Welcome to our newest follower, Soumya, great to have you here! As you were interested to know what we have purchased and are using with BC, I thought I'd share it for everyone to read.
First of all we purchased and are using all 7 of the Doman books. We are doing the reading and maths program at the moment, and are also introducing the encyclopedic knowledge program. We are doing lots of vestibular activities as suggested in the physical book and are swimming as well. I need to properly read the encyclopedic knowledge and physical superiority books and this is on my (very long) to-do list. We built a crawling track too but didn't quite follow the instructions and in the end ours is a bit wide but is still doing the job nicely!
I have made my own words, math and encyclopedic knowledge cards. For the words, I just typed up words on a landscape set page in Microsoft Word and made the fonts as large as possible where the word was all on one line. I put two words to a page, printed and laminated them and then cut them in half with a guillotine. For the math dots we used A4 pages and printed and laminated them. I have done the same thing with the encyclopedic knowledge cards of which I've done wild animals already and have made but not printed water animals, pets, farm animals, birds, dogs and reptiles. I also purchased a few cheap calenders at the $2 shop which I will pull apart and laminate the pictures. I'm looking forward to the January sales when the calenders will all be marked down to 50% off and I can get some more expensive ones to laminate and use as encyclopedic knowledge. I've seen some great ones on art, music, landmarks, countries and animals.
We purchased the entire tweedlewink package of DVD's and we are currently trying to show BC one lesson per day. We also have the trebellina music DVD and just got Your Baby Can Read. I am also waiting for my delivery of the Baby Signing Time DVD's. We are currently signing to BC using signs I learnt on Baby Einstein See and Sign and those I've learnt off the many ASL iPhone apps I downloaded.
We also do swimming, gymbaroo and both myself and my husband do lots of activities with BC to stimulate his vestibular system. We try to talk lots to him, read lots of stories and take him on 'adventures' such as walks, trips to the park, outings with the mother's groups and even just a quick trip to the shops!
I hope this helps and answers some questions!
Showing posts with label Glenn Doman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Glenn Doman. Show all posts
Saturday, November 13, 2010
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
Our Swimming Program
Thanks WaterDreamer for my first ever Blog comment, what a privilege to know someone with their own fantastic blog is reading mine! It was requested that I might talk about the swimming program we are doing with BC so here it is!
Swimming is definitely something by husband and I love to do (or at least spend time in the water, even if we're not swimming per se!) and we were excited to introduce this to our son. I haven't finished reading 'How to teach your baby to swim' by Douglas Doman but I have read the parts relevant to teaching a baby to swim and I have to say I totally agree! My belief is that all babies are born 'knowing' how to swim or at least being comfortable in the water. After all, they did just spend nine months in a fluid filled world! I believe that it is the years from birth onwards where they are not exposed to the water that prevents them from being able to enjoy the water and that creates a fear as we see in so many children. Of course this is a generalisation and there are always the exceptions to the rules or those who aren't comfortable in the water no matter what you do but we are hoping to avoid this with BC.
A local swimming chain that exists here in Melbourne has a 'Baby Play' session which is essentially a time for the Mums and Dads (or others) to bring the baby down to the pool and to play together in the water. There is an instructor there if the parents want tips on handling the baby on the water or they want to be shown different holds, games or strategies for conditioning the baby to have water over their face or be immersed. The key for us is that the water is at 32 degrees Celsius, has the minimal amount of Chlorine required to make the water safe, and the classes are conducted after all the swimming lessons finish so the pool isn't full of hundreds of splashing, screaming, noisy children. It is a private facility so it isn't open to the public for free swimming, just swimming lessons.
The Baby Play sessions run from age 3-6 months and then the children progress into a Parent-Child Class that runs from 6 months to 3 years. Daddy and I took BC to his first swimming 'class' when he was just over three months old and he loves it. We try to go weekly but of course some weeks it gets away from us. So we are by no means a perfect Doman Swimming family but BC loves it and we try to immerse him every session. He rarely minds and only occasionally will swallow a little bit of water and have a cough. He never gets upset.
First we started with water on the face which we have been doing in the bath at home for some time now. We use a cup and we tip water over his shoulders, water over the back of his head (hair) and then we say 'OK BC, 1, 2, 3...' and tip the water quickly over his face from the forehead down. We were taught that it is the rush of water over the forehead and eyes that cues the baby about what is to come and this way he holds his breath and closes his mouth so he doesn't swallow the water. It also needs to be done quickly, not a slow pour but tip the whole cup out in one go as little babies can't hold their breath for too long. From here, we waited until BC was comfortable with this and then proceeded to do an immersion at the pool with the help of the instructor.
