Teaching your baby to read. Anyone read this?

[Lexiejack]

Found a book called how to teach your baby to read that's got amazing reviews and I'm
Going to try with DS (2.4) and DD (1.1) but was wondering if anyone has tried it and had any success?

I was totally illiterate before the age of some shaming age - in the alternative universe that is MN - of five or so.

I am now really rather good at reading. My late start doesn't seem to have held me back at all.

I used to do this with DD1, 30 years ago - it was just a game to her, one of many different ways we had fun, it took about ten minutes a day. It certainly worked with her and she could recognise many words very quickly - pick up 'foot' and point to her foot - it started with body parts so there was some context and understanding to the words recognised. She was a fluent reader by three - Magic Faraway Tree and so on - and has always had a great love of books - she now works in a bookshop, though who knows if the things are related :)

DD2 showed no interest whatsoever and I didn't press it, but of course even without Mr Doman's help she is also a perfectly good reader now, aged 22 :o

There was a similar thread on here a few days ago. I was another early reader, taught by my Dad (primary head teacher) using flashcards. Reading by 3 years, started school with a reading age of 9 etc, love reading now...but, as we were discussing on the last thread, my spelling us absolutely appalling. I have to check my 7 year old's spellings before I test him. Convinced it is because of the way I wad taught to read as, even to this day, I struggle with phonics etc.

As a result, I have encouraged my sons to enjoy books, played lots of word games etc, and they both knew their basic phonics and a few key words by the time they started school, but no way would I go back to the way I was taught. It's paid off so far - DS2 is reading around 2 and a half years above his age, and had only dropped one mark on his spelling tests all year!

Rubbish spellings in my last post are because of my iPhone, by the way!

Both myself and my brother could read before we started school and I can safely say apart from getting me the role of narrator in reception and year one it didn't present me with any particular advantage. By the time I was 8/9 every one seemed to be on the same level except those with a specific Sn need. My ds could read a few simple words starting reception and is now in year 1 on a year 2 reading level along with those in the class that could read pre reception. I read to him daily and always have. I think to attempt to teach a baby at 1 sounds like a bit of a party trick.

Why on Earth would a 2 year old need to read? One of my children is a natural born reader. You really can't stop him. It drives me crackers. Sometimes I wish he hated reading, like when he is standing behind me reading what i am typing on MN.

My oldest child is an okay to good reader. This is fine. There is so much pressure form school to read early, she really doesn't need any more from me.

I agree with other posters asking why would you?

There are do many things for young children to learn. DD 3.5 has been read to since she was a baby and she loves books and has a heathy interest in words and writing. She could read and write her name for well over a year now and loves to sit down and "write" asking adults how the words are spelt. Whilst I certainly don't discourage this and i fully support where she is on her own, AFAIAC there are oodles of other things for her to be learning too about colour, paint, art etc. We have a "how to write letters" chart on the wall which she refers to alot and I'm always spelling out words for her ("mummy how do I write DF doesn't like coffee?" ).

However I feel that she has years and years ahead of us to read. How many years to we have to paint, stick, cut , glue and simply freely create? At this point I wouldn't want to take any of her focus and energy away from this kind of learning - it's her overall creativity and interest in her world I'm encouraging now. Plenty of time for reading later.

Then again the earlier she can read stories to DD2 the better .......

I think if you want to give your child a head start then using a book written almost 50 years ago by an 'expert' that has been widely discredited using a method that has little research backing is not the way to go.

Reading to your child teaches them that books are fun and interesting, teaching them rhythm, alliteration and other fun things to do with words will increase that too. Getting them started on a basic understanding of phonics before school, or more usefully alongside school will support their learning. But early learning of whole words does not help them to really read (ie to decode letters into sounds and meaning) and may even be damaging.

If you want to do something fun and different with them and feel that it needs to be educational then learning to speak another language would be better.

Oh, and I read very early, and love books, but really there aren't that many age appropriate books for young children to read alone anyway, so it probably is more stretching to read to them and develop their vocabulary and understanding of the world that way.

Anyone that has tried the book what size did u make the cards? We've stuck 2 a4 sheets together but was wondering if it will work with just the 1 a4 size. And thank u for everyone's input. Obviously everyone has differing opinions on things and an extra big thank you to those who explained their experiences!! Started doing the system yesterday afternoon and DS can recognise 4 words already through the system and seeing them in books

No advice to offer as DS is only 17 weeks. Really enjoyed reading this thread - picked up lots of useful advice. Good luck !

If he is already 2.4 then 1 A4 sheet should be fine as by then their vision is as good as ours and they can recognize words in books and notice very small details in pictures.

Hi Lexiejack

Good for you for trying this method - as long as you keep it light and fun for both of you, (sorry, all three of you), IMO it's a win, win situation!

I used this method to teach my DD to read when she was 3 and a half. She loved it and I just wish I'd used it with her older brother.

What nobody has pointed out is that Doman doesn't just recommend this method to learn to read, there is another advantage, as well.

By teaching your baby, your young child, to read, you are physically growing the brain of your child. You are simply giving the child's brain another stimulus, which, when repeated, will cause connections to grow in the brain, and these will eventually become permanent.

As Doman has pointed out, the written word is just another side of the coin to the spoken word. One is received by the brain through the eyes, the other through the ears. Makes no difference to the brain how the information got there.

As I understand it, he uses large red letters initially because, 'We've made the words too small [for young eyes]." He uses red because it is an attractive colour.

On a more general note, I think the whole Doman reading list is well worth looking at.

Apart from the books by Doman, there are a couple of other books well worth a look, Lexiejack - Kids Who Start Ahead Stay Ahead by Dr Neil Harvey, who looked at 300 kids who'd undergone a programme of early stimulation using Doman's techniques.

And 'Kindergarten is too late' by Masaru Ibuka - brilliant book.

I have a personal interest in the subject since I'm about to embark on a longitudinal study looking at the effects of early stimulation and using many of Doman's techniques. I'm very grateful to those who are dismissive of this method, as I will be able to use your arguments in my critical analysis of Doman.

Best wishes, Paul

I used Doman method with my daughter (she is now 13), she learned to read at the age of 2 and loves her books.
The same method didn't work for my son.

I am glad I taught her to read so early as she reads a lot and also developed fast reading method of her own.

i taught my child to read through the help of these FREE video guides on teaching phonics sounds, letters and then words. Its a very effective program and my son was able to read complete words at 2. You must check out:

www.firststepreading.com

I was a 'Free Reader' in Reception class, which was great as I was able to read any book and for pleasure, rather than 'to learn', so it felt like a 'break' at school, rather than more learning

I learned to read at 2 and I wish I hadn't. I wish I'd spent that time running around, smelling the roses and developing my physicality and social skills. Bizarrely by the age of 7 all my peers also knew how to read!

Oh, and if you can read well in primary, you only get cast as the narrator in plays, not the angel