Imagine someone telling you that it is easier to teach a preverbal baby to learn to read than a 5 year old.  The truth is, it is easier to teach a baby to read and here is why. 

From birth to 5 years old, the brain of a baby is developing explosively.  The brain is not wired until after birth and the environment we create for our children will affect this development dramatically.

 Parents may not know that babies are born linguistic geniuses.  They are capable of learning any language, and as many languages as they are exposed to before they are 5 years old.  This includes not just spoken language, but also sign language and written language. 

Once a baby’s visual tracking has matured, which is the ability to follow an object from side-to-side, they are capable of learning to read.  If you begin showing a 3-month-old words, which are written in a large font, whether on a flash card or the television screen, through repetition, your baby will learn to read those words. 

If you continue to show your baby many words, even though they can’t speak, they will be able to read mentally before they can even speak the words.  This is incredible!  The more words your baby is exposed to, the faster your baby will decode the pattern of the language thereby teaching themselves phonics. 

Babies that are exposed to words during the first 3 years of life are able to decode the language all on their own, with little or no phonetic instruction.  This means that before you know it, your baby will be reading words they have never seen, but were able to figure out through the rules of the language. 

If parents begin teaching their babies to read at an early age, before they are very mobile, they can build a strong reading vocabulary at a time when the babies are doing little else.  A baby that has not yet gained mobility may be interested in viewing 40 to 50 words per session.  Once your baby is crawling around they will already have a good understanding of language.  This will prepare them to decode new words and the ability to read will manifest itself along with the ability to speak, almost as if by magic.

To learn more about teaching your baby to read check out the baby reading program at www.monkisee.com.