Early Reader, Later In Life.

Early Learning Teaching Your Child to Read
1

I have just been turned on to the Early Reader program. I would love my son, whom will be 3 in less than a week, to be reading by the time he enters Pre-K. I think he would benefit from it but I am afraid if he learns too much he will be bored in school when the other children are just learning these things.

Does anyone here have an older child in school that was an early reader? I am curious to know how well they are doing in school since they already know most of what is being taught. I don’t want my son to be “to ahead” of the other kids and he get bored and not pay attention. I have heard of kids having this problem and they not be advanced like they should and end up getting bad grades because they just don’t pay attention due to boredom.

Please let me know if your older child was an early reader and how they are doing.

2

You do need sympathetic teachers if your child can read early. I was quite lucky that way - I started reading before I went to school and when I got to grade 2 the teacher I had selected books from the library for me to read (most were books that children in grade 6 were reading) which I then read at home instead of reading the class reader for homework or when I had spare time. I still had to read the class reader during class time though.

A lot of parents also homeschool and there is a homeschool board if you ever start thinking about doing that. Personally I don’t think you should prevent your child from learning when they do it easiest just so they won’t be bored at school.

3

http://www.brillbaby.com/teaching/reading/whyteachearly.php
http://forum.brillkids.com/general-discussion-b5/why-teach-reading-early-t1983/
http://forum.brillkids.com/general-discussion-b5/kids-taught-doman-in-the-80's-where-are-they-now/

Check out these links.

4

I don’t plan on preventing my son to read until school. I just don’t know if I should push him into learning so much so early is all.

5

I don’t mean to discourage you, but I am very sure I’d have the same worry you’re having if we weren’t going to homeschool. But since we are going to homeschool, this is not a problem for us. Your question deserves to be taken very seriously. What really can be done to prevent social and motivational problems at school later on, if you teach so much early on?

Anybody know of schools for older kids, who were educated early on using the Doman method?

6

Dear Christinc21, DadDude, and All,

Are you familiar with Dr. Neil Harvey’s book, Kids Who Start Ahead, Stay Ahead?

More information below:

Kids Who Start Ahead, Stay Ahead
Dr. Neil Harvey
126 Pages • Softcover Regular Price: $9.95
IAHP online special: $5.95 Product code: 2055

Dr. Neil Harvey examines the unique experiences of more than three hundred preschool home-learners who went on to enter mainstream educational institutions. Did preschool home-learning really have any effect on the children’s classroom performance, social life, or behavior? What Dr. Harvey found opens the door to the Gentle Revolution in successful education.

For over fifty years, The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential have been teaching parents to teach their babies to read, do math, acquire encyclopedic knowledge, and be physically superb. Over ten million American parents have successfully used The Institutes teaching methods with their children. Its use has spread to more than twenty-five countries, including Japan, England, Australia, France, Italy, and Brazil. But the burning question has been “What happens to these children when they get to school?” After many of these young children grew up or entered school, Dr. Harvey asked parents of these early learners how the children fared academically, physically, and socially.

Dr. Harvey’s remarkable book may provide the spark to ignite a revolution in educational thinking. It lights the way to a more effective method of educating our children. With our own educational system ranking near the bottom among industrialized nations, it is time we understand that children who start ahead, stay ahead.

http://www.gentlerevolution.com/mm5/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Store_Code=G&Product_Code=2055&Category_Code=B4

I have this book and am convinced that it is a benefit to have an early educated child/ren - and almost robbing a child of so much when parents choose not to start early. The educational statistics here in America are absolutely appalling as compared to the rest of the world. Here is an article dedicated to it:

Why Johnny Can’t Read, But Yoshio Can. (Japanese education)
http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-6745944.html

I will try to access the full article and post it later.

Perhaps DadDude will kindly write about the book, Why Johnny Can’t Read by Rudolph Fletcher, because I have not read that one - yet.

