Teach your baby

TEACHING BABIES HOW TO READ: THE MATERIALS USED

To Teach your baby, the materials used can be elementary and very easy to prepare. In my case, I cut up card papers and used a red marker to write the words on these cards since red is more appealing for the baby’s brain and the first written word was “mommy”.

I used my normal cursive handwriting, taking care to keep the same handwriting style throughout the process in order to facilitate the implementation of the method. It was necessary to maintain the same handwriting since later on, when the vocabulary increased, it would be necessary to quickly create new cards to continue the activity and therefore keep up with the baby’s needs and interest.

Also, this was done so that the baby would be familiar with the handwriting style and would not be distracted by different styles, as when the words are written by other people. I suggest that during the implementation of the method, the reader do not use capital letters.

Only one parent should play with the baby. In our case, this responsibility fell to me since I spent the most time with the baby during the day. It is important not to allow the caregiver or other people to take the baby to play the reading game. More importantly is to follow an important rule: initially, never ask the baby what is written. I would show the word and say: “Here is written mommy”. That was all that was needed for each session.

The following is an example of the card used in the playing activity. The quantity of cards made depended on the velocity of which the baby increased his/her vocabulary. In my case, when the baby reached a vocabulary of 100 words, he/she was almost completing 24 months. The baby also knew how to speak the majority of the words he/she could read. At this point I started presenting the same words in smaller sizes, combining them in pairs and even forming short sentences. The babies loved those combinations and read with much pleasure and satisfaction.

Glenn Doman advised that at this stage, the parents should make the first baby’s book at home, utilizing the vocabulary that he/she would have already compiled. I did not do this. This was because under my circumstances, many magazines, baby and children’s books were already being shown to the baby at other times in the day, when not doing the card reading games.

And without us being able to determine the exact moment, the babies also were reaching for the magazines and children’s books on their own. Babies consider learning how to read a fun and rewarding activity and once they start, they never want to stop!

Eliane Leao, PhD

(c)2006 Teaching Babies How to Read

For more info on teaching and knowing your baby better, check out these articles by Dr. Eliane Leao:

KNOW YOUR BABY

KNOW YOUR BABY II

Go to our Baby info Page

Or visit our Babies Can (and did!) Read Ebook page.

2006