Comments on: Doman’s method results

By: Alenka

Alenka — Thu, 27 May 2010 03:49:33 +0000

So, did Doman Reading work for us? My son started identifying words at 11 months. Then – long silent break on his side and a terrified anxious waiting on mine. At 2 1/2 he could read entire home-made books with sentences with familiar words in Russian and many words – in English. At 3 he could loudly read sentences with familiar words in English (really well, easily, like an adult); slowly and struggling – phonetical words in Russian. Around that time we introduced cards from A.P.P. Effect was instant: he could read any word in English, of any length, but only phonetically, so he was losing focus and losing parts of the words. A little trouble with SOME diphthongs: some of them he figured out by himself. Some still look confusing. Quite confused with long sounds (silent e up to this day is a little confusing, but I am not stressing it too much, since our primary focus is Russian), but could identify many words by sight (figured out “time”, “like”, “eight”, etc. by himself). Then the saddest thing happened: I relaxed, got busy with another baby and let his sentences/phrases presentations slide… and he immediately forgot ALL his sight words. In a few months they started floating back to the surface, completely magically and unexpectedly. Now, at 4 1/2 he loves level 1 books, but can read independently most of the simple books, like “Froggy”, “Sam I am”, other Dr. Seuss simple books. In Russian (after a significant struggle), he can read any book, of any length or size (not for long – we are reading our chapter books together – I read most of it, he reads a paragraph or two from every page). He still needs help keeping his focus, but that applies to all his activities. I have more about his latest progress here: Why Kids are Reading the Cards but Not the Books

By: Alenka

Alenka — Wed, 29 Apr 2009 04:15:24 +0000

Thanks to Laurie for sharing her way to success: Teaching kids to read with written conversations!

By: Mom

Mom — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 16:39:24 +0000

I am the mother of twin 2 year old girls. I purchased “Increase your baby’s intelligence” a couple of months before their birth, so I was well prepared to start the program soon after birth. The book did not specify when a good time to start teaching reading would be, but just that the baby can’t see well enough to start at birth. People might think I’m crazy, but I decided to start early and teach them to read Braille. (This is similar to teaching a baby sign language before speech, just to get the communication development going.)

I massaged the girls twice everyday and during the first two weeks I used Doman’s method to teach them 20 worlds for the various parts of their bodies through touch. After that I started teaching them the corresponding Braille words, while continuing to expand their vocabulary, focusing on things you can hear, smell or feel, as these senses are better developed in new born babies. By 2 months they started signing their first words (I am EC-ing, and the “potty”-sign was one of their firsts) and around 6 months started saying their first words (“da” for Dad.) I always made sure they knew a word before I introduced the Braille word, so one happy day, just after they had turned 7 months old, one of the girls picked up a NEW Braille word, read it, made the sign for pig and said “vak” (“vark” is Afrikaans for pig and I was teaching them to read Braille in Afrikaans.) They had both previously signed or tried saying the Braille words that they knew but this was the first indication they really read Braille. I started the reading program with them around 3 months, and they quickly started reading written words too, by around 1 year old. Now at 2 years old, when we go to town and I give them the opportunity to pick something for themselves, they almost always pick a book.

I’ll add that their speedy development is also due to me and my husband following Doman’s physical development program, the BabyPlus pre-birth program and other prenatal stimulation, and the Pratika program that we have been following since birth.

We spend about 4 hours teaching the girls per day (but that includes the 10min breaks after every 30sec session) and the teachings are pread out through the day. I never spent more than 1 hour on reading per day.

By: Kay

Kay — Sun, 04 Feb 2007 16:39:12 +0000

My son started on Institutes Better Baby program in 1985 -he was 12 months old. Read back to me for the first time at 14 months old – something he hadn’t been taught – he had just learned visual language at that point and figured it out.

I also had a Montessori school and he had 2 weeks of sandpaper letters after he had seen 1000 sight words and intuited the rest of phonics – his reading became automatized at 24 months old.

He was reading at college level at 7 y/o. He can read faster and better than anyone I’ve ever seen with perfect comprehension – 800 on SAT verbal. “5″ on AP English test.

Completed degree in chemistry and math at 20. Working on his PhD in chemistry now – should have it by the time he is 25.

The human brain is designed by God to learn language – especially in the first 2 years of life. Doesn’t matter whether it is auditory, visual, sign, etc.

Be blessed.

By: Krista

Krista — Thu, 01 Feb 2007 14:49:02 +0000

I also wanted to share some exciting news as well. My son is now 3 years and 22 months (almost 4). I showed him Dr. Titzer’s video starting at 2 1/2 months, I made my own videos, my own cards, my own books when he was a baby. I showed him mass amounts of materials and he loved it. He couldn’t get enough. Then he turned two and he lost interest in his homemade books. He still loved to hear stories read to him though. He could read hundreds if not thousands of words but we never progressed to read books and sentences. I had another baby and felt like I haven’t had the time to dedicate to him fully.

Well the exciting part is that we slowly started to read a sentence at a time in a book. He read an entire Little Bear book to me. Not smoothly and with me pointing at every word, but I was encouraged. Well he has suddenly taken off. The other day we went to the library and got some Junie B. Jones books for my older children. He wanted me to read to him but I was watching a movie and refused. Well the little stinker picked up the book and read three pages to himself while I tried not to notice. I am really impressed. He reads Maisy books from cover to cover now. His reading is really taking off and I just wanted to share this in case anyone else was getting discouraged too. I know if we keep practicing he will be reading very fluently and smoothly.