Sincerely,
Ayesha

7

Dear All,

More information from Dr. Robert Titzer:

Frequently Asked Questions
Knowledge Base > Miscellaneous >

Is early reading placing undo pressure on the parents and babies? Shouldn’t babies just play?

Answer: The natural state of a baby is to be curious and to enjoy learning. Babies and toddlers have tens of thousands of new brain connections forming every second which means they are not making any intentional effort to learn. They learn naturally if they see words at the same time they hear them. Babies and toddlers generally love reading and books. They enjoy the quality time that they receive from their parents. Research shows that the earlier a child is taught to read the more likely the child will actually enjoy reading later in life.

Babies and toddlers have fun playing with words just like they love other types of play. When babies and toddlers learn written language it is in a fun interactive way with a parent instead of in a classroom setting with one teacher and 20 or more children.

http://www.yourbabycanread.com/ce-faqm-faq/miscellaneous/is_early_reading_undo_pressure.aspx

And more for your reading enjoyment:

http://www.yourbabycan.com/titzer-story.php

http://www.infantlearning.com/robert.html

http://www.infantlearning.com/benefits.html

http://infantlearning.com/research.html

http://www.yourbabycan.com/product-research.php

http://www.yourbabycan.com/testimonials-professionals.php

Sincerely,
Ayesha

8

Dear All,

I also remembered articles and books by a nationally award winning teacher, John Taylor Gatto, who wrote many books, one book entitled, The Underground History of American Education, which you can read online for free:

http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/underground/index.htm
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/aboutus/john.htm
http://www.johntaylorgatto.com/bookstore/

After reading several of his books, is one reason that I will NOT wait for the “school system” to educate my children - because it is not an “education” that they receive - they are literally “dumbed down” - and it is a systematic process! Take it from one of the nation’s leading teachers - he should know, he lived it and taught it and has rebelled against it. And so have I.

Sincerely,
Ayesha

9

This is “Myth no. 8” in our Top 8 Myths of Early Reading article:

http://www.brillbaby.com/teach-baby/top-myths-early-reading/Myth-8-Your-child-will-be-too-far-ahead-of-his-peers.php

Please check it out!

10

I think you may be misunderstanding Christin’s concern. There’s no question that using the Doman method (and similar methods :wink: ) will put a child ahead of his peers by age 6 or so. But if a child who is used to learning exuberantly is suddenly placed in classrooms where he is not properly taught at his knowledge level, where his peers are way behind him, where he might think he’s a freak, where he’s bored and starts to associate learning with boredom… Well, that’s a potential problem, isn’t it? No matter how far advanced a kid is, if his spirit is killed by a school setting, he might lose his advantage. Doesn’t this make sense?

11

I guess no one read this link http://forum.brillkids.com/general-discussion-b5/kids-taught-doman-in-the-80’s-where-are-they-now/
and what I wrote in that thread about Dr. Titzer’s daughters:
Dr Titzer’s daughter, Aleka, graduated at 16, and is now a junior in college. She is majoring in philosophy. She took AP classes in high school and earned 45 credits for college. Keelin is already in high school at the age of 13. Both are doing very well, both academically, and socially. They love to read and can do so at lighting fast speeds.

He said himself that both of his daughters were always very well adjusted, very happy, and did very well overall. But besides that, there are other responses on that thread that answer the original question.

12

I have read thru all of the books by Glen Doman, and I guess in most or every book of his, he has mentioned of what has happened about those childeren who were put on his program in the early 70’s. He has mentioned of what are they are now and how successful they are.
If you read his books the first few chapters talk about benefits of early reading and also about these children.

And also since we are talking about early teaching, this is what i know, as i have put my child on this program since birth. You can check my post at this link
http://forum.brillkids.com/introduce-yourself/hello-everyone-from-judy-mendes/msg19404/?topicseen

that young children can pick up and learn anything easily without any doubt unlike adults, Glen has also explained this why in his book too.
If you can train an animal when small, then why not children especially when they brains are like sponges. Any child that stays ahead always remains ahead in everything he wishes to pursue.
If you know an average human uses only 2-3% of his brain, imagine what happens to balance 98%, if try to tap to the uncovere the balance percentage of our brain, imagine how much we can achieve thru our brain power.

