I am new to the forum and have just started teaching my 11 month old reading and maths usind the Glenn Doman method. My problem is that he does not seem very interested…I do not want to force him, but at times he really does not want to be taught! I know that at this age babies want to explore rather than sit and watch some flash cards ;o) Have I left it too late?! I have just downloaded the free trial little reader and little maths programmes to see if this may be a better option for him. But I am very worried that he will not learn anything…does anyone have any advice on this issue. Maybe your baby was the same, what did you do and did it work, etc.
Hello and welcome. My baby HATED flashcards, dots and LR for a very long time. i think it’s only around 13m that she liked it (for example, climbing on my knees when i am on the computer, actually stopping and let me read a book to her for more than 30 seconds…)
From the age of 6 months she was crying (yep, crying) when I tried to read books to her. Pushing it away, trying to get out…
But she is really active. Never in a pram, climbing ropes, walking up the stairs on her own etc. so i know it’s related.
you might want to try EK (which is what i did) she would occasionally glanced at animals and fruits. how is your baby with books?
I also found that at 11 months my daughter was not interested in sitting still and looking at flash cards. I printed big words and pasted then up around my house. First all the household words, then a word and a picture of other categories - family, animals. etc. We could then read them as she ran by them. I also made up active games with the cards, such as put a few on the floor and ask her to go and pick up the one that says “Mommy”. Or, we would put play hide and seek with the card. I would show it to her, then hide it behind the chair and ask her to look for it, then it would be her turn to hide it. Each time we are going over what the card says. I had more luck with words and knowledge cards than math cards.
After she got used to being mobile, she was once again willing to sit still for a little bit of time. She is still not interested in flash cards, but she will watch Little Reader and Little Math on my computer, and watch her little DVD player, so I play Your Baby Can Read, and various things I have downloaded from youtube. (We like Readeez from youtube.) My daughter loves music, so we play the reading ones that have music and that keeps her attention better.
It is not at all too late for you son. You will find that his interests and attention levels probably change month by month. I would suggest just doing what is fun. Maybe find more active ways to look at the cards. Try the Little Reader and maybe some DVDs. And if he is not interested, then just wait and come back and try again next month. Most kids only need to see each item a couple times to know them, so even if you show it to him five times and he only looks at it once or twice, her will probably learn it.
Thanks guys, I feel abit better knowing that im not the only one who is having problems with my 11 month old wanting to sit still and learn! I tried little reader and maths with him today…he loved it! Smiled and laughed the whole time and when I stopped he wanted more! So I think I will buy these programmes instead of the flashcards. Will get him some dvds too and continue reading to him…Ive been reading books which are bigger for his age actually so he gets bored and just wants to flip the pages rather than sit and listen…will get him some baby books with a few words on each page rather than long sentences.
I started to teach my first child to read at 10 months old. I was so excited to get started and made all my flash cards and showed them with tons of excitement and guess what? She wouldn’t even look at the cards. I was terribly disappointed buy determined to make this work. My secret weapon? Videos. My kids all love to watch TV and using the Monki See videos or Your Baby Can Read may be the answer for you, although Monki See will probably be better because they are more fun and entertaining while they teach. Once you do that for a month or so you can start using flash cards and your baby will be able to make connections now that they have been exposed to the written word on screen. You can check them out along with samples here www.monkisee.com/monkisee_baby_dvds.html
I made my own videos for my boy and he would watch them several times a week to review words we already learned. I think video is the easiest way to teach a baby to read. They are entertained and they are excited, two important ingredients for success.
My daughter has recently started finding flashcards and power point slide shows boring. I tried a new way to make it interesting for her and it has worked even though I’m not sure it is ‘right brain’ as such.
I make her favourite dolls and teddy bears sit in a circle (ten of them) and then I hand flashcards of words (or dots) out to her and ask her which toy she wants to give each word to e.g. “Who gets the word ‘star’”?. She has great fun doing this. Then I ask her to give me the word ‘star’ or ‘elephant’ etc and invariably she gives me the right word. Sometimes she gets it wrong but it doesnt matter. When she gives me the right word we either talk about it or sing a song about it (like Twinkle Star) or if it is an animal, we make the animal sound.
Much more entertaining than flash cards, but with the same principle at work: Readeez. Laughing Water commented about them. You can watch lots of them for free at Vimeo. http://www.vimeo.com/michaelrachap/videos/sort:oldest