window of opportunity?

[ksomom]

So I'm starting to read and see that there is a "window of opportunity" in which it is apparently best to teach your child using some of the methods I've noticed mentioned on the forums here.  Is that true?  If so, what age range?  Thanks so much for putting up with my questions- I know they might be silly or repetitive!  I try to look up the answer on the forums first, but there's so many posts to sort through and I am active duty military, so I don't have a lot of time.  Again, thank you!

[texaslady22]

There are "windows of opportunity" to learning.

This is not just something Glenn Doman says but rather something that is verifiable and widely believed in many academic communities.

For example, learning a language is much easier for a young child than it is for an adult. If you learn a language as a child, your pronunciation is better than if you learn it as an adult.

From birth to the age of six, a child's brain is growing at the fastest rate and thus the child can learn the fastest--anything from swimming to speaking five languages to doing instant math.

My son is two, and he's learning on average 10-20 new words a day...and that's normal for a child his age.

So, learning is easiest for a child up until the age of six, but learning doesn't stop then (obviously). If it did, none of us here would know anything we learned in college.

Try to teach as much as you can while it's easy for your child to learn and retain, though.

[rixu]

its true and little ones are eager to learn as many as they are allowed. as we adults don't understand the concept we may think that it would be too much and they should mot be burden with the lessons.
but you know this flashcard method is rally effective method, my toddler (16 month ) is now reading some simple words when show card.

 you know how much the child want learn, we teach her in a scheduled time and when  the times comes, if im busy she take the card and start the lesson by herself. the other thing is i keep the cards where she can easily reac

[ksomom]

rixu, your daughter is very close in age to my own and it's very exciting to hear that she is doing so well!  when did you start using the cards?  also, are they cards you have made yourself, or ones you've printed or purchased? 

[rixu]

ksomom,
we started teaching E when she is about  month age. i make flash cards for her as its not available to buy. it is heard work and time consuming to make flash cards. its better if you could buy. these power point presentation are also good and interesting for us and E enjoyed them all.
also i show some educational songs and video to her.
give as many time as you can to may the little one learn you would be happy later.

ksomom, we buy books and toys for E but she is not much enjoying to play with those toys but books. 

[DomanMom]

I just thought I would add that when people refer to a "window of opportunity" it can mean one of two things:

1. A window (time-frame) of possible opportunity or

2. A window (time-frame) of ideal opportunity


Windows of possible opportunities are, like texaslady said, scientifically verifiable facts. For example, there is only a certain time period of brain development where it is possible to learn the spoken language. We have probably all heard the sad story of a 13-year-old who was found chained in a dark closet who was unable to speak and could hardly walk. This young girl had the neurological age of an 18-month old. She was given a great deal of therapy and although she was able to learn nouns (like "strawberry" and "chair") she never was able to learn to speak in any kind of intelligible way, for example she did not use pronouns ("he", "she", etc.) and never learned grammar (i.e. she would say "more store applesauce" which meant "we need to go to the store and get more applesauce"). Her brain was simply past the "window of opportunity" to learn language. It is, in every way possible, a "use it or lose it" scenario.

However then there are windows of ideal opportunity. A window of "ideal opportunity" refers to the best time to learn something. It is also a scientifically verified fact, yet much less accepted fact, that the first years in life are the easiest and best time to learn something, whether it be Chinese, reading, music, math, or whatever else there is to learn.

For instance, even adults can be taught to read, but it is far easier to teach a seven-year-old how to read than it is to teach an illiterate twenty-year-old. It is, as everyone knows, much, much, MUCH easier to learn to speak a foreign language (or two or ten) as a young child. Tiny kids do not even have to try to learn, they just absorb it and learn it amazingly. I have studied Spanish for over 5 years yet most 3-year-olds who have NOT studied Spanish for a second in their life (they just listened to it being spoken around them) understand and speak it much better than me. I will probably never become 100% fluent in Spanish yet all Mexican six-year-olds who have never memorized verb conjugations or word endings speak it with ease and total understanding, and perfect accents. So in most of the early learning discussions, then, "window of opportunity" refers to the fact that the younger you are the easier and faster you will learn something.

The first six years of life is, by far, the easiest time to learn anything. The brain is growing rapidly during this time and is extremely malleable. A baby and tiny child's ability to learn so quickly and effortlessly is a God-given survival skill. Tiny children can and do learn hundreds of thousands of facts instantly and effortlessly, even without anyone attempting to teach them. So the first six years of life is considered to be the optimal "window of opportunity" to teach a child reading, foreign languages, mathematics, encyclopedic knowledge, and music. For instance, it has been shown that it is much easier to teach a one-year-old a set of sight words than it is to teach a six-year-old. It is also more effective, because tiny children are far more capable at "intuiting rules" (figuring out rules of grammar, phonics, etc. on their own) than older children are. It is also more effective because the brain actually grows by use. When you teach your tiny child something, you are physically growing his brain, and creating thousands of connections between related facts. Since the brain grows the most during the first six years, this stimulation is of utmost importance. Tiny kids also learn facts (encyclopedic knowledge), languages, and music easiest during the first six years.

I should also add that the first six years of life is also the most important time of physical development and it is vital that children receive unlimited opportunity to move because it's not just about building strong muscles and bones but physical movement physically grows the brain, and during this time of rapid brain development it is very important that children move, move, move so that the brain is properly organized. This would perhaps explain a preschooler's unquenchable desire to be constantly on the go!

So to sum it up, in the words of Doman, "It is easier to teach a four-year-old than a five, easier to teach a three-year-old than a four, easier to teach a two-year-old than a three, and below two is the easiest and most effective of all!" Our "window of opportunity" then is about making the most of the early years, by using a child's incredible learning abilities to teach them many useful and worthwhile things while it is easiest for them to learn.

[ksomom]

Wow!  What a helpful reply DomanMom!  Thank you very much... it really clears things up for me and makes a lot of sense.  I wish I had learned all this before I had my daughter so I could have done more.  I certainly have tried to give her lots of opportunities to learn and such and we really do spend a good deal of "quality time" together.  Still, I would have liked to start some things sooner.  Ah well.  I bet I would say that no matter what, !  And I still have a lot of possibility open to us... so there's no more time to lose!  I'm so excited!   

[iwini]

windows of opportunity.
nice topic
catch the genus at the first six year.

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