|
Do
you know that the best time to teach a child to read
is when they are still a baby?
Unbelievable
as it may sound, but research has clearly shown that
children who start learning to read as a baby before
beginning formal education tend to gain better self-esteem
and higher confidence levels compared to others who
begin their formal education in a more conventional
manner.
You might be wondering,
why would your baby be a faster learner than any adult?
The reason is extremely simple but practical. Your
baby is still in the earliest phases of development
when looked from the overall perspective of the entire
human life.
It is this
early phase when the baby's cognitive power is strongly
developing. This cognitive power makes learning to read
and even learning languages a relatively simpler task
for a baby. In addition, a baby who can read independently
can start formal learning early and can learn faster
than other children who would also require learning
reading. This gives your kid a head-start over others.
Also, reading makes the baby start thinking clearly
in earlier phases of life. Reading serves as a healthy
exercise to the process of early cognitive development
phases in a child. Hence, a baby who starts reading
early enough eventually stands a superior chance to
excel intellectually compared to late starters.
Interestingly,
research studies have gone further and proved that once
the baby crosses three years of age and enters childhood,
the prospect to naturally teach reading gradually starts
to subside. At and after this stage, the difficulty
of acquiring such important soft skills gradually increases
and as a result the same lessons that would have been
a cakewalk for the child earlier now becomes a difficult
challenge to overcome.
All the
above suggests that letting your baby start learning
to read right at babyhood is the best option. Letting
your baby not learn to read till he/she is older in
a way robs him/her from the prospect of enjoying the
process of learning to read at the time it is best suitable
- babyhood.
Now that
you have read that babyhood is the best phase of life
to learn reading, you must be asking yourself whether
all of this sounds too far-fetched. However, if you
check out the learning methodologies and packages, and
if you read further and understand how to start the
process, you shall realize that all this is perfectly
real - this is no dream. And this reality is a nice
one, where your kid has the best foundation to enjoy
school more than other kids due to the reduced onus
of learning and also gets potentially better grades
compared to others.
So,
how then do you teach your baby to read ?
The essence of the matter is to keep the process simple
so that the baby can follow it, and to keep it enjoyable
so that the baby follows it out of self-interest. If
you are trying to force lessons into your tiny baby,
then you are simply digging your way for a permanent
fear and hatred of your kid towards reading. You don't
have an option to force, you must make the sessions
fun. It must be in an environment that the baby wants
to live and relive in. The idea is that after your baby
goes through one or a few of reading sessions, the baby
will start looking out for the next reading session
out of own. This can happen only if the reading session
is an enjoyable experience. The best is to identify
a session of around 30-40 minutes every day at a fixed
time, so that it becomes a routine for the baby. The
time can be more or less depending on the age and health
of the baby.
The method
of teaching does not have to be a book. In fact, in
babyhood, babies are great learners of patterns. This
is evident in the way that they learn languages. It
is wise to make use of this capability of babies and
expose them to patterns rather than books. Many parents
have been able to teach hundreds of words to kids less
than a year old simply by integrating the right set
of colors, sounds and actions. The key here is that
these elements must correspond to real-life entities
and objects that babies can relate to.
Another
point to note is that babies respond better to
large fonts. Hence, creating larger images and
even writing words with large and bold alphabets create
a more lasting impression in the minds of the babies.
For example, one can use Microsoft Word with a big bold
font. Babies also tend to remember the red color the
most. Hence, if the words written in the process are
in red then the impact of learning is seen to be even
deeper in the babies.
Using
note cards to teach your baby to read
Another effective method is using note cards. On each
note card, it is advisable to write one number in a
clear, large font. Writing a color would also do. Keep
adding to the cards gradually, as the baby picks up
the concepts in the existing cards.
The rate
of increase should be made proportionate to the rate
at which the baby gains knowledge. It is further suggested
to transition to real-life objects that your baby sees
every day.
Concentration
and focus of the baby plays a critical role in the entire
process. One needs to ensure that there is no distraction
in the room where the baby is learning, and the attention
should be totally focused on the note cards and the
objects of interest.
At the initial phases
of the learning process, the actions will only come
from you and your baby will only watch. However, as
the process moves forward, your baby would start participating.
Make sure
that you ask a good question such as what is something
or how does something look like - some question that
is sensible. You shall find your baby gradually responding
more and more to your questions, which is a symbol of
learning. If the baby is too young to speak, then he/she
may try to answer with fingers and gestures, as applicable.
In fact, you can also introduce a foreign language apart
from the mother tongue, if you so desire.
Visitors
who read this article also read these:
-
Benefits
of Teaching your baby to read
-
Brillkids
Little Reader
A new teaching reading system for babies
- Infant
Potty Training
More
resources:
- Teaching your babies
how to read can be done with foreign
language learning videos for children.
Back to Top
^
|
