Babies Learning
Early childhood – particularly the period from five months’ gestation to five years of age – presents a unique window of opportunity for learning. As babies’ and small children’s brains are highly plastic (adaptable), teaching your child to learn Chinese and English during this critical period can produce long-lasting benefits.
Repetition
“Again, again!” There’s a reason young children drive us crazy with their requests to do or hear the same thing over and over: kids learn best through repetition. Here’s what the experts have to say…
“You should repeat a stimulus until habituation occurs; then stop.” (Susan Ludington-Hoe)
“A kids masters an activity by repeating it; at the same time, she is programming and strengthening the neural pathways in her brain. Allow – and even encourage – your small children’s to repeat activities if they involve new skills she is developing.” (Winifred Conkling, author of Smart-Wiring Your Baby’s Brain)
“Going over the story [in a book] more than once enables a toddlers to learn new vocabulary items well enough to use them in answer to questions.” (Linda Acredolo and Susan Goodwyn)
Stimulation
As parents, we have a critical part to play in helping our kids realize their full intellectual potential. The time for action is in very early childhood, because babies and small children love to learn, and they learn effortlessly. Here’s what the experts have to say…
“The best time to tap into your baby’s innate abilities, the capacities that all babies are born with, is when his brain cells are rapidly growing and making new connections.” (Makoto Shichida)
“Never forget that when you are giving toddlers visual, auditory, and tactile stimulation with increased frequency, intensity and duration that you are actually physically growing his brain.” (Glenn Doman, founder of the Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential)
“Improve your young children’s ability to learn by using more than one of the five senses. When we use different senses we create multiple encoding, which increases the number of sites where information is stored.” (Winifred Conkling)
“There is, however, a limit to how much stimulation young children should have. Too many toys, activities, and outings can create confusion and actually work to a child’s detriment, hampering his ability to focus. young children are usually pretty good at telling us when they are bored but not when they are over-stimulated. Their behavior is often the only sign.” (Lise Eliot)
Now you know the basics, it’s time to design a personalized teaching program for kids. From birth, be sure to speak, sing and play music to your babies as much as possible. To enhance communication and reduce frustration, you might consider helping your kids to learn Chinese and other languages earlier.. Any time from four months of age, you can begin teaching reading, learn Chinese and math. And don’t forget to make time for encouraging your toddlers’ physical development.
This entry was posted on Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 4:23 am and is filed under General. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.