Doman Method For Early Reading
The Doman method enables children to learn to read at the age of 3. This also stimulates the cognitive abilities of children with brain damage. It’s a fun method that promotes quick learning.
Can a three-year-old actually learn to read? Do you think that’s amazing? The Doman method was developed for early learning to read and is also intended to help children with problems acquire certain skills more easily.
This method was developed in the 1950s by the American doctor Glenn J. Doman , who also founded The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential in Philadelphia (USA). This expert has shown that his method is more effective than traditional syllable methods.
Initially, this method was used to help children with brain damage develop certain cognitive skills. Based on the positive results, Doman also researched the effects of his method on healthy children in order to teach them to read at a very young age.
Learn more about this method today.
The Doman Method
This method works in a very similar way to natural language acquisition. The potential of very young children is used.
In his research, Doman found that children’s ability to learn is particularly great in the first few years of life.
He explained this in his book “How to teach your baby to read”. In it, the doctor describes the first 6 years of a child’s life as the phase in which the “genius emerges”, because this period is characterized by unsurpassable abilities that will never be so great in later life.
Children can learn to read very early if they receive the right stimulation to recognize words and their meanings. To do this, the Doman method uses cards with words from the world of children, which are very capitalized so that the child can recognize the word image.
The Doman Method assumes that reading can be learned in the same way as speaking. When the baby hears a word, the same electrochemical reactions occur as when they see the word.
That is why it is both exhausting and easy for the child to learn to speak and read. So it can learn both skills at the same time.
In this way, both brain hemispheres are stimulated at the same time. The child experiences the word as a whole, without distinguishing between the letters, just as it recognizes an image.
Doman method of learning to read
This learning technique adapts to the individual characteristics of each child. It has to be a simple and fun activity. The child is shown five word cards three times a day.
It learns 5 new words that belong to the same category: body parts, family members, colors, animals, toys or activities. The choice of words, however, depends on the child’s environment, because they have to be present in their everyday life.
You write a word on a cardboard box that is 10 cm high and 60 cm wide. The words are written in red with small capital letters. Each category has 5 words. The reading process takes place in different phases:
1st phase of the Doman method: words
In the first phase only single words are shown. First you use nouns that correspond to certain categories (family, animals, food, colors), then you can show activities (verb forms). The process is as follows:
- Day 1: Show your child five words in the same category three times a day.
- Day 2: Show your child the five words from the first day and another five words from another category.
- Day 3: Show your child the ten words from the previous day and five new words from another category.
- Day 4: Show your child the fifteen words from the previous day and five new words from another category.
- Day 5: Show your child the twenty words from the previous day and five new words from another category.
In the Doman method, a learning week consists of 5 days each. In the following weeks you will remove a category and introduce a new one every day. The child should not be bored. You never show him more than 25 cards a day. However, you cannot use them all at once. The cards are always shown to the child in blocks of five from the same category.
A session lasts between 15 and 30 minutes, with a card only shown for a second, so it’s really quick. The child does not have to repeat the pronunciation of the word. However, the enthusiasm and motivation that you convey to your child are fundamental.
It should be a fun game that your child is eagerly waiting for. Look at it as you speak the word clearly and show him the card.
As soon as you change the category, shuffle the cards to show them in a different order. Remember that two words that start with the same letter shouldn’t follow each other.
Second phase of the Doman method: word pairs
The second phase begins when the child has already seen 150 words. Now it’s about word pairs, each made up of a noun and an adjective. In addition, in this phase the colors are no longer written on white cardboard, but on a cardboard box in the respective color.
Each week you show your child two groups of word pairs (5 word pairs each) and repeat the words from the first phase. In this way, the little one sees word pairs (two groups) and individual word categories.
Third phase of the Doman method: short sentences
In this phase, you use cards with a height of 5 cm. You are now introducing simple sentences of three words each, for example: Mama is here. Dad listens to music. Grandma cooks food.
You can write these sentences in a notebook and make drawings. The sides should be 45 cm high and 20 cm wide. You read this book to your child two or three times a day.
Fourth phase of the Doman method: sentences
You are now writing down simple sentences with a font height of 2.5 cm in black color. You can also use articles, pronouns, etc. For example: my mother eats cake. My father sings a song.
Also make a book and read these sentences to your child two or three times a day.
Fifth phase of the Doman method: stories
Books in which there is only one sentence on each page are particularly advantageous. The writing should not be smaller than 2 cm and clearly stand out from the illustration. Choose the stories based on your child’s interests. However, they should also include new vocabulary.
Closing remarks
After each session, you hug your child and congratulate them. Positive reinforcement is fundamental in the Doman Method in order to guarantee success and to learn to read very early on.
Doman assumes that a one-year-old baby can already recognize words. By the age of two he can identify sentences and by the age of three he can read simple sentences and enjoy the process.
Later, your child will learn the rules of spoken and written language. Once they can read, you can teach them the alphabet, if you haven’t already done so. Would you like to try this method with your child?
