How to Teach Your Baby to Read (The Gentle Revolution Series)

I bought this book when my baby was born, excited to give her a great start in physical and mental development. I was greatly dissapointed, however. I have since done a lot of research about baby development, and learned about the Feldenkrais Method. I read Anat Baniel's book Kids Beyond Limits: The Anat Baniel Method for Awakening the Brain and Transforming the Life of Your Child With Special Needs and came to understand that allowing our babies to develop at their own pace and let them follow their own inner developmental path is better than pushing their development faster than it would happen naturally. A lot goes on in the brain before a baby reaches a milestone, and reaching any of those milestones early is not necessarily a positive thing or a sign of a smarter baby. By intervening with the process heavily, like recommended in this book, we may be gypping our babies of the learning process that takes place in the brain as they slowly reach a milestone, taking all the inner, "invisible" steps to reach it. While the authors claim their method builds the brain and heals those with brain damage, save for a few of the exercises in the book I don't believe it is appropriate for the normally developing baby. There are other things we can do to help our babies brain development, like holding or wearing them a lot in the first few months, and not using toys and objects that prevent development just to name a few. If you are interested in learning more I would recommend Anat Baniel's book that I mentioned above. It gives real insight into the developing brain.

On another note, this book is written very unintelligently, making me feel like the authors assumed I'm really dumb and need things repeated a few times till I get it. It has science, but not impressive enough, or extensive enough in my opinion. I was not impressed with this book.

There are some strange suggestions, like banging objects in your infants ear to make them jump & test their reaction... I probably won't be doing that. Other than that, it brings together all of the Doman books nicely.

Awesome....Kids are sponges. This teaches you precisely how to help your child learn math as far as you want to take them(add, sub, mult, square roots, ect.) There is no limit on age or when to begin. It is fun, focused and accomplished in just seconds or a couple minutes a day!! No JOKE. I used it with my babies and toddlers. It's easy because it teaches you how the child's developing mind learns and then tells you how to use these simple concepts to teach them. They loved it. Us moms love it because it works and they love it!!

There is so much written on Doman on the internet, especially on different blogs, that I already knew everything that was in the book before I made the purchase. Also, I bought the maths cards to show to my baby from a different supplier and the box has a description how to use the cards anyway. I thought I would learn something new from the book, but no - all is available from other sources. It is not the author's fault (thus 3 stars), but still I felt like it was a bit of a waste of my money.

This is an awesome book, along with a companion book, How to Teach Your Baby to Read. I only wish we had had knowledge of this book and method when our children were babies 45-50 years ago. We're trying to spread the word to all we know about the gold that's hidden within it's covers.How To Teach Your Baby Math: The Gentle Revolution

Babies can learn things. Did I mention that babies can learn things? And by the way, babies learn things! And this goes on, and on, and on. At around page 100 the author reveals the magic trick is showing flashcards. And mathematics equals to memorizing flash cards? Instead of reading this book better spend time on playing with your baby.

This book is cheesy, outdated, (1970's pictures) and absolutely misrepresents what it's all about. A great portion of the passages are dedicated to "your brain damaged baby", which is not mentioned anywhere on the front or back cover. Something is not quite right with this book and I cant quite place my finger on it.

Backstory:
I read Reaching Your Baby to Read 45 years ago. We had our first child and, like most parents, my greatest wish was to be the best mother I could be. To help our child (later, children) be the best they could be, too.

I had grown up feeling "less than", myself, including just feeling less smart than other people. I didn't want this for my kids so I set about trying to learn how to help my own kids have a different experience.

When I read in the book about a child with such severe disabilities that his mother was told to institutionalize him, it hit a chord. (Spoiler: He and his mother proved them all wrong by "inventing" what this book now describes. But she had to do it on her own, ignoring all the authorities.)

My decision:
So, I decided to teach our first child to read. I figured if it would help a severely disabled child excel, it could only have good outcomes for a child not disabled. Then,I used it for our second child. And, finally, again for child #3. It was an uphill battle when it came to public perception, so I learned to keep it quiet. People thought I was robbing our kids of their childhood. I was not. They still participated in t-ball, swimming, building forts, and all the things kids do. Others said it would make them misfits.

Reading is incredibly important. A child can't even do math without good reading skills. Reading is foremost. And it opens the world to kids. The better a child reads, the better their test scores in every area.

