The Doman Method Of Learning To Read At An Early Age

It is possible for a child under the age of three to learn to read. If this idea fascinates you, you may be interested in the Doman method. It’s a proven way to teach toddlers to read.

The Doman method was designed by the North American physician Glenn J. Doman, founder of The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential , in Philadelphia. He demonstrated that his method is much more effective than the traditional spelling method.

Originally, the development of the Doman method was a tool to help children with brain injuries. However, when the creator saw the excellent results achieved in increasing their cognitive abilities, he redirected his research. He was interested in analyzing the effects it could have on healthy children to teach them to read at an early age.

The Doman Method: What is it about?

Glenn Doman discovered that the greatest ability to learn is concentrated in the first years of a child’s life. He explained this concept in his book How to Teach Your Baby to Read .

In fact, he said that the first six years of a child’s life are the period known as “the beginning of a genius”. This is because an average child has a greater intellectual ability during this time period than at any other time in life. This is because they are not yet polluted with the myths that prevail in the adult world, are still fearless, and truly trust their intuition.

Children can learn to read at an early age, as long as they are stimulated to recognize words and their meaning. To do this, it is important to use pictures with the words near the child, in a large enough size so that the child can recognize the picture that is next to the word.

The Doman method claims that learning to read is the same as learning to speak. That is, when a baby hears a word, it triggers the same electrochemical impulses in the brain as those perceived through the eyes. Therefore, the baby makes the same effort to learn to speak and read.

But how is it possible for them to learn both at the same time?

This is because both halves of the brain are stimulated at the same time. A child perceives words as a whole, without necessarily separating the letters, but the drawings that come with them.

How to get them to learn to read at an early age?

This learning technique adapts to the characteristics of each individual child. It’s a simple and fun process. Basically, it’s about quickly showing five cards with words three times a day. Then it’s about incorporating five at a time.

Written words must correspond to the same category : parts of the human body, family members, colors, animals, toys and actions. However, the choice of these categories must also correspond to the daily routine of a child.

This is how it works:

• You write a word on a white sheet of paper. The words should be written in block letters, all in lower case, and all the letters in red.
• Groups of five words should be elaborated as one category each time.

Overall, this process of learning to read at an early age is done in five steps.

The first step in learning to read: simple words

Select single words in the first phase. Use nouns, organized by categories (family, animals, food, colors), and then introduce actions (verbs). The process of showing the words to learn the Doman method goes as follows:

• On the first day, show five words in the same category three times a day.
• On the second day, show the five words from the previous day plus five new words from another category.

• Then, on the third day, you show the previous ten words and add five more words to a new category.
• On the fourth day, show the fifteen words you used the day before, plus five words from another category.
• Finally, on the fifth day, show them the twenty words they saw before plus five new words in a new category.

The Doman method is done in groups of five days. After completing the first week, remove one of the categories the following week and insert a new one.

The idea here is not to bore the child. You should not show more than 25 cards per day. Also, never show the 25 at the same time, but in groups of five and in categories.

The sessions should last between 15 and 30 minutes, and only one second should be devoted to each and every card. This means that the cards are displayed quickly to the child and they do not have to repeat the words. Never force a child when trying to teach them something. The enthusiasm and motivation that is characterized by the learning process is fundamental.

Similarly, this toy must be fun and create anticipation. Look at your child as you say the word out loud and clear. Each time you change categories, try shuffling the cards around.

Nor should there be two consecutive words beginning with the same letter.

Second step: Word pair

The second phase begins after the child has already completed 150 isolated words. In this phase you use word pairs, which you create by connecting a noun with an adjective. You also need to change the colors. This means that the names of the colors will no longer be on white cards, but on a card in the same color as the color is called.

Each week you show two sets of word pairs ( five pairs each ), with the simple word games in the first phase. This means that you will display two sets of word pairs along with the single word categories from the first phase.

Third step: Short sentences

In this phase, you make sheets with letters about five centimeters in height. Here you write sentences with three words that contain a noun and a conjugate verb on each card. For example, “Mom goes” or “Grandpa eats”.

With these sentences you can make a book of about ten pages and illustrations, with cards. Read this book to your child two or three times a day.

Fourth step: Sentences

In this phase, you make sentences with letters about 2.5 cm in height, written in black ink. Now is the time to include the articles (the word used to change a noun), such as “My father eats rice”.

Here you will also make a book as you did in the previous step, but using the new, more complex sentences.

Fifth step: Stories

It’s time to start enjoying books. In this step, the little one should be able to understand stories that have between 50 and 100 words. Read them aloud to your child two or three times a day, at normal speed and intonation.

Preferably look for books that have only one sentence per page and with the text separated from the illustrations. The stories should be close to your child’s interests, as well as give you the opportunity to introduce a new vocabulary.

The Doman Method of Learning to Read: Final Considerations

At the end of each work session, hug and praise the child. For Doman, positive reinforcement is important to guarantee success in the process of teaching reading at an early age.

According to Doman, a one-year-old toddler can already recognize words. At the age of two, these can be whole sentences. At the age of three, they will read and enjoy it.

Later , it will be up to your child to discover the rules that govern written and oral language. After they learn to read, you can formally teach them the alphabet, as they probably already did under the Doman method.