Many of you may have seen the television news segment this week which featured the families of three children under the age of two who learned to read as babies as well as an interview with me. They achieved this by using my multi-sensory learning approach, which is to employ as many sensory systems as possible while babies are experiencing the world around them. Today I will share how parents can apply these methods.
We will begin with the action word ‘clap.’ First, print ‘clap’ in lower case letters on a white board or piece of paper. Point to the word and move your hand from left to right as you say clap, then clap your hands. Now, encourage your baby to clap. If she is unable to clap, gently assist her, but only if she is in the mood. Because she sees the word, hears the word, does a physical action related to the word and learns the meaning of the word, there are more elaborate connections in the brain, giving her a deeper understanding of the word.
I strongly support reading to your children; it is one of the most important activities you can do. However, it is a common misconception that reading to your children teaches reading. Studies show that when a parent is reading to a four- or five-year-old, the child focuses on the text of the entire book for only approximately five seconds. Why? Because his attention is on the pictures, not the words.
In the books I have designed for my early learning system called Your Baby Can Read!, only the word appears on the page, and then a flap is lifted to see a picture depicting the meaning of the word. The two are connected, but do not compete for attention. They are ideal for teaching reading because the child can focus on the words.
Here are easy steps to teach your baby to read using one of my Your Baby Can Read! books, or others that have only a few words per page.
- Point to the words in the book and say them. This draws attention to the word. Next, let the baby look at the pictures and talk about them.
- Teach your baby to point to each word as you say it. Discuss the pictures afterward.
- Over time, some of the words will become familiar to the baby. While reading, pause to allow your baby to point to familiar words and read them.
- Point to the words while your baby reads them.
- Eventually your baby will be able to read most of the words in the book while you help with unfamiliar words.
- In time, your baby will be able to read phonetically.
–Dr. Robert C. Titzer
May 1st, 2008 at 9:26 pm
I saw the television segment today and I was very impressed. I am reading all of these postings and can’t wait to use the program with my son.
May 27th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
I do not know if this is a good place for this posting but here goes.
I have started you program on Saturday, my baby is 13 months old and by Sunday she was doing “Hands Up” so I am very impressed. My concern is that we are a multilanguage family, and we speak Hebrew to her at home and the caregiver who is going to show her the DVDs talks to her in English.
I would like to try and teach her to read in Hebrew using the flash cards and modifying them to Hebrew writing. Will that confuse her? Should I do one language at a time? How would that work? DO you have any recommendations?
July 8th, 2008 at 11:16 pm
Dear Dikla,
Thank you for your comment. I apologize for my delay in responding.
We have many babies and toddlers who learn to read in multiple languages at the same time. The main recommendation that I have is to talk to the baby more when you are teaching more than one language. Describe all of her senses as much as you can throughout the day. In other words, talk about what she is looking at, listening to, tasting, smelling, and touching. Think of movement as a sense and describe how she is moving. Talk specifically about what she is interested in.
Do not mix the two languages within a sentence when you are talking to her. For example, don’t use one or two words in English within a Hebrew sentence.
Throughout the day, add the written language when you can so that she can learn to read in both languages.
Please let us know how it goes. Good luck and I promise to respond faster in the future.
Dr. Bob Titzer
July 22nd, 2008 at 12:32 pm
Hi Dr. Titzer,
I have read several books by Diane McGuinness who writes that learning to read is not a natural process like learning to speak. I’ve also read that children aren’t really developmentall ready to read until 6-7 years of age. Second, to learn an alphabet language such as English, it’s important to develop phonemic awareness and to focus on the sounds within our language and the letters and letter combinations that represent those sounds. She states that many children who learn to recognize words by sight often appear to be reading but will eventually hit a wall if they never learn to decode words.
I am wondering what your thoughts are about this and if you are familiar with her research (Why Our Children Can’t Read and What We Can Do About It).
Thanks!