Teach Your Baby to Read: Glenn Doman’s Method

Alright, let’s assume (or pretend if you wish) you’ve read Glenn Doman & Janet Doman, How To Teach Your Baby to Read (from now on shortened as GD) and reviewed our Summary of the book’s guidelines. Or may be you enjoyed Laurie Tiemen’s really brief summary at eHow: How to Teach Your Baby to Read (Doman’s method in a nutshell). Since you are reading this article, you are highly motivated, eager to start, though a little confused and lacking resources. That’s where I hope to help you. So, where do I get the materials? How do I use these files? Can I use computer, TV or other multimedia options instead or in addition to cards? Now, how do I start? But how many times a day is it realistic to show these sets? Where did you get the materials? Can I buy some ready made materials? How do I make my own materials? What if I have more questions: how do I know if my baby is learning or what to do if she is losing interest, etc.? How can I share my own materials and ideas? Does this actually work? What about other programs: math, encyclopedic knowledge, foreign language, music, physical exercises, etc? What about FUN? So, where do I get the materials? Right here, right now! If you have more materials (in any language!), please email it to us, so that we can make them available to everyone. Your other options would be creating the materials by yourself, buying ready made cards/kits, or using multimedia options. Step 1 – Single words English (contains pictures; words are read by male and female speakers) Russian PPT (6×22 words); Introductory Words In Russian PPT (8 1/2 x 11, with pictures); * Russian PPT with child voices reading **** Spanish (contains pictures; words are read by male and female speakers) Step 2 – Couplets English (contains pictures; words are read by male and female speakers) Russian Couplets (Based on “Words In Russian PPT” file above): Russian Couplets 1; Russian Couplets 2; Russian Couplets 3. Step 3 – Phrases English Russian *** Step 4 – Sentences English or English (By Classical Mommy) Step 5 – Books Books: in English, Spanish, German and Russian. * I was not showing anything on the computer to my baby until he was one. And then he was more interested in couplets, so the files available are for printing only. ** At this stage, I was using the single word printouts and lining them up into couplets at the floor. About the same time I introduced Power Point presentations with couplets and pictures – my baby really enjoyed them. In a zip file you can see the “gradations”: every file contains the same set of slides, with one word retired, and one new. *** I didn’t separate couplets and phases stages. I was adding more and more words to my couplets until they grew into words and sentences, so you will see the phrases slowly getting bigger. About the same time, we started looking at books that turned out to be my baby’s favorite part of our reading program! How do I use these files? Single words: I printed out all the words on 8×14 paper, folded in half and scotch taped together the words that were too big to fit on one page. My initial set turned out waaay smaller then the size that Doman recommends, but it was cheap, easy to carry around. See “How do I make my own materials ” for more options or check out multimedia options for showing cards on the Computer, TV, DVD, etc. Power Point presentations you can either show on the computer, or print them out. See more recommendations on how to use Power Point Presentations . Can I buy something to save myself time and efforts? What’s available:

• See our Teach Your Baby With Multimedia article for listing of DVDs, programs and other resources that can help you in your reading quest.
• Gentle Revolution Teach Your Baby variety of kits and options (Thanks to Laurie Tiemens): If your baby is less than 12 months old the print in the kit cards will be too small. I don’t think it’s that big of a deal to make the cards yourselves as long as you don’t have to cut the cards by hand. It was way better to have them customized for my daughter with the things in her particular world reflected in the words she learned.

(Thanks to Priscila Mora): The IAHP cards are great!!! I can’t describe the thickness but it is sooooo much better than any other posterboard and soooo easy to use. (thanks to Yonit Kasten): I do have the kit (I should say “did” because I gave it away). Honestly, I thought it was a waste of money. Most of the words in it were not words we normally used. They were really just the words in the book that came with the kit. And they weren’t even the right size for my daughter at the time. I was actually very disappointed in it. I had much better luck making my own words and books. They were more meaningful to my kids that way. That being said, I got the new newborn kit for my newest babe and we have been enjoying that. (Thanks to Joan Chen): I agree with Yonit. I didn’t end up using the kit; I use my own home-made cards most of the time since my own words are more relevant to my daughter than the kit. Feeling guilty of leaving the kit unused, I tried to use them when there were relevant words. It was a nightmare: I couldn’t shuffle them well (i.e. homemade cards are made of different paper stock and size from those of the kit’s), and I spent a lot of time tracking whether the cards come from the kit or the homemade stack. I wouldn’t buy the kit if I were you. In fact, if you still decide you want to buy it, do you want to buy my hardly used kit for a cheaper price? … j/k 🙂 How do I make my own materials? If you would like to show all the program on the computer – just go ahead and use the files on this site or create your own Power Point presentations and how to add audio sound to PowerPoint presentations. If you would like to go with cards, first you need to create your own word cards, and then to create your own books. Check out Laurie Tiemens’ tips on creating word cards at eHow: How to Make Word Cards to Teach Your Baby To Read. What if I have more questions: how do I know if my baby is learning or what to do if she is losing interest, etc.? First of all, check our Glenn Doman’s FAQ. Second, make a search our blog in case someone already asked that question! Third, post a question on our forum and I am sure you’ll hear some encouraging replies pretty soon! How can I share my own materials and ideas? Feel free to comment below, or to use our forum. Your opinion really counts and we are looking forward to hear from you! What about other programs: math, encyclopedic knowledge, foreign language, music, physical exercises, etc? Aren’t children amazing? They can learn as much material, as you can give them! Doman recommends starting with reading – it is the most essential tool. Once you have you are comfortable with your reading program, you can add others, such as Math and Encyclopedic Knowledge. Our site has an extensive array of materials on all those topics, that will keep getting updated. If you have some of the materials that we don’t, please email it to us for everyone to share! Foreign language is a little different story: if you already know some other language, you can just start speaking to your child in that language and he’ll learn it his favorite way – from you! If you are looking for additional information and resources, check our Foreign Language section Music: How to teach your baby music section Physical exercises: I followed Glenn Doman’s How to make your baby physically superb. Check out our Teach Your Child To Be Physically Superb section for more information and our results. Swimming: We used the following book to learn to swim: Learn To Swim, Rob McKay and Cathy McKay. After three summer months of trying this method at the swimming pool, my 11 month old could swim for 6 seconds underwater, reach the ladder and climb out. Then… we had a 2 months break and he forgot everything. Finally Glenn Doman’s book on How To Teach Your Baby to Swim came out. What about fun? It is FUN!!! The primary reason why we dedicate so much of our time to this program is because we have fun doing it and hope that our son will share our vision, that learning – is FUN! But, of course, that’s not the only thing we do. Since my baby was one, I started organizing Educational Playdates in Russian and in English. My two nephews enjoyed a whole array of amazing and magical Birthday parties, New Year Parties, Halloween parties – check out this great princess party in NJ page. Since my own son is only growing up, I am looking forward to hear your own ideas, so please share them at our forum. In between the parties, we come up with some fun and educational things to do, that you can check out in our Educational Ideas section and please share some things you do, so that we can try them too!