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Preparing for the New Homeschool Year – Considerations Regarding Reading - 1

Updated: Sep 21, 2021




Frequency, Duration, and Intensity


Hallmarks of the neurodevelopmental approach remain frequency, duration, and intensity. We use short, frequent, and intense (focused) activities to target the brain in specific ways to encourage development. Doman’s rule for teaching babies: always stop before they tire. “Lessons” for our youngest “students” will last only seconds. In Teach Your Baby to Read, Doman says,


The truth is that a child begins to learn just after birth. By the time he is six years of age and begins his schooling he has already absorbed a fantastic amount of information, fact for fact, perhaps more than he will learn the rest of his life. (P. 17)


Further, Doman gives a developmental sequence and brief history in teaching reading:

1. Birth to One- vital; "should have almost unlimited opportunity for movement, for physical exploration and for experience." P 36


2. One to Five- crucial, "we should be satisfying his staggering thirst for raw material, which he wants to soak up in all possible forms but particularly in terms of language…" p 36


3. Five to Eight- very important, "should be enjoying the material which would normally be presented to him when he is between eight and fourteen." p 42


4. Study of literature on the topic of young children reading produced:

a. "The history of teaching little children was not new and indeed stretches back for centuries…

b. Often people, generations apart, do the same things although for different reasons and different philosophies…

c. Those who had decided to teach young children had all used systems, which, although they varied somewhat in technique, had many common factors…

d. Most importantly, in all of the cases we were able to find where small children were taught to read in the home, everyone had succeeded, no matter what the method." P 55, 56


In How to Teach Your Baby to Read, Doman debunks several myths:


1. "Children who read too early will have learning problems." Personal experience and reading of authors (and team at the Institutes) does not include any such children. P. 88


2. "Children who read too early will be nasty little geniuses." Is it learning problems or genius? Can't have it both ways. Neither is true. P. 89


3."The child who reads too early will cause problems in first grade." This is partially true…he will cause problems for the teacher…but isn't it the teacher's job to teach each student as an individual…not a mass production. P. 89-91


4. "The child who learns to read too early will be bored in first grade." Yes, but first grade days are too long for almost every other 5-year-old. "To assume that the child who knows the most will be the child that is the most bored is to assume that the child who knows the least will be the most interested and therefore the least bored." p 90-92


5. "The child who learns to read too early will miss phonetics. If he misses phonetics he will not miss it. You might well ask yourself, "Did I teach my child to hear by the phonics metho


6. "The child who reads too early will have reading problems. Children who can read don't have reading problems. Those who can't read have the problems." P. 94


7. The child who reads too early will be deprived of his precious childhood. The two-year-old wants to spend time with family…he wants attention. Usually, the chores of life for the adult keep us from giving the child the attention he wants. Any time we spend with him teaching him to read is a joy to him. P. 95-97 "The child who reads too early will suffer from too much pressure." If learning to read equals pressure this is true. The authors do not advocate pressuring a child, only working when both are ready. P. 97, 98


8. "The child who reads too early will suffer from too much pressure." If learning to read equals pressure this is true. The authors do not advocate pressuring a child, only working when both

are ready. P. 97, 98


Readers, let us know what you think of this information.


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