Glenn Doman method

The Method Utilized: Theoretical Support

The Glenn Doman method is an innovative and provocative method of learning. In chapter 7 of his book entitled 'How to Teach your Baby to Read”, Glenn Doman suggests the age at which the baby must start, which can be as early as 10 months of age.

Doman highlights the importance of the parents' attitudes in respect to the activity to be developed, which must be one that this is a good game and not a job like any other. He explains that the sessions must end prior to the child's loss of interest.

Doman also reminds us that the material, despite being simple, must follow specifications, once it is designed to attend to the fact that reading is a brain function, and as such must attend to the limitations of the baby, since the brain only has its reading function stimulated in the right way. He orients us on how to present the words, and how to draw the letters in them.

He turns next to a description of how to develop seven steps which he considers essential:

1. Visual differentiation (way of making the cards);

2. Proper vocabulary;

3. Vocabulary of the family environment;

4. Vocabulary to build sentence's structure;

5. Structured phrases and sentences;

6. Reading of a real book (i.e., the first book);

7. The alphabet.

He then concludes the chapter saying that "man is man essentially because he can read and write".

I will present in a following article how I adapted the Glenn Doman method to my three babies and how the activity developed into a lifetime of learning and fun!

Eliane Leao, PhD

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