They had as many friends as the next kid, contrary to what other people told me would happen.

They were considered one of as the "smartest kids in the class", though that was not the goal. They didn't struggle with school, which gave them time to explore sports, music, and other outside activities. They became the kids other kids looked to for help, enhancing self confidence and esteem.

There is one caveat. Reading and "being smart" are not enough. We all know people who are very intelligent, but without people skills. Dale Carnegie also wrote a book, "How to Win Friends and Influence People", in which he talks about the incredible importance of people skills. He is not talking about how to relate to others for the purpose of manipulating them to get what you want. Not at all. I highly recommend this book, too, to add balance and think it's just as important, and needs to be part of the training to help a child exceed academically.

However, in my experience, the terrible things that the naysayers said would happen -- did not. The most challenging part was that they did very well in school, sometimes challenging the teachers.

The outcome:
Our kids are now 40-47 years old. All received scholarships -- two to any state university of their choice, full-ride.

One is now a physician, another an aeronautical engineer, and another graduated in 4 years from college with degrees in both chemistry and education. All graduated in four years and received advanced degrees.

I don't tell you my story because I am wonderful or my kids more special than other kids. I tell it only to say that, in my opinion, the reason they were able to excel and achieve was greatly because of the start "Teach Your Baby to Read" gave them.

The book I read started by teaching whole words in order to give the child immediate success. It later moved to teaching phonics, when they begin experimenting with with letters and sounds to make new words ... cat, bat, hat, etc.

The premise it fires and builds neural pathways in the brain. Evidence is provided by a story in the book that is amazing.

I can only tell you about our firsthand experience - it's all I have to offer.. Based on our experience, I recommend this book and this method very, very highly.

I will say that it requires commitment. Commitment to not care if other people approve. Commitment to spend time with your kids and not just turn them over to the latest electronic gadget. It's not a magic act that will work without parental commitment and involvement. That said, it is another, different and fun way to play with your babies and spend time with them.

I'm grateful for what I learned from the book so many years ago. It helped an ordinary mom with only a high school diploma, and from a slightly less-than-average home and background, help her kids do well. It was fun to do. we just "played" the reading game like we played in other ways together.

Recommended very highly if you're willing to do what your learn.

In November of 1980, I bought this book....at the time, the sole author was Glenn Doman. I can only speak for the unrevised version that I purchased in 1980. I must say, it works. I applied the principles in this book as soon as my boy was born in December 1980. Before he was two, he was writing letters and words on my wall. I give the credit to this book. My son recently finished law school and he went on full scholarship, he did this with a family too. He has always been very intelligent, thanks to the principles I applied in his life that this book suggests. A parent MUST start teaching their children when they are babies, my grown son is an example that early learning and early teaching works. The principles this book teaches the parents are simple and easy to follow.

I used this method to teach math to my grandchildren. I didn't have them everyday, but while I had them at my home playing around, I would show them the flashcards and do it for a few minutes. I was able to do it quite often with two of them before they reached the age of three, and these two can now do a lot of math in their heads, faster than you can do it on a calculator. This must be done while they are babies. You cannot wait until they are past the age of three and expect them to understand it.

This system works. I used this with my sons, thirty years ago. I remember sticking those dots on those cards. It made me dizzy sometimes LOL. I remember telling my son if you don't behave we're not going to do the dots. He started crying. Of course we did the dots that day. I don't thing I ever threatened to punish him again like that. My point is babies love this, it is fun for them. Today, all my children are a whiz at math, computers, and programing.

We hold our newborn too much during first 6 months of his life and I believe that caused him to not turn at 4 months and still had a hard time at 6 months. Other large motor skill delay development followed. At 7 months he only pivot in circle and not being able to move anywhere. I came across this book and quickly built the 'infant crawling track' from things I could find in local stores. Only 3 days later, my baby creep for the first time! We were very excited as earlier we could see how desperate he wanted to go, but he didn't know the how-to, worse was I didn't know how to help him.

I am trying to read through the book right now and find many interesting activities that I could use with my baby. It's great to know I can stimulate my baby's development. Only regret is that I should start reading this book before my baby was born.

