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Numerous were the criticisms from those new to Glenn Doman’s work. At the same time, the gratitude from mothers and the positive energy that this author promoted at the heart of families absolved him through the years, especially to researchers in Educational Psychology. How many families can witness the good his teachings did to babies who experienced the activities he taught? Thousands.
His work has unpredictable reach once it foresees improvements in care, promoting learning up to unprecedented complexities. He respects the baby’s cognition capacity, preaching it is unlimited. If governments were to take him seriously, nor underestimating that which has already been realized, proved, and announced, we would not have illiteracy in Latin America, Africa, Asia, and other places in the globe.
I was discriminated for years for believing in Glenn Doman despite never having met him; one day, by curiosity, I learned that even babies with brain dysfunction were able to learn how to read. So I decided to teach my babies to read. However, I documented the results obtained with my babies’ literacy process according to this researcher’s precepts, and his pedagogical suggestions. Faithful to the truth that the brain learns, I set forth to practice what he preached. At first, I was surprised in the realization of witnessing the miracle that is to see a baby read; then, in each day that we played the reading game, I became more and more impressed with the baby’s involvement and the joy of being able to play to identify written words. I also observed that the baby’s capacity of attention to and observation of the surrounding world was more advanced than that of babies who were not in this adventure. It was only when my eldest, then my second daughter began their university studies both at the age of 13 that people started to look in with curiosity instead of mistrust. Yes, curiosity, and no more than that.
To me, this represented and advancement, a step forward past criticism for its own sake. And when we were observed with curiosity, the children’s lives took shape, and they benefited from the method utilized in their education. What method was this? The method of cerebral stimulation through play, a game: the affective practice of getting to know the world. To my babies, all was normal at each moment, for life was exactly what it could be as play; thus, in this sense, nothing irregular was felt. When they entered school, the challenges of social interaction led them to understand the world; and each of the three reacted to the world according to their own characteristics. They were very sociable; understanding with those who did not have their reading ability and continue to capture more information about the surrounding world because they had the instrument for decoding messages posted everywhere: reading. They understood that which was written in a society that communicates through words and written information.
In truth, Glenn Doman bothered the academic world because he broke with paradigms that established and predetermined that learning was promoted by that what is taught, and not by who learns. He innovated when he demonstrated that the baby, once assisted by the mother, could have access to knowledge much earlier than what had been accepted in the past. Some preconceived notions, such as the following, have been broken through; and we will discuss here how this was so.
Preconceived notion #1: The child only learns in school, and taught by methods that can be global, of syllabification, and construction of knowledge by trial and error, through the rationalization of how to join letters and then syllables, by the rules of linguistics, etc.
—–How was this broken?
The literacy method for babies does not preach any of the above rules. It was born out of the principle that the brain learns and that all we need is to expose the child to the written words in an adequate manner and the brain creates schemes, creates structures, guards the word for its importance and for having been lived in a ludic way. Afterwards, he identifies where he sees it, and correctly, that is, without orthographic issues. The structures created by the baby’s exposition to the words will be utilized throughout his/her life. Without distinctions other that which happens is complex: the scheme the baby creates without his having conscience of the action is a memory of the learned thing itself. A word is, in truth, nothing but an object recognized by brain like any other object. To recognize a word is, to the baby’s brain, the same as recognizing a friend, a pet, a food s/he likes, or a sound.
It is not necessary to teach a baby grammar rules for the learning to take place. Furthermore, it is known that the parents reach the world and teach this world’s reading. When they interact with the baby, they frequently point things out, singling out certain aspects of one thing or another for the baby to observe. This becomes very clear when we identify the gifted students entering the educational system. They all arrive in school reading much more than the other children. For those who understand, this means that the child is capable of developing literacy before entering the school system, and that stimulating reading at an early age is indispensable. Most certainly, the baby will be grateful in the future.
Preconceived notion #2 – A baby cannot learn because s/he’s not mature. S/he does not learn because s/he cannot understand rules.
—– How has this been broken?
Literacy teachers’ attempts to explain reading and writing rules to children is a procedure that leaves to loss in time and, in many cases, to anxiety, evasion, and illiteracy. This is why we are favorable to early learning; the child must learn how to read before questioning the process, that is, while s/he’s a baby! It is the brain that which learns. It looks, identifies, and stores for life through the interest for the word. It is the brain who creates mental schemes and then structures that will lead to adaptations and learning. In the same way we learn to hear, see, and speak. It is as simple as that. It is not I, a parent, or a teacher who teaches; it is but the brain that learns, in its own way. It learns that which we stimulate and show the child. The merit is the baby’s. Our duty is to show and stimulate correctly so that this may be possible for the brain: the organic understanding.
