I’m really wondering how the process will work to get my son from seeing words, couplets, phrases, sentences to actually reading and comprehending books.
During your program, did you learn some pointers or other things that help your child in the transition to reading/comprehending? Are you continuing to show any more flashcards/LR programs specifically for reading? Any other pointers on the process?
I’m just trying to ‘begin with the end in mind’ so to speak…
As an FYI, we started showing YBCR on 1/1/09 when my son was 18mo, then began also showing LR words on 3/5/09. We started couplets in addition to singles and YBCR on 3/15/09.
The best advice I can give is to continue showing single words and couplets, but jump into short sentences quickly. I made tons of short sentences for my children and they certainly can learn to read new words in context. I have them on sentence strips that I got at the office supply store. They already have lines, which makes them easy to use. I use the red marker and store them in a pocket chart in the bedroom. When we go to do a diaper change or something similar, we look at a few sentences. I think this really helps to get them reading at a faster and higher level. My son could read tons of words, the transition into sentences was a bit slower. Some of my cards look like this:
I like to have tea parties.
I like to watch Diego.
Joshua is my brother.
We point at each word and read them as we go down the card. There is not a magic formula to teaching babies to read. It is the consistency of showing them words and sentences and books. Don’t be alarmed if you are jumping over steps outlined by Glenn Doman. I have tips that I post daily on my blog www.teachingbabytoread.com. They may be helpful.
Krista G ~ Thank you for your advice. Just a quick detail question, did you show your son all the words as singles before you showed them in a sentence?
Mooncake2 ~ Welcome! I noticed my son reading single words after a month on Your Baby Can Read program. We did the flip books and slide cards a lot, and I think that’s what really helped him to grasp the words. He knows all the words from the starter DVD and most from DVD 1. We’re currently on DVD 2 and he’s not picked up these words as quickly - I think that’s due that we’ve added other things to our program and I haven’t been showing the flip books and slide cards as much. Honestly, I’m not sure how much he’s learning from the actual videos alone. I think he really grasps the words with seeing them on the DVD AND seeing them on the cards. We’ve only been doing the LR cards for a short while, so I haven’t played any games with him to see how much he knows on those.
Just for your encouragement… I know a very smart 17 year old young man. He was brought up in a multilingual family, taught according to the Doman reading method, he was reading at the age of 3 (before he started talking) and when he started talking at 3 1/2 years he spoke the three languages he was taught at home… It is possible!
No, I didn’t show all the words individually. That was the point I was trying to make. You can skip over the steps as needed and go back to the beginning. You can teach words in sentences and books that haven’t been seen yet, but still work on single words and couplets. I have found it is not a straight path, it curves a lot. It is exposure, exposure, exposure to language that helps them to develop the ability to read. I read everything to my children. While we make breakfast I show them what everything says. My daughter can read all the words on the sugar packet and the word Toyota on the van, etc… Every time you show your child a word, they are making a connection. They are learning the phonetics of the language as well as the words. I am always on the lookout for words that are not tiny that I can point out. It is really just a way of life for us. I want my children to understand that words are everywhere and we can read them. I hope this is helpful for you. I have also labeled the house with just about every one of my six children. We have some free labels to put up in your home on our website. You just point out the words a few times a day as you are in the house and the babies learn a whole bunch of new words. You can have magnetic letters on the fridge and make different words each week. You can use foam letters in the tub and teach words related to the bathroom. I had a dry erase board and with my son, under one in my arms would write sentences for him to read. I would see his eyes following along. I would write Joshua is handsome, or Joshua is my son. He had not seen the word handsome, it was he learned in a sentence. Don’t be afraid to jump into sentences, it makes reading a lot more fun. I think that was the biggest revelation I had with teaching my children to read. They can read sentences very soon after learning words. You can see the printable house labels at www.monkisee.com. Just click on Freebies on the right side and the labels are there. View my blog at www.teachingbabytoread.com.
