In much the same way babies learn to speak.  We do not wait until they are capable of forming words with their mouths to teach them how to speak.  We begin talking to them as soon as they are born and through this exposure to hearing language they are then able to begin speaking.  They learn the rules of language from hearing language being spoken to them.  This is evident when you hear  a child apply a rule to a word that follows an exception.  For example, a young child may say they swimmed.  We then would correct them and let them know that it is swam.  This is an example where adding "ed" to the end of a word does not apply. 

When babies are taught to read using the whole word method, also known as sight reading, they are seeing the language as they hear it.  They immediately begin to see the patterns and rules we call phonics.  In order to give a young child a headstart in reading, it is very helpful to expose them to a lot of written language.  As they see it, they are learning phonics.  Once phonics is formally introduced, they will have a better understanding of how these rules work.  Children that learn to read using a combination of the two methods are strong, fluent readers who have a high level of comprehension.

Intellectual Baby combines the two methods of reading in the MemoFlix Whole Word Phonics DVD.  This DVD teaches children the names and sounds of the letters while showing them whole words that follow these patterns. Children that learn to read whole words are often more fluent readers with greater comprehension.  Since they are not breaking the words up into pieces and then blending them together they can understand exactly what they are saying.  Beginning readers that are taught to read phonetically will often sound out the words in a broken way.  This may not allow them to remember what sounds they just said, rendering them unable to read the word in its entirety.  This is very frustrating for beginning readers.  This is not something that readers taught with the whole word struggle with.

Instead of choosing one method over another, parents would be wise to combine methods.  Sight words are a great place to start.  Children are expected to know certain words by sight in the very early grades.  These are easily learned using flash cards.  Simply show your child the word and say the word.  Do this several times a day for about one week.  At the end of the week, your child will probably know every word.  You can find some oversize sight words flash cards with 80 of the most common sight words at www.monkisee.com/sight-words-flash-cards.html.

To find out more about teaching your baby to read using a combination of the whole word method and phonics, visit www.monkisee.com.