Preconceived notion # 3 – A baby does not learn, because s/he does not have the concentration capacity and thus cannot follow norms and directions.
—– How has this been broken?
It is the baby that operated the miracle. Let us leave our teacher’s pride aside. We are but providers. When the parent teaches the baby, s/he shows the word and removes it before the brain loses the will to continue tending to it. In other words, before the baby loses interest, the parent, the father or the mother, separates him/her from the word so that the process can be repeated later. One notices the baby is reading when s/he is no longer interested in looking at the word. The baby learns by curiosity and affection. In truth, what matters is that, to him, it is a moment of play with the parent. The word seen and heard only has concrete meaning when it is a matter of an object s/he knows, or a person s/he loves. For example, the mother’s name, a pet, the favorite toy, etc. The baby does not follow rules; s/he plays. And the brain learns.
Preconceived notion #4 – A baby can’t be trained.
——How has this been broken with?
The premise that whoever teaches the babies are training them is absurd. Glenn Doman’s precepts do not preach that the system of flashcards is a form of training. It is a fun game the baby appreciates because it is a ludic activity; a game of affectivity. This game arouses the baby’s curiosity or lets him create his/her knowledge of the world. In truth, is is not possible to obligate a baby to do anything. If s/he learns is because there are two causes: the intrinsic ability to teach and the affectionate ability to play with him/her in an adequate manner. That which is easily achieved is the awakening of the brain to what is curious and interesting through play. And this is how the baby learns.
Preconceived notion #5 – A baby does not understand what s/he sees.
—– How has this been broken with?
The baby is open to understanding all s/he sees. S/he absorbs that which is new without an adult’s conscience, developing in levels that accumulate experience as s/he lives in the surrounding world. In this way, s/he instinctively works the entire time to understand the world. To know the mother is a complex task; and to know the word “mother” does not have the same importance. One should not underestimate the baby’s capacity to understand through the absorption of all s/he sees. To teach him/her how to read is a new experience accredited only by those who have witnessed it. I give my testimony. It is a miracle to many – and a reality perceived by few. Only a history of parents equipped with the courage to try will show what it means to see a baby reading.
Preconceived notion #6 – A baby, when he remembers a flashcard, he’s not learning, s/he’s being trained
—— How has this been broken with?
When a baby identifies words on a flashcard in which there are names of objects s/he already knows, s/he’s reading the card. His/her neuronal connections engage in repetition and s/he recognizes the word. Because the concept of the object is already known, s/he masters it. The identification of the name that distinguishes it is just another piece of information regarding that object the baby already knows. S/he reads the word “car”, “the car” being an object long before known, as well as the concept “car”. S/he’s reading. Hence the activity is neither one of training nor a result from it. It is cognitive and involves the recognition of an object or a concept s/he already held. To learn is an act of communion of what is known with that which someone, as an intermediary, shows the baby. Teaching/learning is a two-way relationship: the one who teaches takes information about the world and its objects to the one who learns (i.e., the one who has the ability to learn). The only one who attaches him/herself (in this case, the baby) to what is exposed is the one who has affection to what is exposed.
Only the baby learns. Our participation as stimulators is simply and solely one of interacting with the learner on the learned object, within the opportunity created by us to show what can, hypothetically, be learned. What is learned, then, is not the result of training; it is truly learned, without subterfuges, by the learner’s brain. Learning involves mental activities: mental schemes, mental structures, memory, assimilation, accommodation, and adaptation to knowledge, all to create that which is new in an individual’s internal system. As simple as it may seem, it is as complex as that which the biological and psychological equilibrium itself is able to provide. What was previously impossible for the cognitive system is now possible, from the moment in which the system creates space for the new! This makes for evolution at each phase. The baby, reading, creates knowledge of the surrounding world. S/he’s not trained from the inside out. S/he creates knowledge from what is exposed to him/her. And s/he creates it in a never before thought possible stage of development: in the sensory-motor stage.
Article translation: Inessa Leao Figueiredo, M.S.
Dr. Eliane Leao is a native of Brazil, South America. She has a background in Education from Purdue University (Masters) and a PhD in the Department of Educational Psychology from the State University of Campinas (UNICAMP)/Purdue University (Ph.D.). Dr. Leao has also three Bachelor’s degrees, one in Piano, another in Musical Education, and a third in Voice. Dr. Leao is currently a professor of Music Education and Music Therapy conducting research on the influence of Music in Early Childhood Learning.
Her ‘babies’ have grown to become productive members of their communities. Dr. Leao hopes that the trials and successes of her family may inspire and convince other parents to stimulate their children during early childhood so that they may enjoy a rich, stimulating, integrated, and happy life always.
For more information on babies, reading, and Glenn Doman’s related articles, visit our site at http://www.baby-can-read.com
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