We always start with the cup, water over the shoulders, water over the hair and then 1, 2, 3... water over the face. To do an immersion we hold BC with both arms straight out and hands, palm up under his chest (he is almost lying across our hands if we were to hold him horizontally). Then we lift him half out of the water, into a vertical position, say OK BC, 1, 2, 3... then we lift him out, tilt him down, and 'swoosh' him through/under the water, forehead first and straight out. When he comes out, we bring him straight up to the shoulder so he can feel secure against a hard surface, and then, regardless of his response, we praise him and tell him what a wonderful, clever boy he is. Luckily for us he is quite good at this and almost always holds his breath, comes out with lots of blinking of his eyes and then is back to looking around, trying to take everything in as usual.
For us swimming is fun! We can't wait to start the parent-child classes and teach him to swim for real!
Swimming is definitely something by husband and I love to do (or at least spend time in the water, even if we're not swimming per se!) and we were excited to introduce this to our son. I haven't finished reading 'How to teach your baby to swim' by Douglas Doman but I have read the parts relevant to teaching a baby to swim and I have to say I totally agree! My belief is that all babies are born 'knowing' how to swim or at least being comfortable in the water. After all, they did just spend nine months in a fluid filled world! I believe that it is the years from birth onwards where they are not exposed to the water that prevents them from being able to enjoy the water and that creates a fear as we see in so many children. Of course this is a generalisation and there are always the exceptions to the rules or those who aren't comfortable in the water no matter what you do but we are hoping to avoid this with BC.
A local swimming chain that exists here in Melbourne has a 'Baby Play' session which is essentially a time for the Mums and Dads (or others) to bring the baby down to the pool and to play together in the water. There is an instructor there if the parents want tips on handling the baby on the water or they want to be shown different holds, games or strategies for conditioning the baby to have water over their face or be immersed. The key for us is that the water is at 32 degrees Celsius, has the minimal amount of Chlorine required to make the water safe, and the classes are conducted after all the swimming lessons finish so the pool isn't full of hundreds of splashing, screaming, noisy children. It is a private facility so it isn't open to the public for free swimming, just swimming lessons.
The Baby Play sessions run from age 3-6 months and then the children progress into a Parent-Child Class that runs from 6 months to 3 years. Daddy and I took BC to his first swimming 'class' when he was just over three months old and he loves it. We try to go weekly but of course some weeks it gets away from us. So we are by no means a perfect Doman Swimming family but BC loves it and we try to immerse him every session. He rarely minds and only occasionally will swallow a little bit of water and have a cough. He never gets upset.
First we started with water on the face which we have been doing in the bath at home for some time now. We use a cup and we tip water over his shoulders, water over the back of his head (hair) and then we say 'OK BC, 1, 2, 3...' and tip the water quickly over his face from the forehead down. We were taught that it is the rush of water over the forehead and eyes that cues the baby about what is to come and this way he holds his breath and closes his mouth so he doesn't swallow the water. It also needs to be done quickly, not a slow pour but tip the whole cup out in one go as little babies can't hold their breath for too long. From here, we waited until BC was comfortable with this and then proceeded to do an immersion at the pool with the help of the instructor.
We always start with the cup, water over the shoulders, water over the hair and then 1, 2, 3... water over the face. To do an immersion we hold BC with both arms straight out and hands, palm up under his chest (he is almost lying across our hands if we were to hold him horizontally). Then we lift him half out of the water, into a vertical position, say OK BC, 1, 2, 3... then we lift him out, tilt him down, and 'swoosh' him through/under the water, forehead first and straight out. When he comes out, we bring him straight up to the shoulder so he can feel secure against a hard surface, and then, regardless of his response, we praise him and tell him what a wonderful, clever boy he is. Luckily for us he is quite good at this and almost always holds his breath, comes out with lots of blinking of his eyes and then is back to looking around, trying to take everything in as usual.
For us swimming is fun! We can't wait to start the parent-child classes and teach him to swim for real!
Monday, November 1, 2010
Our Doman Program
We are modelling our learning approach on the Doman Program so I thought it would be wise to include a summary of the Doman program for you all!
Glenn Doman Summary from Brill Kids website;
Glenn Doman is a physical therapist and a pioneer in the field of child brain development. In 1955 he founded The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP), a non-profit organisation providing teaching programs and books designed to improve and accelerate the mental and physical development of normal as well as brain-damaged children.