I read through this book so quickly, because it just made so much sense to me! Children are like sponges, and it is our responsibility as parents to try and give them as much information as possible. They truly do love to learn. My son is about to turn two. I tried to do the exercises with him 3x a day; however, he was not too interested in them. I have put learning to read on hold for a short while and will try it again soon. Having said that, this book still changed the way that I view childhood learning. Once a child is in kindergarten, much of their natural ability to learn has already come and gone. After reading this book, I presented shapes (from triangles to octagons), colors and some letters. My son is not two yet, but he knows everything that I have taught him, and it is not because I am a great teacher! Thank you, Glenn and Janet Doman, for this book!!

According to this book, little children (0-5 years old) are more intelligent and capable of learning than previously imagined. After it is understood that they have a huge amount of curiosity about the world around them, the authors strongly recommend enriching a child's environment by teaching them to read.

The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential (the group behind this book) was begun to see if it was possible to teach brain-damaged children to read. In this case, "brain-damaged" means children whose brains were normal at conception, but were damaged through injury or disease. After discovering that the answer to their question was a resounding Yes, the same method was tried on well children, with the same result.

For the average child, being able to explore their world, through crawling or walking, is vital to their development, so sticking them in a playpen with a bunch of toys, while understandable, is a bad idea. There is no "wrong" way to teach a child to read; the authors present their method, which involves writing words on flashcards in very large and bold print, and showing them to the child several times a day, for a few seconds at a time. It is never too early to start, even with children less than 1 year old. Do not be concerned if you cannot go "all the way" in teaching your child to read; even partial progress will help your child in the long run. Most importantly, the process should be joyous, and never a chore, for parent and child. If either one is cranky, or having a bad day, save the words for another day.

This is an excellent book. Written for parents, it is very easy to understand, and shows that it is never too early to expose your child to the world of reading. It was also first published in the 1960s, so they must be doing something right. It is very much recommended.

Glenn Doman and Janet Doman,
Thank you for your book that has the same title as my book that I wrote in the 70's.
I am glad that our system afforded you the opportunity to make money with a title that I created.
I should have been allowed to be a consultant on many books that deal with reading. (your book)
Doctors have made good money on a concept that they published in the 80's through their books
that they borrowed from my book and book title!
Africa has a similar program that was introduced in the 1800's. Carl Banks Jr.

I am a volunteer at an alternative school serving home based (home school) students. I have seen excellent results from parents applying the suggestions in this book to a 3, 4, and 5 year old and look forward to observing a parent use the suggestions with a newborn during the next four months.

I am developing a course titled "Creating Intelligence" and I plan to use some of the information in this book in the course.

From page 1 to 102 a definitive analysis shows why babies want to, should, and can learn to read and the problems children face if they can not read well when they get to school.

The key information on how to teach your baby is presented, step by step, from pages 102 to 157. The next chapter, pages 158 to 196 is divided into sections outlining specifically how to implement the program for different aged "babies". Thus it is fairly easy to implement the program regardless of the age of your "baby"(birth to six).

The approach in this book simply works, and works well. The company offers word cards and "bits of intelligence" cards, both worth the price. Babies and adults learn a lot from the "intelligence" cards. The "intelligence" cards are expensive, full color, and simply fantastic - but not required!

From the book, and from my own experience, it is clear that anyone not offering their "baby" the opportunity to read using this system (it is easier on the child than other programs) is certainly depriving the child, themselves and grandparents of a joyous experience.

A word of warning. The book suggests you use empty 6" high cards to put words on. However, if you have purchased any word cards from the company you will find they use 4" cards. The 4" cards are a lot easier to use than the 6" empty cards they sell. Buy your own 4" card stock cards, so they will fit with the 4" cards you purchased from the company. If you do not buy any cards from the company use 4" cards anyhow, they are easier to work with than 6" cards.

The company sells a video to go with the book. It is a good video that will help the reader understand the teaching concepts in the book. The video is not required to do a good job.

In the last three months I have purchased two of these books for others and recommend it to any person committed to spending the time needed to create intelligence.

Well, aren't all little babies little geniuses? I know my son is! I actually kept quiet the fact that I was using flash cards on my 3 month old son from everyone but my wife. I believe along with the Domans that these precious little creations can do so much more than we smart adults give them credit or encouragement for. Now in Jan. 2001, when we have to go to the library and get my almost 3 year old son 12-15 books to go through in less than a week...the "reading monster" that I've created! :-) I actually had a little difficulty following along with all of the concepts in the book and had to re-read it about 3 times before I felt prepared to start with it. And, as other reviewers have said, it is alot of work. Many will drop it, but those that don't will certainly have appreciative children to thank them later! Best of luck!

