can anyone help me…
i have a 12months old son and he is extremly active…can i start using the little Reader for him?
i’ve downloaded the little reader trial version…i’ve shown it to him but he doesn’t seem to enjoy it…he tends to look at other things…so…how can i help him to focus?
Hi cnge! Try to create a consistent routine and positive association. Some parents like myself show lessons during mealtime or snacktime (in a highchair if the child is very young), at the same time everyday, or perhaps during his calmest time. Maybe that is right before bed while he unwinds with some milk and snuggling, make a big deal out of cuddling in a special designated chair or Mommy & Daddy’s bed.
Alternately, you can print off flashcards and teach him while he’s in motion, but some children like to grab at them. Train him early that he can handle them after the lesson is done. You can try making sure no toys are left out to distract him, even dimming the lights before lessons so the screen grabs his attention. if your son is not a splasher, you can take the laptop into the bathroom and perch it on the counter (which I have done myself upon occasion). You can also use an HDMI cable or similar to hook up your computer to a big screen TV to make the words even bigger and see if that helps, or download the app and see if he likes those lessons better on an iphone/ipad.
Parental involvement is key, get really excited and cheer, smile, laugh, act as if this is the best thing you have ever seen and he will too! He can sense your hesitation and fear that “he’s not going to like it” again. Get your spouse in on the lessons too, if mom and dad are having fun and veeery interested in this game, he will want to know about it too. During the body part words, touch his or your body parts or act out the action words. Learn baby sign language if you find that helps and you can add more motions to the other words too (like the animal words and such
Keep in mind after purchasing the full version (possibly during the trial? I’m not sure actually) you can customize the files completely and upload pictures of family, him, the dog, his favorite toys, etc, to boost interest as needed. Also, the lessons simply maybe be too slow for him. You can always speed up the lessons to be as quick as possible without cutting of the portions of any words (if that happens slow it down just a smidgen) and set it to autoforward. It may very well just be too slow for his taste! If you go that route, I would consider printing out 1-2 categories he is working on to reinforce with matching games, and he will hopefully recognize them, or begin to recognize them from the lessons. The reason I say this is because some children learn very well through multisensory slower lessons and others learn very well through flashed quick lessons, but you won’t know right away how your son learns best so it’s better to teach both ways. But if the multisensory lessons in LR are too slow for his taste and you speed them up and put them on auto-forward, then you can do some multi-sensory work on paper and know he is getting input both ways. You can manage those options from the “over-ride” button, which is accessible on the bottom lefthand side of the screen.
I hope some of this helps, let us know how it goes!! 