| So you want to know at what age you should | | | | age of 4. |
| begin or can begin teaching your baby to read. | | | | There is much debate over whether or not |
| Let us look at when is the best time to begin a | | | | anyone should be taught to sight-read because |
| baby reading program. | | | | some people feel it is not an effective way to |
| Begin a baby reading program as early as 3 | | | | teach reading. They are absolutely right. It is not |
| months of age. | | | | an effective way to teach reading to children 4 |
| The earliest a baby can begin learning to read is | | | | and older. However, babies have this amazing |
| around 3 months of age. The reason is that their | | | | ability to sight-read and read phonetically. They |
| visual tracking system has not been developed | | | | are able to pick up the patterns in the language |
| enough until this time, making it pointless to begin | | | | and learn to read new and unseen words using |
| teaching before then. When a baby is born their | | | | phonics even if they have never been taught |
| visual pathway is still developing during the first | | | | phonics. Their developing brains are able to pick up |
| few months of life. In the beginning of their days | | | | the patterns in our language allowing them to read |
| they are able to see shadows and items that are | | | | according to rules that they have figured out |
| very close to them. During the first few months | | | | themselves. It is helpful to introduce language that |
| of life their vision is sharpening until they are able | | | | follows certain phonetic patterns in order to |
| to see clearly. Trying to teach your baby to read | | | | strengthen the understanding of that rule. |
| prior to the development of their visual tracking | | | | Although some specialists may not admit it, |
| will not produce any results. Parents can | | | | learning to read well involves sight-reading and |
| determine if their baby is visually tracking objects | | | | phonics. There are words that do not follow the |
| by holding an object about 10 inches away from | | | | rules which must be learned as sight-words. A |
| their face and slowly moving it to the left and | | | | balanced approach to learning to read will |
| right. If your baby is bale to follow the object | | | | incorporate the use of both methods. |
| with their eyes, they are then capable of learning | | | | Babies that are older can learn to read easily as |
| to read. | | | | well. |
| Starting early may give you an extra advantage. | | | | Some parents were not aware that they could |
| There may be some benefits to beginning a | | | | teach their baby to read until their babies are |
| reading program early in your baby's life. One of | | | | over a year old. They begin to fear that they |
| the benefits is that they are generally very | | | | missed out on this great opportunity. This is very |
| interested in learning to read. Due to their limited | | | | far from the truth. Many parents have taught |
| mobility, they are usually very focused and will | | | | their 2 and 3-year-olds how to read extremely |
| absorb large amounts of information. Their brains | | | | well without beginning in their early months of life. |
| are also developing very rapidly making it easy | | | | It is a very fun and rewarding experience. Why |
| for them to learn language at a quick pace. | | | | not teach your baby to read today? |
| Babies can learn to sight-read until they reach the | | | | |