Well, aren't all little babies little geniuses? I know my son is! I actually kept quiet the fact that I was using flash cards on my 3 month old son from everyone but my wife. I believe along with the Domans that these precious little creations can do so much more than we smart adults give them credit or encouragement for. Now in Jan. 2001, when we have to go to the library and get my almost 3 year old son 12-15 books to go through in less than a week...the "reading monster" that I've created! :-) I actually had a little difficulty following along with all of the concepts in the book and had to re-read it about 3 times before I felt prepared to start with it. And, as other reviewers have said, it is alot of work. Many will drop it, but those that don't will certainly have appreciative children to thank them later! Best of luck!

Glenn Doman should be ranked as one of the greatest educators of the 20th (and 21st) Century. His name should be known to every parent in the United States and beyond. Unfortunately, relatively few have heard of him. He is one of America's best kept secrets. What this man and his colleagues have done is to reveal the amazing learning potential of very young children and to provide the guidelines by which parents, primarily mothers, can harvest that potential. He has proven that infants and young children are capable of absolutely amazing learning achievements long before they begin kindergarten. In fact, by the time most children begin kindergarten, they have lost much of their learning capacity. Babies accomplish a fantastic learning feat within their first few years simply by learning to speak and use their native spoken language. They learn the language pretty much by osmosis, not by anyone's effort to teach it to them. Glenn Doman, through his very sccessful efforts to help brain injured children get well, learned that children can and should learn to read and to do math at the same time they are learning to speak their native language. Infants and toddlers can learn more and learn it more easily and faster at that young and tender age than in any other stage in their lives. All they need is someone to use the right strategies and techniques to bring such learning about. The right strategies and techniques are not at all difficult. The time required to do it is very short. The best person to do it is the child's mother, according to Doman, but Dad or other loving and dedicated adults can do it with equal effectiveness. The results are amazing, fun, and enormously beneficial to the child. Children who are taught to read (as well as to do math and a lot of other things) by the Doman methods are generally happier, better adjusted, more intelligent, loving, constructive, and successful, etc. than children who do not have the benefits of Doman's learning program. A lot of uninformed critics have imagined faults with Doman's methods. Some claim, for example, that teaching children to read by "sight methods" is not a proper way to teach children to read. The truth is, of course, that sight (and sound) methods are the only methods that can be used to teach infants and toddlers to read (and do math) and tens of thousands of parents and their children can testify to the effectiveness and success of those methods. The truth is that there are no "dangerous side effects" of teaching very young children to read. Many of these children appear to be geniuses to people who are amazed at what they can do. The answer to that is that geniuses are made, not born. Every child is born with the potential to be a "genius" if only someone will give them the chance. What is really sad is the fact that there are closed minded parents who, out of fear or ignorance, or whatever, will not even bother to look at the evidence provided by Doman and his happy followers. Everyone has heard the saying that when opportunity knocks, it makes good sense to open the door. But some people lock the door tightly shut instead. They and their children suffer a great loss as a result. The wonderful things that could have happened through their participation in the "gentle revolution" never take place. They end up learning to read the hard way, or not at all. It is a well known fact that we have a very large number of people in this country and around the world who never master the art of reading. Glenn Doman has provided parents with the opportunity to teach their own children to read the easy way. He has shown that waiting until the child starts to school to allow strangers to take on the task of teaching their children to read (and do math, etc.) is to wait until the vast and amazing early childhood learning advantage has already been lost. Aside from the Bible, I think that "How To Teach Your Baby to Read" is in fact one of the most important, and potentially beneficial books that has ever been written. Parents of young children can be a part of the "gentle revolution" by reading this book with an open mind and then giving their children the great gift that this book gives them the power to give. What a difference you can make in your child's life. Too few people have heard of Glenn Doman and the "gentle revolution." Read the book, spread the word, spread the revolution. And don't forget to read "How to Teach Your Baby Math" as well. Not only will your children, grandchildren, friends, etc. benefit from your efforts to spread the word, but so will your country. I sure wish that I had known about Glenn Doman and his "gentle revolution" when my own children were young enough to benefit from from it. Only very recently did my brother tell me about Doman. Now I am spreading the word. I hope many others will do the same.

