Baby reading on The Today Show

What a cutie pie!  I just love to see babies reading and the proud parents, too.  The parents of this particular two-year old attribute at least some of her abilities to early sign language for babies.  As a teacher of young children and a brain research “hound,” I know that it has far more to do with the amount of language they exposed her to and the varied approaches taken to make language fun.  The sign language was definitely a piece of her reading development because it taught her to focus on patterns in language and visual cues.  There are prerequisite skills needed for reading and she has definitely learned them early.

The fact is… BABIES have the capability to read as this baby did.  Even if a child can’t verbally speak the words they can point to the correct word or the object while you are reading.

Try these things at home with your baby:

1.  Use board books that have a single picture with a single word on each page for daily reading.

2.  After reading the word “spoon” and seeing the picture spoon, find a real spoon in your home to allow baby to engage more senses than just visual and auditory.

3.  Show baby the word “spoon” in a different book and show enthusiasm as you match the words between the two books.

4.  Write the word “spoon” on an index card and place it in front of baby.  Then place a spoon and another object in front of her – say, “where is the spoon?” while you point to the word card.  Assist her in choosing the correct object if necessary.

5.  Continue this pattern with other words in the book and very soon baby will start understanding rules of reading through these basic play activities.

The Play2Learn program by Wiggle Giggle Learn offers more organized and playful ways to learn to read early while also balancing your child’s development in math, science, social skills, problem solving and the arts.