Teaching a 12 month old to read
Here is a question and answer from the Yahoo Group Teach Your Baby to Read in 90 Seconds a Day. It is in regards to teaching a 12 month old to read.
Question
My daughter (will be 4 in December) is doing great w/ memorizing the words. She so far can say all of the words after seeing them only a couple of times (even the growing stack of retired ones). And she'll take her Magna Doodle and "write" a word and tell me what it says (usually it's some random nonsense word). She doesn't yet try to read new words or books or anything but of course, we're still way early in the program. I have two sets of words for her and she wants to do them over and over, one right after the other, lol.
But my son, on the other hand (who was 12 months on Sunday), is rapidly losing interest. I try to be happy and fast, but he looks away after two words. So since apparently two words is all he "wants" to see, and I'm supposed to do less than what he wants, I guess his "set" of words will just be A word, right? I am trying to envision scenarios in my head and every one I think of really spreads the words out and makes them last longer than they "should." I saw in one of the earlier archive messages that someone did a tally on the word cards and retired them after 15 viewings instead of after 5 days, and I guess that's what I'm going to have to do with him. But really, I am having trouble even getting him to look at a single word. He is happy but he looks at my face instead of the word. Then if I hold it in front of my face, I can't tell if he's looking at it or not.
Then overall, I just get discouraged when I realize that it could easily take 18 months or more before I see any results at all. I mean, with elimination communication, I can see the results as pee in the potty right away, lol. But I just don't know if I can hang in there and try to get him to glimpse a word for a quarter of a second a few times a day, without knowing if that's "enough" for him. I just have a bad feeling that it's all going to be a big waste of time and energy. And I know that it's way too early in the process to be feeling this way, so I could really use some encouragement. So please help me out and tell me it will be okay. But don't just tell me that. Tell me WHY it will be okay.
Andrea
DD 3y10m
DS 12m
But my son, on the other hand (who was 12 months on Sunday), is rapidly losing interest. I try to be happy and fast, but he looks away after two words. So since apparently two words is all he "wants" to see, and I'm supposed to do less than what he wants, I guess his "set" of words will just be A word, right? I am trying to envision scenarios in my head and every one I think of really spreads the words out and makes them last longer than they "should." I saw in one of the earlier archive messages that someone did a tally on the word cards and retired them after 15 viewings instead of after 5 days, and I guess that's what I'm going to have to do with him. But really, I am having trouble even getting him to look at a single word. He is happy but he looks at my face instead of the word. Then if I hold it in front of my face, I can't tell if he's looking at it or not.
Then overall, I just get discouraged when I realize that it could easily take 18 months or more before I see any results at all. I mean, with elimination communication, I can see the results as pee in the potty right away, lol. But I just don't know if I can hang in there and try to get him to glimpse a word for a quarter of a second a few times a day, without knowing if that's "enough" for him. I just have a bad feeling that it's all going to be a big waste of time and energy. And I know that it's way too early in the process to be feeling this way, so I could really use some encouragement. So please help me out and tell me it will be okay. But don't just tell me that. Tell me WHY it will be okay.
Andrea
DD 3y10m
DS 12m
Answer
I can totally relate to your story. When I read Doman's book, How to Teach Your Baby to Read, I was the most excited mom on the planet. I made my cards and then with the most excitement and enthusiasm I could possibly contain I showed the cards to my then 10 month old. I felt like a deflating balloon when she wouldn't even look at them. It is as you describe, she would look at me or somewhere else. I was practically jumping up and down with the cards calling her name and holding them up and it was as if I were doing nothing. So, I know how you feel.
Through my determination I discovered that if I made word books, with the word on one page and a picture on the other, she couldn't get enough of them. She loved to see these books and I couldn't make them fast enough for her. This is when I discovered that some kids want to see pictures and will not read any other way. I look at it as though the picture is a reward of sorts. They see a word, which is kind of boring, but then they get to see a picture that has color and detail and we can talk about the picture if we want to. The books I made were really easy to put together and very durable. I still have them 8 years later and they are in great condition.
My suggestion is, if you are not already using pictures with him, try it. If you are and he still has no interest, try some videos such as Your Baby Can Read or MonkiSee. You can probably rent YBCR from the video store, library or Netflix to try. If that still doesn't work and can't keep his interest, decide if you think you should wait a little while and try again at a later date. Just because every child can learn to read, doesn't mean they want to.
You could also try the www.memoflix.com free video slide shows. They have a word and then a picture. Hopefully one of these suggestions will work, but if not, don't worry. More importantly than teaching your baby to read is teaching your baby to love to read. If you read to him/them regularly and you get excited about reading books you will pass on that love to your children. I know, I have raised 6 kids that love to read. Today is Saturday morning and they are all lying around somewhere in the house enjoying their morning reading. We make going to the library a regular part of our week. We use the website to request books and pick them up so we don't have to search the shelves to find good stories to read. I find this to be very helpful to always have a great stock of really enjoyable books to read.
You can check my blog to see my list of 100 favorite kid's books to read.
http://teachingbabytoread.com/2010/08/02/list-of-books-to-read-to-baby.aspx
You can also see some simple instructions on how to make your own books for your child. I can't find the post I am looking for but here is something here.
http://teachingbabytoread.com/2009/01/31/create-a-family-album.aspx
Through my determination I discovered that if I made word books, with the word on one page and a picture on the other, she couldn't get enough of them. She loved to see these books and I couldn't make them fast enough for her. This is when I discovered that some kids want to see pictures and will not read any other way. I look at it as though the picture is a reward of sorts. They see a word, which is kind of boring, but then they get to see a picture that has color and detail and we can talk about the picture if we want to. The books I made were really easy to put together and very durable. I still have them 8 years later and they are in great condition.
My suggestion is, if you are not already using pictures with him, try it. If you are and he still has no interest, try some videos such as Your Baby Can Read or MonkiSee. You can probably rent YBCR from the video store, library or Netflix to try. If that still doesn't work and can't keep his interest, decide if you think you should wait a little while and try again at a later date. Just because every child can learn to read, doesn't mean they want to.
You could also try the www.memoflix.com free video slide shows. They have a word and then a picture. Hopefully one of these suggestions will work, but if not, don't worry. More importantly than teaching your baby to read is teaching your baby to love to read. If you read to him/them regularly and you get excited about reading books you will pass on that love to your children. I know, I have raised 6 kids that love to read. Today is Saturday morning and they are all lying around somewhere in the house enjoying their morning reading. We make going to the library a regular part of our week. We use the website to request books and pick them up so we don't have to search the shelves to find good stories to read. I find this to be very helpful to always have a great stock of really enjoyable books to read.
You can check my blog to see my list of 100 favorite kid's books to read.
http://teachingbabytoread.com/2010/08/02/list-of-books-to-read-to-baby.aspx
You can also see some simple instructions on how to make your own books for your child. I can't find the post I am looking for but here is something here.
http://teachingbabytoread.com/2009/01/31/create-a-family-album.aspx
Posted by Krista G. at 10/20/2010 11:47 AM 
Categories: How babies learn to read
Tags: teaching a 12 month old to read
Categories: How babies learn to read
Tags: teaching a 12 month old to read
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