Should we start with phonics or whole words (sight words)?

Many children with Down syndrome are strong visual learners and read whole words by sight before they can sound words out — and reading often *helps* their spoken language. A widely used approach (e.g., See and Learn / Reading and Language) starts with a small set of meaningful printed words matched to pictures (names, "car", "Mummy"), then layers in phonics once the child has a sight vocabulary and enjoys it.