Recently on news this month, i also heard music can make smarter babies, i dont remember on which news channel i saw, if i recollect, I’ll send you’ll the link. And also when a research was conducted on Alzheimer’s disease patients, they found that these patients when played a song they could hum the tune of it and could tell when the song was played off beat.

13

Thank you all, for all of your advice.

14

Dear All,

Below is a link to the full article, Why Johnny Can’t Read, But Odisho Can:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n21_v40/ai_6745944

Even though the article was written over a decade ago, it is still very intriguing information. I am absolutely astonished and embarrassed with our American ignorance, while claiming to be the “best”. The very sad and obvious fact is that Americans know nothing - and should learn from those who do.

It has strengthened my personal conviction that early education programs are almost a requirement for parents who want their child to succeed in the increasingly competitive world - because being average by American standards is certainly too low by comparison to the rest of the world.

Respectfully,
Ayesha

15

My brother learned to read with flashcards, age 4. Now he is 43.
I learned with ordinary method at 5.

We both are rather talented in literature, music and nature sciences. He was more bright. He wrote poems and stories which were published. His music teachers were surprised that he can read notes all the line together, not single notes.
He did not finish the university (I did), now he works ordinary job as computer repairer.

We had rather unhappy childhood. Our parents did something like “un-attachment parenting”, my mother was too sick to take care properly etc.

It would be a long story on how wrong our childhood was. I am sure that psychological aspects are 10000 times more important than encyclopedic knowledge. With my doughter, the safe attachment is the priority, and teaching is just an entertainment.

Very often, happy and self-confident people are more successful than clever people. You know, clever people make suicide sometimes.

16

What Frukc pointed out is important. If we are going to stimulate our child’s intelligence we owe it to them also to stimulate them emotionally and ensure that they are emotionally ready for whatever it is we thrust at them - to understand something intellectually is not the same as to have a grasp of it on an emotional level.

The other issue that is brought up here is the concept of success - what is success? I would far rather be a happy street sweeper than be an unhappy multimillionaire (no offense to any professions intended)

There is a problem of being bored at school, however I would say that it is not only teaching children to read before school that bores them - many children who learn to read at school are also totally bored there - and this has to do not only with the speed at which material is presented but the way it is presented and the content of the lessons. If my child is not homeschooled I will hope that she gets a few very good teachers. If not she will have to learn how to cope with boredom and find other ways to amuse herself in a boring situation - this in itself is good for real life (have you ever waited at an airport for hours - what did you do?) I think being bored stimulates imagination too as you can day dream class away - as long as they know the work eventually it is not so important to pay attention 100% of the time)

17

Hi Tanikit,

Concerning success, I think it is something like this
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maslow’s_hierarchy_of_needs

I think, boring is not a problem. When I was bored I entertained myself with writing small poems. Laziness might be a problem.

But everyone here talks only about the school. Like the life ends with the last exam.
Early readers are very good at school - because learning is what they have learned to do. After school, they need another features. Ability to make decisions, to take responsibility, initiative, to to confess mistakes etc. Do you teach your children for that?

I think, early eduaction comes with several risks.

  1. Extended attachment. Close attachment with mother is necessary in early years but later people need to separate emotionally. Othervice your child will be dependent on you, without iniciative and without creativity.
    Extended attachment may result in alkohol dependance etc.
    Avoiding socialization, homeschooling can create this risk.
    Imagine family where 40 year old son is living on pension of his 70 year old mother, drinking, beating her. Early readers are among them.

I don’t say that it will happen but we must take it in account.

