I just want to share what my baby just did. Though I am doing Doman’s full program (bits, math, reading), this is not directly involved with her knowledge of the lessons (I have not really “tested” her) but instead, this serves as a proof that the more you teach a baby, the more she CAN learn.
Cammie just showed me she knows much, much more than I believe she does. She identified “electric fan”, “closet”, “computer”, and “iPhone” by twisting her body towards the objects and looking directly at them.
The other day (she was 8 mos and 1 day old), she identified “Mama”, “Daddy” “Lola” (granma), “light”, and “chimes”.
Some objects that she identified are included in her lessons but some are not like “chimes”, “iPhone”, “light” but I made it a point to say the objects’ names when I show them to her.
I am just AMAZED! It may not seem much but I know this skill is advanced for her age. I’m soooo happy for her
Don’t give up! I think you will get amazing results if you stay consistent. I do not know whether my baby is advanced but he does things that amaze me every day, I’m sure your baby will keep it up! The truth about all your hard work will be revealed soon enough.
We do get a lot of motivation when they do such things, don’t we? I still remember how I felt the first day my little own showed he knew the words. It was actually an impromptu problem-solving session when he was around 6-1/2 months old and he identified 7 out of 8 cards! It was simply amazing…! If it were not for these instances, I too would have found it difficult to do the program consistently.
Apart from that, do you feel that your kid looks brighter and smarter “look wise” when compared to other kids of her age? Have people told you that? Though I have heard this comment in my son’s case, I am not sure if this is true. I heard this from a lady who teaches Doman method here in my city. She has dealt with a lot of children and she swears by it. Any comments anybody?
Wow, your baby must be very very bright! I know a handful of Doman children and they rarely displayed knowledge before their 8th month. It’s not that they don’t have the knowledge but I guess they (or our babies) are still too young to be interested to “show” what they know.
Funny you mentioned about others commenting on your baby “looking wise” because Cameron has been receiving the exact comments! Some even say that she looks “smart-ass” haha! It may be partly because of her features but I’m sure it has to with her looking “alert”, “calm”, or “purposeful”. It must show in her face that there’s a lot going on on her mind. I know most babies look “innocent” or “angelic” but these are NOT the adjectives people use to describe my child!
That was well worded, “Alert, calm, and purposeful.” Thats exactly what I meant. That lady whom I mentioned before also said about the calmness, though I would say that my baby is calm only when we are outside. At home, he is very active and always wants to talk something.
Well, I did a problem-solving session again yesterday after nearly 3 months and he was almost 90% right. The couple of words he missed were from his earliest sessions (when he was around 4-1/2 months). So that reinforces the importance of doing couplets regularly. Something interesting happened. I had shown him some EK pictures of indian national leaders when he was around 5 months. I would have shown him this around 3 or 4 times and then I stopped as Dr. Doman asks to do EK only after reading and math. So I just wanted to see if he could remember those. I picked up 2 pictures and asked which was Mahatma Gandhi. It was just beautiful to see what he did. He looked at both the pictures one after another, did that almost 3 or 4 times, and then looked imploringly at me, as if saying “mommy did you teach me that? I dont know this.” Though It was really sweet to watch him do that, I felt bad and realized I should not have done it as I was actually “testing” him. Just felt like sharing!
I guess only both of us are sharing instances here. It would be nice if others could also join and share such interesting incidents, however small it may be. We will only be motivating each other by listening to each other’s stories!
Congratulations Nadia and Questers! It is very encouraging to read such posts.
I wish I could get some indication of how much my son has learnt- he hates being tested. If I ask him about something, he’ll show it to me once. If I repeat the same question later/ after a few days- he totally ignores me as if ‘I know that, don’t ask me that again’ He will answer some of my questions- when he feels like it
He does appear to be smarter than kids of his age and has shown us that in many other ways-but I wish he would, atleast once, identify the cards for me. Anyhow, I will keep teaching and maybe someday he will tell me something. Till then, posts such as yours will serve as encouragement- so Karma to you
Thanks for the karma I just “tested” Cammie “formally” for the first time and she answered 100% correct! I planned to give her 10 problem solving opportunities and we got to number 6 with her choosing the correct card everytime. At number 7 though, she decided crawling to her dad is more interesting, she “walked-out” on me! Imagine my happiness and awe despite of the abrupt end of our session!
I understand your child hates being tested. Who doesn’t? I hate it myself. The key is to make it fun as possible. Here are some ideas I picked-up from fellow Brillkids members (some are from my own imagination):
The “fishing” game.
You scatter cards on the floor with paper clips attached on them. “Fish” them out with a pole/rod with magnet at the end. You could ask your child to “fish” for the right answer!
The “surprise reward” game.
You scatter cards on the floor again and put a healthy treat under like a raisin or a favorite candy. After your child take the right card, he/she can eat the treat under it!
The “hit” game.
You stick the cards on the wall and let your child “hit” them with a ball. Be involved by also playing the game. Each hit rewards him a point which you can write on a board. You can “compete” by gathering points.
**Of course these games are not suitable for all ages but I hope you could use some! Happy teaching!
Congratulations again for your well-rewarded efforts in teaching your child. What a smart baby, you must be so proud! I can imagine his expression when he looked back-and-forth at the EK cards :-). As per experience, teaching EK or Math is totally up to you and your baby. I have started ALL (words, dots, ek) at the same time. The “test” I talked about involves EK cards, not words and she answered correctly every single time. So I guess it’s safe to say that the EK program will work even if we teach it at the same time with reading, etc.
