She can read… reading from the very beginning

baby with book

She can read…..  say the delighted mom and dad when their very young daughter starts recognizing letters and words. He can read just as well of course and proud parents of boys will be quick to validate that.  Starting young is an ideal time to give children a pleasurable beginning to the essential skill of reading. In the early years we are geared to a huge absorption of information, we are wired for learning. By the time a child is two, most have the essentials of mobility (fast wobble toddle towards the forbidden), some speech, and the beginnings of gourmet  taste in food. The rest is all refinement.

During this important time of learning, when all is trial and error, with many attempts before success, learning letters, phonics and words and numbers are just more ‘toys’ to play with. A short spell each day with these ‘toys’ plus a parents enthusiasm can set a baby on the path to loving books.

Reading is so important for everything in the ‘civilized’ world. Where ever you turn there is something to read, street signs, railway and bus stops, advertising, books, essential education, advanced education, important documents, leisure books and magazines,  instructions on how to use a new piece of equipment, maybe even more important, how to get help is needed when it doesn’t perform as expected; the list is considerable. For most of us today, being unable to read is unthinkable.

Before television and computers  reading was a primary leisure activity.  The imagination is fired up, characters are created from the descriptions, trips to far countries are made, all in the mind. New ideas are communicated and vocabulary can grow fast as new words are learnt in context. Books can provide hours of escape into the wonderful world of imagination, inspired by exceptional authors.

Keen readers generally do better  in school, are more creative and have been observed to have higher IQs.  Children who are read to and share books with parents, especially when reading aloud and dramatizing the stosry, can build strong emotional bond. Children who start reading early have better language skills.  The mind is stimulated and the eye muscles are exercised while tracking along the page.

The  Glen Doman method  pioneered much of the Early Reading trend during the late 70′s and 80′s. In his book ‘How to Teach your Baby to Read” he suggests that 10 months of age is a good time to start. He stresses that the attitude towards reading should be that of yet another good game that parents have found, and that in this context parents must not take it on as another ‘chore’ or this will be communicated and somewhat  defeat the purpose. The game must end before the baby loses interest so that baby will look forward to the next session. Through his research, Doman has found a very specific way to teach early  reading  successfully.

His seven steps include

1. Visual differentiation (a particular way of making the cards);

2. Proper vocabulary;

3. Vocabulary of the family environment;

4. Vocabulary to build sentence’s structure;

5. Structured phrases and sentences;

6. Reading of a real book (i.e., the first book);

7. The alphabet.

Reading to your child before birth can be a very relaxing time for both mother and child and a relaxed mother is more likely to have a calm newborn.

There are cases where children have later recognized music played  for them before they were born.  Musicians spending many hours of practice preparing for a major concert while pregnant, have mentioned the baby recognizing the music much later.
Read to your baby,  enjoy books with your children, the bond will be lifelong and will help set your child onto an  path for better understanding the world around them and bring out their best potential through education.
Early Childhood Reading Strategies