Does it Work? Or is it a Scam?
Can babies really learn how to read, as the popular “Your Baby Can Read,” infomercial depicts? Parents of babies and toddlers, who have watched the impressive infomercial, want to know if this is a scam, or if it really works.
I have personally taught my own children how to read, so I can testify that teaching toddlers how to read, with understanding, is possible. However, I did not use the popular “Your Baby Can Read,” program to do so. My first daughter learned to read at 2 ½ on a set of index cards. I made “word cards” that corresponded with the popular Baby Einstein, “Animal” picture cards. After the first week, she could read all of the word cards I had made for her. Best of all, this was so much fun for both of us!
Simple Methods on Baby Reading Success…
I discovered the simple methods to teach her, after I checked out and read a book from my local library, originally published in the 1960’s called, How to Teach Your Baby to Read. This book and the experience with my oldest daughter, who was reading with fluency and comprehension by age 3, gave me a new perspective on the learning potential of young children. By age five, she was reading short chapter books and could even correctly spell 100’s of words from the top 25 phonics word-families, even though I never directly taught her how to spell. Since then, I’ve taught my next two children how to read and am currently teaching our youngest toddler how to read.
Early Reading Skills Prevents Illiteracy…
As a former elementary teacher, I appreciate the value of early reading skills. Today, our schools are filled with children who can’t read. According to the 2003 National Assessment of Education Progress, 37 percent of children in American schools can’t read at a basic level by fourth grade.
As a parent, I wanted to protect my own children, so I decided to learn as much as I could about early reading success. The results have been amazing, and the bonding experience throughout the joyful process is priceless.
“How to” teach your baby to read!
Chances are, you have already started teaching your baby how to read and may not even realize it. If you are already ready to your baby regularly, talking to them all the time, and teaching them to identify things in their immediate surroundings, then you have already started.
The first step is to give them broad background knowledge about the new world around them. As they develop an ability to identify things, such as “Mommy,” “Daddy,” “milk,” their background knowledge will naturally grow. This really happens so naturally that we don’t even realize that by the time they are 5 years old we have given them a pretty solid understanding of spoken language.
Throughout the same years, as they are naturally learning more and more spoken words, we can begin teaching them the same written words, “Mommy,” “Daddy,” and countless others as their listening and speaking vocabularies grow. The process is very natural and so much fun! It really is that simple…read them words that they already understand.
For children already in their toddler years, “animal words” are a great place to start.
But, what about phonics?
Learning to identify letters and their corresponding sounds is also very easy for young children to do when you keep it fun! Everything is a game! I read my first daughter a book called The Alphabet Book by P.D. Eastman and she loved it. In fact, it was one of her favorite books. As we read the book, almost daily, she began to point to the letters as I read them aloud. Soon she developed her own cute toddler pronunciation of each letter, and before long she could clearly articulate the name of each letter. At that point we began using our colorful alphabet mat, as she crawled to each letter I said aloud…she would giggle every time she crawled to the letters, as my wife an I would applaud for her!
The other part of early phonics skills is, ‘Phonemic Awareness,” or simply put, the ability to recognize rhyming sounds and word patterns. This is easily developed by regularly reading rhyming books, such as the famous Dr. Seuss series.
“How to” Summary:
1. Read rhyming books and picture books to your child regularly.
2. Start by teach them to sight read words in their listening / speaking vocabulary.
3. Teach them to identify letters and sounds by the use of books and games.
4. Have Fun!!! Always approach every literacy activity as a game!
FREE Videos…
To learn how you can begin “teaching your own” baby to read, visit http://www.believeitbaby.com/freevideo.php
