In truth, Glenn Doman upset the academic world back in the 70s as he broke with the paradigms that established and predetermined that learning was promoted by “the one who is taught, and not the one who learns”. Importantly, he innovated by showing that the baby, once assisted by the mother, could have access to knowledge much earlier than had been accepted in the past. Some preconceived notions such as the following have been broken to enable early reading and literacy and we will discuss here how this was achieved, by parents, for the good of their babies.

Preconceived notion #1 – Parents should not stimulate their babies.

o How has this been broken?

When the child arrives at school, he has already gone through a whole world of experiences, of being exposed to the technological and informational society (visual pollution). Parents are teaching their babies to talk, look, walk and listen. The brain learns what it sees, hears, smells and feels. With each passing day, the baby builds knowledge of the culture in which he is immersed.

Today’s society provides stimuli through the colors and size of advertisements, through television and the desire to sell products for profit. Families have access to the media, and almost every home has a computer, a television, telephones among other products that communicate without asking who the communication is directed to, whether or not they are authorized to do so. Against this background, babies are stimulated. It is the role of parents to manage what can be shown to them. If parents don’t care what stimuli the baby may be exposed to, then society goes beyond the intimacy of the home, determining what is to be learned. Therefore, it is the initial responsibility of the parents to solve the problem. It is not up to the State, nor to the institutions with teaching powers, to decide who and what stimulates the brain.

Preconceived notion #2 – Parents should not force their babies, robbing them of their childhood while teaching them as if they were teachers

o How has this been broken?

Teaching babies to read is not and has never been a reason to “lose” childhood. Reading time consists of quality moments of joy, play and enjoyment between parents and babies. The baby learns by affection, and therefore by wanting to play the game of reading. Stealing a childhood is, for example, leaving children in front of the television without activities that develop the imagination, that is, without giving them the opportunity to participate in creative games.

Preconceived notion #3 – It’s not parents who teach, but schools

o How has this been broken?

Schools can no longer teach our children. There are difficulties in bringing knowledge, innovations and information from the community into the classroom at the same rate as they are happening outside the school system. It is about updating the amount of information that is given in real life, in real time.

In addition, work identifying gifted/children with specific dispositions shows that stimuli in the home environment are conducive to giftedness in ‘gifted’. Children already come to school with talents and dispositions developed in environments enriched by inhabiting parents. Teaching at home shows that it is possible to develop teaching outside of school. After all, there are many parents in different countries with more time and better preparation than many of the teachers inserted in both public and private school systems. With such a realization and in the desire to give them the best opportunities as soon as possible, parents can teach their babies to read.

Preconceived notion #4 – The child should learn only when ready. Every precious stimulus is harmful.

o How has this been broken?

Once again, a preconceived idea underestimated the capabilities of the baby. Why can only those who show talent in music or sports be stimulated early? When is it, then, that the child is ready? What possible point of reference in terms of social levels, countries, communities? Who determines when to teach? Just the child’s curiosity. Parents should be aware of when; the moments. But much more than that, they have to try and see how easy it is to teach a baby to read.

Once we overcome preconceived notions, we begin to witness that the baby can and does much more than our small capacity to understand the human brain, as well as what it will be able to do in the future. After all, do we believe in evolution or not?

Glen Doman was a visionary. We pay our respects. If I have witnessed the miracle of reading as a baby through the development of my own children, I believe that all babies born in the last century – and who will be born in this one – can do the same.

Here is the baby revolution! In the search for peace and solutions to the world’s problems, and for all men and women, may this be the end of the era of Jurassic illiteracy.

After exposing these four key preconceived notions, and the preceding discussion, we can state that:

1 – The baby can learn at home with the parents;

2 – The baby learns without understanding the rules of reading because he learns while playing; and the brain is open to learning the word because it already knows the concept;

3 – The words are shown and the brain learns through the construction of mental schemes, structures that will be used throughout its life;

4 – In this process there is no training, because it is not possible to “train” a baby. It is he/she who learns.

5 – The baby understands and identifies what he sees. His knowledge of the world is relative to the knowledge of the world he built. It is not our!;

6 – A baby, when he reads a word, identifies and recognizes it;

7 – Parents should stimulate their babies before the community without responsibility does it;

8 – In this process, they are not stealing the baby’s childhood; they are, instead, guaranteeing that it is preserved through play, in the development of creativity and enjoyment in a relationship of teaching and learning;

9 – Yes, parents teach. They can teach. It is the primary duty. Having a child is not simply feeding, sheltering and caring. It is assisting to build a healthy knowledge of the world. For the future. The schools come to help us to socialize the child and promote the updating of all the necessary contents for life in society; Y

10 – Let’s not underestimate the ability of babies to build an understanding of the world, in their own way and as soon as they can.

Translation by: Inessa Leao Figueiredo, MS.

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