how long to show bits, how many to show

Early Learning Early Learning General Discussions
1

My son is 22 months and I recently discovered Doman’s books. I was searching for something because my son wanted to learn so much that I didn’t know what to do. I’m so thankful I figured all this out because he really enjoys all the bits and is so happy learning all this new info.

My question is about how long to show the bits. I know the books say 1 second is all they need and to keep them wanting more. What if they want to look at something for a long time and talk about all the details? What if they want to watch the same one over and over again? What if they want to spend 30+ minutes looking at bits and keep asking for more and more?

I realize he is learning when he is doing this, so I don’t think it is a bad idea of let him lead a discussion, or choose the pace. I’m letting him use the mouse so he can determine how quickly he wants to see new slides. He is very verbal and certainly lets me know when he is bored. I’m the one that has to end learning sessions because he is so excited. Is it a bad idea to let him lead (within reason)?

2

I don’t think letting him lead is a problem. However the reason the slides are shown for one second is to stimulate the right brain pathways - letting him look for longer will stimulate the left brain. One way I get around this is to show the Little Reader pictures for just a second but give my daughter time to look at books about similar subjects where she can stare at the same picture for ages if she wants to. She has a favourite encyclopaedia book with tons of pictures about wild animals that she will look at and point out animals to us all the time. I introduce books about all sorts of different subjects and she shows me how interested (or bored) she is.