http://larrysanger.org/2011/09/i-gih-dah-bah/
Would you believe he said his first sentence today, at 11 months? Wav files at the above URL.
Great job Baby E. 
Great job, Baby E.!!
I wish I had learned of teaching baby to read before my son was born. I learned about it when he was almost 1 years and 6 months. He is bilingual, and I can see that an ability to read has helped improving his speech development.
Elle
No worries. I didn’t learn about it with H. until he was 20 months or so, and didn’t really start a program until he was 22 months. But he’s reading very well now at age 5! In some ways, he might have been at an advantage considering that most of his first intensive “reading” training (apart from my simply reading him books) took the form of my phonics flash cards (“Fleschcards,” see the link in my sig). On the other hand, he might have made even more rapid progress if he had started faster. There are a few kids reported on in this forum who were reading at an even more advanced level sooner–quite amazing! But, come on–are you really going to be disappointed if your child is “only” reading picture books fluently at age 3, say? I wouldn’t have been.
Sounds like baby E is doing great! Do you find teaching a second child easier or more difficult (or both in different ways) to the first child? I have done less with ,y second than with my first I feel (she’s 6 months, other is 4 years) but like you my eldest is constantly stimulating the younger one.
Neat update! I wish everyone would do this :). It’s neat to get ideas.
I got that toddler counting app, it’s great!
I’m curious how little E’s talking will develop.
My daughter (now 19 months) spoke in sentences at 11 months, even sentences thaymt seemed less “audio recording” of what she’d heard and more hand-crafted (I wanna walk like brother do). She said “I wanna” before a lot of things actually. A few months later she seemed to more frequently speak one word at a time, and just now is starting to build sentences again.
I have this theory that there was different stages of her development in play there. As you mentioned, I suspected the early talking in sentences to be imitation-driven. Though, I’m still baffles by the sentences that appeared crafted by her. And, then (in my theory) I suspect she moved onto a “naming things” stage, and was mostly interested in nouns and verbs. And this is also the time period when her reading and letter recognition exploded. And I do mean exploded…I spent at least a year teaching my (more reluctant) 3 year old letters (albeit without fancy materials). My daughter learned them almost effortlessly, and I really think its because I caught her in that window of naming/labeling things that’s intensely interesting to toddlers. If nothing else, this seems like the perfect oppurtunity to teach letters and sounds.
Anyhow, I’m interested in his language plays out because I haven’t conversed with many other parents with tiny ones speaking so soon.
I enjoyed your post. I am curious what language your wife speaks? Baby E sounds so cute. I hope we can see him sometime because I feel like I know H. from your other videos.
Thanks for the replies!
As many others have said before, it’s harder with the second in that you simply don’t have the time to spend on both. So, no, I am surely not doing as much with E. as I did with H., but on the other hand, I know a bit better what I’m doing now so the time spent is higher-quality (or so I like to think) and unlike H. he is getting constant language and other stimulation–it just isn’t all written, is all. Anyway, when baby E. is more open to books and presentations, which I suspect will happen sooner or later, I’m sure I’ll be doing a lot more with him. And soonish I’m going to stop reading so many elementary school-level books to H. at mealtimes and start reading baby and toddler books to E. This will be difficult, but think it will have to be done!
Krista, my wife is a very private person and doesn’t want the kids to be recognizable, so that would be why you wouldn’t see any more of baby E or H than the amount that has appeared from H so far…
That is too bad, although I understand her concerns. Thanks for sharing your updates and that explains a little about why you kept your identity quiet for so long too.
Wow, good job.
When you started to teach him?
I have a 4 months boy and I also wanna teach him read but I don’t know when and how to start. May you give me some advices that you used for baby E and H, please.
Thanks so much,
All the best wishes for your family
My basic advice is “do what baby likes,” but definitely do lots, whatever you do. Your menu is: book reading (especially while pointing at words and explaining word meaning), looking at flash cards, looking at powerpoint presentations that mimic flashcards, looking at Little Reader or other software, looking at websites, looking at videos, using handheld apps. Don’t let baby get bored, help him explore his world, and always be explaining everything.
Thanks DadDude so much,
I will try to do what my baby likes and will tell you the result soon.
great…
I want to know when we should start to teach our baby to read.
was your first device to teach, flashcards?
Different people use different approaches successfully. With H. I read a huge number of books when he was a baby. We did some commercial flash cards, but before I knew anything about Doman-type methods. We didn’t start teaching him to read, per se, until he was 22 months or so. Baby E., unfortunately, doesn’t really have so much patience with books (yet). He’ll let me read 1-2 in a sitting. He responds fairly well flashcards, Little Reader, Reading Bear, and (occasionally) YBCR, as well as iPad apps. But he doesn’t have a huge long attention span for these, either.
The main thing is to keep a large and varied exposure to written language, connecting it clearly to the spoken word.
I strongly gree with Larry. Different kid, different approaches.
I myself use all kinds of approach to teach my son to read. I tried Doman flash cards, Flesch cards, and Little Reader.
It works for me because my son can read.
thanks for sharing your experiences.
what about bilingual families? should they read for their children in both languages?
I think so. We’re bilingual. My wife doesn’t read so much to H. & E., but she reads some and they like it.