Customer Reviews

How to Teach Your Baby to Read: The Gentle Revolution

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I picked up Doman's book ready to scoff. Teach your baby to read! What a parent ego trip! I read the book. And I turned 180 degrees. Everything he said made perfect sense. So I read other books on teaching toddlers to read. Some books were better than others (the worst rewarded children with candy). I liked Doman best because of the joy he expressed and the respect he accorded parents. Teaching my 2-yr old to read was an incredibly beautiful experience for us both! And she did learn: 100 words by age 3, 100 books by age 4, her second language by age 5 (she attended kindergarten in a foreign country). She has always read beautifully--not the halting wordcalling of children who read letter by letter, but with the fluid expression of someone reading for meaning. And she, now 11, is very happy with herself and her abilities. What more could a parent ask? A final note: thuh ing-glish lang-gwij izunt funetik, although it was in Chaucer's time. Parents eager to part with big bucks for "Hooked on Phonics" would do better to read Doman first.

I don't remember ever not knowing how to read.

This is because when I was just a year old, my dad bought a copy of this book. After reading it, he wrote words in big red block print on solid, kid-proof pieces of white cardboard. And I *flew* with it. I got out of this book what my dad put into it, and then some.

I remember how much fun I had. When he came home from work, I'd beg him to pull out the flashcards: "Get the words, daddy!"

A couple years later, when my sister was 2 and I was 4, *I* taught *her* to read. She didn't initially take to it as well as I did, but I made it a game: I'd hide the flash cards around the house and send her off in search of the right words. She loved it! So if at first you don't succeed, you can modify the system to suit your baby.

At about the same time, I entered kindergarten. I remember wondering why they made such a big deal about my ability to read. After all, as surprising as it was to them, it was nothing unusual to *me*!

Flash forward 20 years. Where am I in 1999? I'm a very successful graduate student in Boston. Merit scholarships have taken me right through college. I worked hard to get here, and I know my dad started me on the right foot.

Did I benefit from this book? Yes. When I have children, will I teach them by this system? Absolutely. This is the kind of gift keeps on giving. Your child will cherish it for years to come.

Many years ago, my parents taught me to read using Donan's whole-language method. As a result, I could read at an 8th-grade level before I started 1st grade. Since then, I've had perfect verbal scores on the PSAT, SAT, and GRE exams. I went to a top university and today I'm a highly-paid professional writer and editor. Best of all, I truly love to read -- and that's the gift I most hope to pass along to my own children.

BUT ... as many educators will tell you, the whole-language approach is a dead end for lots of kids. Moral of the story: experiment. Don't rule out the whole-language approach OR phonics. See what works best for your child. The most important thing is that you take responsibility for teaching your children to enjoy reading. Don't expect the school system to do it for you.

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I don't remember ever not knowing how to read.

This is because when I was just a year old, my dad bought a copy of this book. After reading it, he did as instructed and wrote words in big red block print on solid, kid-proof pieces of white cardboard. And I *flew* with it. I got out of this book what my dad put into it, and then some.

I remember how much fun I had. When he came home from work, I'd beg him to pull out the flashcards: "Get the words, daddy!"

A couple years later, when my sister was 2 and I was 4, *I* taught *her* to read. She didn't initially take to it as well as I did, but I made it a game: I'd hide the flash cards around the house and send her off in search of the right words. She loved it! So if at first you don't succeed, you can modify the system to suit your baby.

At about the same time, I entered kindergarten. I remember wondering why they made such a big deal about my ability to read. After all, as surprising as it was to them, it was nothing unusual to *me*!

Flash forward 20 years. Where am I in 1999? I'm a very successful graduate student at Boston University. Merit scholarships have taken me right through college. I've worked hard to achieve my many successes -- and thanks to my dad, I began on the right foot.

Did I benefit from this book? Yes. When I have children, will I teach them by this system? Absolutely. This is the kind of gift keeps on giving. Your child will cherish it for years to come.

Don't believe that if you use this method that your child will suffer by not being able to use phonics. My mother used this method with me as a child. When I went to first grade my teeacher asked if I knew how to read, I said I didn't, but then I sat down and read aloud, from one cover to the other, one of those "Dick and Jane" books!, Needless to say, I was moved up to second grade for reading. In fourth grade I scored at a twelfth grade level in reading on standardized tests. I read constantly, often a book a day. And contrary to popular belief that if you don't teach your child to read using phonics, they will not be able to spell, or be able to read words they haven't "memorized" is ridiculous. I have always been a very strong speller, and I think that I pretty much learned phonics by just reading alot, children are not so dull as to not realize which letters contribute certain sounds to a word when they see them over and over again. I have two young sons, and I certainly plan on teaching them with this method.