Maybe Doman said that as a guideline but we mothers know best Babies are soooo hungry for knowledge and I think they will absorb anything and everything we teach them no matter what order the lessons were taught. I can say this because I have corresponded with texaslady222 regarding the “proper” time to teach math. As per her experience, ALL of the program were successful and she started ALL of it at the same time. Her son is a living example of it.
I would have written this sooner but my hand was shaking with excitement. Cammie has just floored us with her problem-solving abilities! She was 100% correct in all 12 questions. If she had been guessing, there’s only a very,very small chance that she’ll get all questions right consecutively so there’s no doubt her answers all came from her memory. Note that these are the cards I’ve shown her when she was 4 mos old.
Last night, I presented 6 pairs of cards and she touched the correct ones each time. I continued to ask the 7th question but then she decided to crawl to her sleeping daddy. Perhaps she was bored, it was too easy to for her! I wasn’t able to capture it on video because it was totally impromptu - this is the first time that I formally “tested” her. I happily told Donald about Cammie’s feat after-wards.
The next morning, I awoke and there’s Donald - testing Cammie again! I was still at bed and hurried to get the camera. This is what I managed to capture. Donald said they have gone through 3 or 4 questions when I got the camera.
This next video is a an attempt to continue the session. Cammie picked the right answer again but when she heard me, she turned around and decided that the camera is more interesting than the cards! Haha!
this is amazing! Your baby is really smart and you too have put in a lot of hardwork- great job!
Thanks for the suggestions for ‘testing’- I will definitely try them out. After I read your first post, I could’nt control myself and tried to test my son- I should him two numbers and he correctly identified the card. I repeated this again next morning with other numbers and he did it again! However, he got the first numbers wrong after that (distracted by his dad :). I don’t know what to make of this. Next time, I will test him when his dad is not around and record everything
I had a question for you- When I started numbers, he did not pay a lot of attention to them as he does now. Should I repeat the first few or just continue with the sequence. We have completed number 20. I am thinking of making word flash cards (body parts etc) which follows the curriculum on LR. This way I may be able to ‘play’ word games with him. Any suggestions?
I don’t have any EK cards/ word cards for him now- just the LR. Are you doing flash cards and LR? How do you schedule both and how many sessions do you do in a day? I just want to make sure I am doing the right thing.
Hello again! Thanks for the compliment & I’m glad I could somehow help
A big congratulations to you & your baby! You must have been so happy
Don’t worry if sometimes he would choose the wrong answer. Just as u said, maybe he was just distracted.
I don’t think you should re-do anything. If any, your child would be more inclined to be ‘bored’ If you’re going to repeat the lesson because he has already seen them. To refresh his memory, you could include the quantities in the equations. Have u started w/ equations already?
Most of the time, I use LR and LM but I also use real cards to supplement. I try to use the same pics in the flashcards as the ones in LR. I would say I use computer software (LM, LR, Doman Picture Dict CDrom) 90% of the time & real flashcards only 10%. My baby used to be very clingy so I couldnt put her down and show her flashcards & that’s where LR & LM helped tremendously. She would sit in my lap contently while watching the lessons.
Just this afternoon, we made the mistake of testing Cammie again & again. She didn’t want to answer at all. I tried again this evening & she chose the wrong answer. She didnt even look at the other card, she just grabbed the nearest card & put it in her mouth! I guess it’s her way of saying that she’s so bored with ‘testing’. Dont make the same mistake we did. In our excitement & eagerness to capture her again on video, we went against Doman’s rule of not testing.
You see, babies are sooo smart, it’s an insult to them if we test them again & again. It’s making them feel that we don’t trust their ability.
Don’t worry too much on the ‘right’ way of teaching. I have not been very consistent but I made it a point that each lesson is FUN for BOTH of us. The nymber of repetition is not that impt bec each baby is different. Each has different learning curves. What’s impt (as Doman emphasizes) is the JOYOUSNESS.
At 7 months and 6 days- HE DID IT! I am so happy I couldn’t believe it!
He got all the numbers right- AGAIN! This is definitely happening!
Thanks for the advice Nadia and the warning about not testing too often.
We haven’t started the equations yet, but will start soon- As soon as I get the smile off my face I just can’t stop smiling- Its a very wonderful and different experience when your child achieves something, isn’t it?
Nadia - A big congrats to you! Thats the fruit of all the hard work you’ve been doing!
The video was really nice to see…Camie seems very composed and picks pictures with ease…She seems to be very intelligent for her age…And she has got a cute face too! Just went through your blog…Looks like you guys have been doing a lot of things…Thats great! Comparitively, I feel i am doing nothing…Well, you are really inspiring me to boost up my current program with even more zest!
Shaman - A big congratulations to you too! I know how thrilled you must have been to witness it the first time. See your child proved that he knew a lot! Hard work and perseverance pays off! Try to capture it on video (which is another big challenge, because kids get more interested on the camera than the cards).
Thank you Questers. Teaching our babies is a reward in itself. Them showing us what they know is just icing on the cake
I’m glad if our blog somehow became an inspiration! I too have just been “inspired” by a fellow Brillkids member to start blogging.
The program has been such part of our lives that it became soooo easy to do especially with LR and LM. Sometimes it is too easy that I wished for something MORE we could do. Haha!
Right now, I must admit I nearly succumbed to the danger of focusing on the result - on documenting what my baby knows. I almost forgot our goal: to teach joyfully, expecting nothing in return. I’m glad I have come to my senses! So more teaching and less testing for now
If I may ask, how many times have you tested your baby already? From my recollection, it only been 2 times in 3 months?