The IAHP was originally set up to develop the capabilities of brain-damaged children through intense programs of mental and physical stimulation. Starting from the 1960s, the IAHP began offering courses aimed at accelerating the development of normal children. Methods taught on these courses drew on many of the techniques used to help brain-damaged children. Doman’s books include How To Teach Your Baby To Read (1964), How To Teach Your Baby Math (1979) and How To Teach Your Baby To Be Physically Superb (1988). Doman’s daughter Janet (director of the IAHP) and son Douglas (vice director) have also contributed to the literature. In 2006 Janet coauthored (with Glenn) How Smart Is Your Baby?: Develop And Nurture Your Newborn’s Full Potential, while Douglas authored How To Teach Your Baby To Swim: From Birth To Age Six.
The Domans’ books are available from the IAHP’s Gentle Revolution Press. On the IAHP website, Glenn Doman explains that the objective of his “gentle revolution” is “to give all parents the knowledge required to make highly intelligent, extremely capable, and delightful children, and, by so doing, to make a highly humane, sane and decent world.”
So what does this mean for us? Well from reading the books (Yes, we have all 7 of them!), we have learnt that tiny children are capable of FAR MORE than we give them credit for. Traditionally we sit around and wait for them to accomplish goals rather than encouraging them to explore, experiment and learn new things. We want BC to ENJOY learning, because learning new things is FUN! What makes learning painful is the way in which we test children, suggesting that we don't believe that they know it, and we want them to PROVE it.
My husband and I both have a love of learning new things and we hope to instill this in BC. EVERYTHING a tiny child does is learning, whether it is playing with Mummy and Daddy, playing with his toys, playing on his own, going for a walk, going to the shops or reading stories and looking at flash cards. It is all learning and all fun. Proof that little children can learn to read and recognise words is evident in simple everyday examples such as a little one getting excited when pulling into the McDonalds car park or wanting the box of cereal with the Wiggles on the front. They learn these things (from TV and experience?) and then apply them to real life.
Anyway, I'm sure I'm not explaining it properly so feel free to check out their website, http://www.iahp.org/ and http://www.gentlerevolution.com.
Glenn Doman Summary from Brill Kids website;
Glenn Doman is a physical therapist and a pioneer in the field of child brain development. In 1955 he founded The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential (IAHP), a non-profit organisation providing teaching programs and books designed to improve and accelerate the mental and physical development of normal as well as brain-damaged children.
The IAHP was originally set up to develop the capabilities of brain-damaged children through intense programs of mental and physical stimulation. Starting from the 1960s, the IAHP began offering courses aimed at accelerating the development of normal children. Methods taught on these courses drew on many of the techniques used to help brain-damaged children. Doman’s books include How To Teach Your Baby To Read (1964), How To Teach Your Baby Math (1979) and How To Teach Your Baby To Be Physically Superb (1988). Doman’s daughter Janet (director of the IAHP) and son Douglas (vice director) have also contributed to the literature. In 2006 Janet coauthored (with Glenn) How Smart Is Your Baby?: Develop And Nurture Your Newborn’s Full Potential, while Douglas authored How To Teach Your Baby To Swim: From Birth To Age Six.
The Domans’ books are available from the IAHP’s Gentle Revolution Press. On the IAHP website, Glenn Doman explains that the objective of his “gentle revolution” is “to give all parents the knowledge required to make highly intelligent, extremely capable, and delightful children, and, by so doing, to make a highly humane, sane and decent world.”
So what does this mean for us? Well from reading the books (Yes, we have all 7 of them!), we have learnt that tiny children are capable of FAR MORE than we give them credit for. Traditionally we sit around and wait for them to accomplish goals rather than encouraging them to explore, experiment and learn new things. We want BC to ENJOY learning, because learning new things is FUN! What makes learning painful is the way in which we test children, suggesting that we don't believe that they know it, and we want them to PROVE it.
My husband and I both have a love of learning new things and we hope to instill this in BC. EVERYTHING a tiny child does is learning, whether it is playing with Mummy and Daddy, playing with his toys, playing on his own, going for a walk, going to the shops or reading stories and looking at flash cards. It is all learning and all fun. Proof that little children can learn to read and recognise words is evident in simple everyday examples such as a little one getting excited when pulling into the McDonalds car park or wanting the box of cereal with the Wiggles on the front. They learn these things (from TV and experience?) and then apply them to real life.
Anyway, I'm sure I'm not explaining it properly so feel free to check out their website, http://www.iahp.org/ and http://www.gentlerevolution.com.
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