I bought this book in 1992, shortly after my younger son was born. It really is an amazing book. I wasn't that diligent doing everything required and yet, my son was reading fluently by age three. He's now 21 and last spring he graduated from MIT with a degree in economics and is working as a research analyst for a consulting company. He is and has always been an excellent speller, so I disagree with the statement that this system creates bad spellers. Most importantly, my son still loves to read and enjoys it every day.

Usually, I consider a book for the information it provides but this time I have to criticize the way the book is written. It is terribly sexist, always talking about the 'mother's' role - never the father's. Secondly, three-quarters of the book is just reiteration of the same material as to why you should do this - blah, blah, blah. If you are a busy parent, your child will be beyond the age the book recommends by the time you finish it (the information you actually need is buried near the end). Thirdly, the author recommends making lots of homemade books and games for your child, which would also be great if you have tons of extra time. I seriously wanted to strangle the author by the end of the first half - this book needs a serious edit for busy parents. The one positive note is that he recommends teaching to read through word recognition rather than phonics which is worth trying.

Doman's books are a must read. I already suggested that one should start with How to Teach Your Baby to Read, because it has the philosophical underpinnings of their theory, but that book is a little time consuming to implement because you have to write words in a cardboard (see cover).

How to Teach Math should be the second, but it is much easier to implement the program because you can purchase an inexpensive kit from the author's institute (see cover).

I also recommend you to take the author's courses, in Philadelphia, but they are a couple of thousand dollars or more. Do it all before your baby is born.

I read How to Multiply your Baby's Intelligence 10 years before my wife got pregnant and it changed my life... and my daughter's (I hope). It changed how I saw child's development. Now she is 3.

But don't get too carried away. Believe me, some parents do get carried away. The ones in Philadelphia seem to belong to a sect. Just enjoy your children and add this program to the fun.

Although I spend a large amount of money with the course, I really don't do much of the program. Still, I raise my daughter differently from what I would otherwise have done without having read this book or taken the course. You will not be the same person after you read it. And it is not about teaching your baby to read. It is about learning how to teach your baby about life.

You will have more respect for your child and will not let your baby grow "by accident." Instead, you will be able to actively participate in the learning process and challenge your child to fulfill his or her intellectual potential. If you have a child, or if you don't but you love someone, this is the only book that you must read. Remember, read it before the baby is born. This collection is a wonderful present for an expecting mother.

There is no longer any debate - a child's learning potential and cognitive capacity of all kinds - including learning ability, emotional attachment, musical prowess, and athletic skills, can be enhanced through the right environmental stimuli. While parents can be "overly concerned" about their role in promoting their child's brain development to the detriment of letting kids be kids, they should absolutely have some background in environmental influences on early brain development. There are things can parents can do to help sculpt those neural pathways in ways that will have long lasting benefits. This book is a great source of information in this area.

I taught my daughter to read beginning at age three and continuing through the second grade. By the time she started school, she was reading at the fourth grade level and I attribute it to the "How to teach your baby to read." book

She drank in the knowledge and the methods worked marvelously! For instance, I followed the book and used learning as a reward for her being good(she is perfect anyway)and she would bring the cards and book to me for another lesson.

I bought astronomy, geography, math books and she used her reading ability to progress even farther. The only problem I see with a child's excessive reading ability is that schools are not ready for them. She is not gifted but she is advanced and they couldn't deal with it.

I found that enthusiastic praise, smiles, hugs, etc worked so much better than "That's correct, dear. Now to the next lesson." As Dr. Doman wrote, an excited parent who is happy their child can read transmits that love of learning and enthusiasm to the child and encourages the child. I give this book at least 10 stars if it were possible.

You will see the light BEHIND their eyes when you start the sessions. My twins start twitching with excitement - literally - when they see me reach for the cards. Do what the book says, make it FUN for them and don't turn into a psycho-nut parent, and it will be fabulous. Do my 11 month olds know how to count? Who knows (Doman discourages "testing" them!), and I don't care. I know they're paying attention, and I can see their eyes absorbing information. He's right - kids are desperate to learn, ALL the time. Here is a structured way to help them do it. (Make it easy on yourself and buy the cards from them with the dots already printed.)