  1. Many mothers here are expecting that their children will be the best at school. It seems that their expectations and plans end with the show where their children are better than others.
    Sometimes some mothers feel a temptation to show to others how bright is their child. If they do it too often, the child
  • feels te expectations which he/she can not fulfill;
  • is upset when after some years he is as clever as other children are;
  • is being demonstrated to others like an ape at circus.

I know several families where one of several children is early reader and he is also the looser of the family. Probably, because wrong activities of mother.

I don’t say that it will happen but we must keep these things in mind.

18

I have a friend, whose wife is a teacher and he is a counselor and a director in government field, when they got their first kid they were young and learnin but their 2nd kid was so stimulated when she entered school they had to calm her down, which made me fully decide on the fact that I will never educate my kids from school.
I always believe that parents train their kids, and believe that it is very important to open their mind to the world around them
Where I live it is poor parenting not to pat and cuddle their baby when they fall, I believed otherwise, i believe my cuddling make him weaker, and I thank Allah, for Kyle do not cry whenever he falls unless he has a real injury like a good bump! the other day he had a cut with blood when I clothed him for bed, dont have any idea where he got it from!
Anyway to the reading issue, if we can open their mind to read at young age, they would utilise time with readng than the tv watching which itself is reason enough for me. Also like all research shows it helps their brain to open more and gather more from their surroundings, if the brain is active it definitely will show up in all aspects of life.

19

In response to some of the things mentioned in this thread, I would say the following:

  1. Do not push your child, esp at very young ages. We want to foster the love the reading, not kill it. Also, treat it as a time for bonding, and don’t attach yourself to results. That way, learning time is always joyful.

  2. Yes, there is a possibility that advanced kids feel bored in school, and that ends up killing their interest of learning. But like what was mentioned in the Myths article I linked to before, what would you have us do? Dumb down our kids so that they can fit in, and therefore remove this risk?? I believe that what is more PROBABLE is this scenario: The child finds school to be easy, relaxing, and has time to play hard instead of slaving away at learning things that others find difficult. School would be associated not with pain and difficulty, but with ease and pride. Self-confidence would be higher, and teachers may even like them more and even treat them as their pet favorite.
    Of course, I’m not saying that that scenario will necessarily happen, but I find that more likely than the other possibility.

  3. As mentioned in our articles, it seems that generally speaking at least, kids who start ahead, stay ahead.

  4. Absolutely agreed that life, and our teaching role as parents, involves MUCH MUCH MORE than just academia. A child can be the brightest and most educated person in the world and yet be a ‘failure’ by conventional standards. But like so many other things, it’s not an EITHER/OR situation - we should always have a good balance, and not focus just on one area and neglect the others.

20
4. Absolutely agreed that life, and our teaching role as parents, involves MUCH MUCH MORE than just academia. A child can be the brightest and most educated person in the world and yet be a 'failure' by conventional standards. But like so many other things, it's not an EITHER/OR situation - we should always have a good balance, and not focus just on one area and neglect the others.

Definitely agree with this!

What I find so amazing is that parents are encouraged to teach their children shapes, colours and all sorts of other things but not reading. No one is discouraged to give their child an enormous vocabulary before they go to school - perhaps we should all speak only in baby language to them in case they are bored by the teachers limited vocabulary in grade one or by their friends who don’t know the number of words they know?

Reading does open doors and is very powerful, but it also gives children the opportunity NOT to be bored - it is a quiet activity that they can do when they are bored that will encompass anything and will always therefore hold their interest if they are given the right book. The problem comes if teachers do not ALLOW children to read in their spare time in class.

The attachment issue is an interesting one and I think it has Nothing to do with early reading - a child will be attached or not depending on other things - mainly the mother and child’s bond and the ability for the child to mature - whether this has been hampered or not. It has absolutely nothing to do with early education.

The issue of expecting your child to be better than others is a problem. We need to remember that each child is an individual and love them for who they are and not what they achieve. Every person has value simply because they are a person - yes, we want people to reach their potential, but not reaching your potential does not take away from your inherent value.