Hi Everyone,
I first discovered BrillKids 5 months ago in March, while
working on a new webpage that I’d been thinking about for
a few months.
I’ve always been a fan of Glenn Doman’s books, and other Early
Childhood Education concepts and ideas. In fact, my
“specialty” for the past 21 years has been to teach Speed
Reading to children. And just like Doman says, the earlier
that kids learn things, the better.
But unfortunately, with Speed Reading, I hadn’t been able
to teach children younger than about 7 years of age. This
wasn’t because they weren’t capable of Speed Reading, but
simply because children under the age of 7 usually don’t
know how to read well enough to attempt Speed Reading yet.
Nobody had ever come up with an easily duplicatable method
of teaching children younger than about 7 or 8 how to Speed
Read with good comprehension.
Then, last December, while visiting a friend in another city
(who has done Montessori with all NINE of her children), my
wife and I were encouraged to improvise a method for teaching
young pre-schoolers to Speed Read. Our friend wanted HER
two youngest kids to speed read while they were still young.
I knew that it was time to actively come up with some sort
of LESSON PLAN for parents to follow, so that they could
teach their Pre-School children to Speed Read.
I had some great ideas of how to approach my new project, and
I worked on it with great enthusiasm. Then, one day, I
accidentally came across the following interview of a mother
named Ashly, who explained how she taught her two children
to Speed Read when they were each 3 years old.
(when you go to the following link, scroll about half-way
down the page, until you see a heading that says “Video
with Ashly.” Then click on the first of two videos that
show the same blonde lady. [only the first of the two
videos will play])
https://medium.com/accelerated-growth/speed-reading-is-not-only-for-adults-video-ee1f92368471
I have to be honest. This video was a “turning point” for
me. I suddenly had a clear idea of how to proceed with
teaching young Pre-School children to Speed Read: Teach
them to read (at any age) by using whatever method works well
for the parent (Little Reader would be a good choice), THEN
gently show them how to read faster, by teaching them to read
quietly, and then having them do some speed drills (for only a
couple of minutes per day or so) with PowerPoint slides with
favorite stories on them (one-word-at-a-time).
Very simple concept.
So I produced a couple of “flexible, and experimental”
lesson plans. The parent decides which one would be best
in their situation, and then goes with it.
Also, they’re FREE.
The 2 free lesson plans are found on the following page
of my new website:
http://speedreading4preschoolers.com/lesson-plans-to-try.html
Since this is a pretty new concept, there is room for
change, improvisation and improvement. Also, it really is
experimental. I would be happy for any helpful
comments/feedback that any of you may have.
My goal has always been to make Speed Reading a universally-
learned skill, and now we are opening a new frontier in Speed
Reading: Preschool children.
So, what does this have to do with BRILL KIDS? It’s clear
from Ashly’s interview, that BrillKids was a key element in
preparing her two children to be ready for Speed Reading.
Maybe someone else on BrillKids would also appreciate the
above video, and the linked free lesson plans.
Feel free to check them out.
George Stancliffe, author of Speed Reading 4 Kids.