When Lennox was about one and a half, I bumped into a lady at a restroom that complimented him for how verbal he was. I told her that I spoke to him all the time and he seemed to really be passionate about language. She then told me about a book called “How to teach your baby to read“. I asked her about the author and put all the info as a note in my phone.

A few weeks after that, I found the note and decided to order the book. Then, life happened and I kind of forgot about it and never read more than ten pages. When I found out that I was pregnant with Mara, I decided that thelast few months of Lennox and I alone would be great for me to start teaching him how to read. Lennox LOVES books. Reading is the one activity he never ever gets tired of. Based on that, I decided to read the book and start the program.

The book is FASCINATING. It was written by Glenn Doman, a doctor recognized worldwide thanks to the launch of the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential. The Institutes are based in the United States and dedicated to encouraging children to take full advantage of their cognitive, emotional and physical abilities. Little did I know that months later I would fly to Philadelphia to take their classes to become Mara’s main therapist.

Doctor Doman’s approach to learning starts from the familiar, what the child knows, and then moves to the abstract. This approach takes advantage of children’s learning speed, who are eager to absorb information, knowledge and new things.

I highly encouraged you to read the book, but here are a few points summarizing what the program is all about:

Organization. Set groups of words by category (family, house, body parts). Each one should contain five words, one on each card. On the first day, you will show your child one category, but on the second day you need to include another group and you’ll have 10 cards. The third day you will add another category, for a total of 15 words.

Next, you will add a group every day until you reach the fifth day, when you’ll be using 25 words during each of the three daily sessions. On the sixth day, you will have to discard the first group of words and add another to keep the 25 cards.

This way, each group of words will be introduced to your child for five days, in 15 sessions.

In the beginning, you can make about 200 cards with which you will have material for a month of sessions. Remember that you must teach three small classes daily, and make them fun. While this can be done anywhere, I have found that doing the sessions at the same place (in our case, in Lennox’s room) helps a lot with concentration.

Go from familiar concepts to abstract ones. Start by teaching your child the words that define their environment: bottle, Dad, Mom, water, bed, hand, nose.

After you have gone through categories referring to your family environment, you can include other words associated with other environments such as the park, school, and their grandmother’s house. So their vocabulary will gradually expand to include your family’s names, colors, and everything you can think of.

Every time you teach a new word, try to point out to your child what object you are talking about. This will help them to make connections and it will be even easier for them.

The idea of this method is to go from what is familiar, for them to understand how words are written, to the abstract, understanding what is represented by the letters and the sounds. When your child understands what a word is, it will be easier for them to grasp the name of each letter and how syllables, words and phrases are formed.

If you put these instructions into practice, you will see that this program will not only be an opportunity to get your child started with reading and writing, but it also gives you time with them to share and enjoy, while stimulating their intelligence. Don’t be afraid to give it a try, confidence will help you convey knowledge to your child.

Good luck if you decide to try and feel free to head to my Instagram account to ask any questions!

xoxo