Very Early Learning: Can Babies Be Taught To Read?

When researching Early Learning developmental programs and considering homeschool for my disabled daughter, Chloe, I bought and implemented a book called

Amazon.com Widgets

How To Teach Your Baby To Read by Glenn Doman.

I realised, when showing Chloe the flashcards, that something about this very-early-learning program was familiar to me. When I questioned my parents I found out that my father had bought this book in the 70's.

He had originally bought it to give my elder brother and sister (6 and 7) a boost with their literacy. He didn't think that the book really meant "babies" and so embarked on the program with them.

I was only an infant, just learning to walk, but insisted on being included in the sessions. It got to the point where I was beating my siblings to the mark and calling out the words every time a card was shown.

I am no more intelligent than my elder brother and sister. We have a similar genetic mix, yet as a baby I was keener and more adept at reading.

I have found out since that this is perfectly normal. 90% of brain growth occurs before the age of five. A baby's greatest pleasure and motivation is learning, for that is the path to independence - the goal of every child.

Word Recoginition to Early Literacy

Well, the Doman program moves into couplets and phrases quickly. The size of the print is reduced and more reading material becomes available and easy to tackle.

The upshot is that I was reading, with comprehension, by the age of three.

What Did All This Learning Do For Me? And More Importantly, What Can It Do For You?

I can only speak first-hand, from my personal experience, but here is a sample of how my life turned out as a direct result of my very early learning to read and learning to learn as a tiny child:

Having the ability to read and write before school
At the age of five I wrote poems and stories while my classmates were learning their ABCs
At the age of seven I read "The Hobbit" and decided that I liked Tolkein
By the age of eight I consistently scored off the standardized scales in reading and writing tests
Rarely needing to study for exams at high school
I have a very accurate memory
I have enjoyed learning foreign languages with ease
I have above average IQ

Was all this nature, or nurture? I thought it was nature, as I don't remember my father doing the actual program with me.

My siblings are bright, but I was always a bit different in my ability to receive, store, retrieve and cross-refer information.

Perhaps I received a fortunate genetic endowment. And yet...these things...this different cognitive ability... I am certain were created in me.

Second Generation Reading Babies

Now my own children have had the benefit of early input. I used many of the Doman programs, including "How to Teach Your Baby Math", "How to Give Your Baby Encyclopaedic Knowledge" etc.

I don't think it has been a waste and feel closer to my six, eight and ten year old girls because of it.

They are all avid learners with great sight-word vocabularies. If you have very young children, I would encourage you to explore early learning. In my opinion, preschool is the best homeschool.

This page is not about me. It's about letting people understand how grateful I am for the vast choices and enormous happiness my early learning provided me.

It's about letting people know that very early learning is a good idea. It's simple to do. It's fun.

Below is an example of a set of facts from the "How To Give Your Baby Encyclopaedic Knowledge" book.

Note how my four-year-old daughter, Imogen, isn't required to do anything but be there and look at the cards. I don't test her, I don't make her sit still, I just present a set of related facts (in this case, rose varieties) quickly and with affection.

I am very proud of my girls' vocabularies and ability to classify and cross-refer learned facts. It is a direct result of this teaching and has cost me very little time and effort, but has given me countless hours of fun and closeness with them.

The Gentle Revolution: What Are We Trying To Achieve?

This quote from Glenn Doman says it best:

"The Gentle Revolution began quietly more than a half century ago. It was, and is, the most gentle of all revolutions.

Consider the objective of The Gentle Revolution: to give all parents the knowledge required to make highly intelligent, extremely capable, and delightful children, and, by so doing, to make a highly humane, sane and decent world.

The Gentle Revolution proposes that tiny children have within them the capacity to learn virtually anything while they are tiny."

Here is some footage of my youngest, aged six, reading "Fantastic Mr. Fox" with comprehension.

This book is recommended for children from 9-12.

SBI!