This book describes my childhood, which is quite amazing considering that my parents did not know about it. It was not even translated to Hebrew (we are from Israel) at the time. I learned to read when I was three years old. I somehow got wind that printed words say things, and from that moment my parents had no rest from me, it was "what's written here?" around the clock, so they almost had no choise but teaching me to read. They bought me a 1st grade reading book, and the happiest memories of my childhood are sitting on their lap and reading from it. I will always be grateful to them that they did not listen to all the nay sayers and went on with it. After this succeeded with me they had to repeat it with my three younger brothers, so I would not be privileged. We were all accomplished readers by the age of five, and we all love reading to this day. One or three books a week is a regular rate for us, and we had a tremendous advantage through school and later in university, of which we went through mostly on merit scholarships. Today one of us is a PhD in sciences, another a high-rank army officer (with a degree in history), and the other two are software engineers.

Years after my childhood I came across this book, and it was a revelation: Doman just knew everything about our early reading experience, as accurately as if he was there witnessing it! For example, the importance of using very large and red letters: the first words I learned were those typed in a large red font on greeting cards and ads. Another example: the fact that it is better and easier to start with whole words instead of single letters. Me and my brothers all learned to read many whole words (whole children books, in fact) before we learned the alphabet. This certainly was not because of any conscious decision of my parents. They did not know how they were supposed to go about it, so they just went along with whatever seemed to work best and produced the most fun (in fact, my mom was a school teacher at the time, so she was probably biased towards the alphabet-first method). I don't want to take sides in what seems to be a hot debate between experts, so all I can say is none of my brothers or me ever had any problems with phonics. If you ask me, many kids have problems with phonics, and kids that learn to read whole words early might also have problems with phonic, but most likely less than average. As Doman writes in the book, it does not matter much how you play this game; you almost can't lose. Don't heed the few reviews here saying that this program is not for every one, that you have to invest a lot of time, that you have to read all the other Doman's books and maybe also take the seminars, that you had to complement it with other methods like phonics, etc. Sure, all this can add even more to the effectiveness of you efforts, but just five minutes a day are enough to give your child a big advantage and a lot of fun. I mean, my parents did it with four out of four kids, and they did not have any program, and they did not even know the book exists. So if you care about your children education and future, forget college. Just teach them to read before they are four years old, and college will take care of itself.

I was born in 1964 and when the Doman system first came out, my parents went to work with it. I vividly recall the pleasure of sitting with my father, when he came home from work, reading the cards with the big red letters! By the age of two, he and I would split up the newspaper every evening and I would read the front section, while he went to the stock reports!

We got the morning newspaper delivered at home, so in the mornings, my father would drive me to daycare while I read him the front page of the paper in the car.

Upon entering kindergarten, my reading and math skills were already at or beyond 3rd Grade level. In 1st Grade, I entered our school spelling bee and finally was beaten by a girl in 7th Grade.

I have loved to read all my life, did well at school and at university and now, with teenage kids of my own (both of whom are avid readers!) I am pursuing a career as a writer.

Personally, Glenn Doman has been a hugely positive influence on two generations of our family already.

With regards to the application for brain-injured children, I have friends whose son was cerebrally palsied at birth. At an early age, they introduced him to the Glenn Doman system, and were highly successful. Sadly, he passed away at the age of 20, but only after having spent a lifetime reading avidly. The internet was his favorite stomping ground and his quality of life would have been greatly diminished had he not been able to read.

Would I personally recommend the Glenn Doman system? The answer can only be a resounding YES!

I used an older edition of Doman's book over twenty years ago to teach my children to read. My first son started at twenty months, my second at fifteen months. Both were reading fluently before age 2 1/2 and speed-reading by age 3. Their childhood was enriched by their ability to read widely and at length. Both have been exceptional students. I would recommend Doman's book highly. Doman insists that teaching very young children to read can only succeed if carried out with great pleasure. Doing so is not difficult

My 2 1/2 year old son can read entire sentences, street signs, you name it, thanks to this book. And he loves reading. He begs to go to the library and is excited when I come home with new books. That said I will tell you that I was somewhat sceptical when I read the book, but figured it could do no harm. My fear was that I didn't wan't a "scary little genius" (a topic which they address in the book), and was a little worried about what he would do in school (another topic they address).
Instead I have a happy normal boy who loves to read, and who will (most likely) not be struggling in school. He has basically taught himself phonics and is sounding out words he doesn't know (or he asks me what the word is). He is a learning machine. I am now teaching my six month old.

The program is not complicated, and takes as little as 15 minutes a day (if that). Parents, don't wait for our broken, misguided public school system to teach our children - step up to the plate! Our children can do this, and they will love it more than any tv show, video game, or toy you can ever give them. This book was written in the sixties and I can't believe that everyone isn't doing this.

Also, we found some good videos called "Your baby can read" by the Infant Learning company (not associated with Glenn Doman) and they also work really well with this program. Both my son's enjoy these video's and I think they are well done.

Thank You Glenn Doman!!!!!!! You have given the world a gift.

22 years ago I planted a seed for learning, when I read Dr. Doman's book and taught my son to read. By 2 1/2 he was reading Dr. Seuss's books and by 5 he was reading the newspaper. I believe his early ability to understand and relate to the world around him gave the confidence he needed to succeed in education. He just graduated with honors, from a top liberal arts college. He is well-rounded individual who's varied interest and love for learning seems endless.