as it has played such an important
role in Emma's discovery and learning of language and reading. It opened a
whole new world of possibility for us. To find out more about the documentary,
you can visit our web site at www.endlesshorizonproductions.com
Thank you for being so devoted
to your own children that you developed such a wonderful way of teaching them
reading and language skills. For going beyond your own family and sharing
these techniques with others, your efforts are sincerely appreciated. We are
forever grateful to you both.
Much love, Mitzi & Michael Corrigan