Thanks KL and Kappasweet!

KL: I started teaching my son with Doman flash cards (words and math) when he was 5 and a half months old. The first two weeks was more trial and error....we started off with 5 sets of words and 2 sets of math cards...but that was realistically not possible, so we decreased the number of words and math cards. My son loved the math cards but always looked away from the word cards...that's when I bought the LR and he loved it!

We are still using the math cards....I do only 5 numbers a day (1 set 3 times a day) and add/ retire one number everyday.
For EK, its just the LR...we did colors for 7 days (twice a day) and now he knows all of them.
For reading, LR again, he pays attention for a lot of words on LR compared to flash cards....however, when I tested him, I showed him the flash cards that I had started with and which I thought he wasn't paying attention to- but apparently, I was wrong

I believe that the foundation for all of this was set when we did prenatal stimulation (I got a lot of ideas from this forum). We did music, singing, meditation, 'kick game' and reading. I read 'Cat in the hat' for him when I was pregnant- thats his favorite book now He also started saying 'AUM' at 4 and a half months (I used to meditate by chanting AUM). I have posted our experience with this- a few days after he was born, his heart rate would drop when we would chant AUM in his ears!
After his birth, we did balance activities and some visual stimulation as suggested by Dr. Doman- as a result of that, he started crawling earlier and is a very active baby.

I was inspired by what you did for your baby- so, thanks again.

The LR reduces the time I would spend on material preparation and I am able to spend that time with my child instead. Keep up the wonderful work!

Best regards,
MK

Thanks Genochye!
It is indeed a wonderful experience.

My DS (7 months and 8 days) did it!

Two days ago, we tested our son to see if he could recognize numbers (dots) and... he could! He was always interested in the dot cards (more than EK and reading). However, yesterday we asked him to identify words and ...he could! he could also identify colors! He was 100% correct. I am really happy

The words I showed him were shown to him in the beginning (one and a half months ago) and I had stopped doing them since he would look away every time...but apparently, that wasn't the case, because he remembers all of them!

We tried to record this session using the remote (so that he would'nt see the camera), however, as luck would have it, it did not get recorded properly 

Anyhow, I am really thankful to everyone on this forum....your posts helped me teach my son....and a BIG thanks to KL for coming up with such a wonderful software. I totally enjoy teaching my son...however, not more than he enjoys learning
Babies are indeed geniuses!

Thanks for the info Megha. I may do the course in Pune. I hope they can accommodate us in the course. I am planning to teach my son Marathi and flash cards would be of help.
Please let me know if you have any info about other places in Bangalore or Pune where I can buy flash cards.
Thanks again.

Thanks Megha. BTW, do you have any suggestions for me- I can do the course only for 4 weeks instead of 9 weeks- will they give me the remaining course material? How should I approach this to make the best out of it?
I have already started teaching my son math, reading and EK.
Do they have flash cards for different languages?

Dear Questers, Nadia and Katarinka: Thank you. I am glad I could share my excitement with all of you. 

Katarinka: I started teaching my baby 'reading' with paper flash cards since he was 5 and a half months. We tried this for 2 weeks but it did not work- I started off by doing 5 sets 3 times a day, as suggested by Doman, but that was too much to do realistically, so I started doing just 2 sets. My baby did not show any interest in the cards at all and often looked away. I started the Doman math cards and he loved it. So I concentrated on math. Then I bought the LR for reading and EK and he loves it! Now, we do LR twice a day and 5 math cards 3 times a day. I think it is better to be consistent with a few things rather than do many things and be inconsistent.

Other than that, I play classical music for my son, read to him and talk to him in my native language. I plan to make a few paper cards based on the LR curriculum for reading because I think we need to work on that a little more. I had done some prenatal stimulation, and I have continued some of those activities.

I have also recently found a friend (through the forum) that lives in my city- We hope to help each other in our efforts towards teaching our children.

BTW, Katarinka, I heard about some 'muzzy' tapes- don't know much about them, but apparently they are used to teach children different languages and I have heard some good reviews. Check them out.

Hope that helps.

Good luck to you. You are obviously putting in a lot of effort and I am sure you'll do great.

Hi Garry,

I bought the Doman math cards from the institute website: www.IAHP.org

Doman has a course scheduled in India (Feb 2010)- you may want to get in touch with them if you are interested- I found out about this from their newsletter.

I have heard a lot about the infant siddha program and after reading the posts in the forum, it seems like it may be worth doing.  I am in US but plan to do the program with my baby when we come to India- I believe it is a 9 week program....we may not be able to do the entire program, but something is better than nothing, right? There are many centers in Bangalore.

Hope that helps.

I'm 31 now... had my baby when I was 30.

[At 7 months and 6 days- HE DID IT!]

At 7 months and 6 days- HE DID IT! I am so happy I couldn't believe it!

He got all the numbers right- AGAIN! This is definitely happening!

Thanks for the advice Nadia and the warning about not testing too often.

We haven't started the equations yet, but will start soon- As soon as I get the smile off my face I just can't stop smiling- Its a very wonderful and different experience when your child achieves something, isn't it?

Nadia,

this is amazing! Your baby is really smart and you too have put in a lot of hardwork- great job!

Thanks for the suggestions for 'testing'- I will definitely try them out. After I read your first post, I could'nt control myself and tried to test my son- I should him two numbers and he correctly identified the card. I repeated this again next morning with other numbers and he did it again! However, he got the first numbers wrong after that (distracted by his dad . I don't know what to make of this. Next time, I will test him when his dad is not around and record everything

I had a question for you- When I started numbers, he did not pay a lot of attention to them as he does now. Should I repeat the first few or just continue with the sequence. We have completed number 20. I am thinking of making word flash cards (body parts etc) which follows the curriculum on LR. This way I may be able to 'play' word games with him. Any suggestions?

I don't have any EK cards/ word cards for him now- just the LR. Are you doing flash cards and LR? How do you schedule both and how many sessions do you do in a day? I just want to make sure I am doing the right thing.

Thanks again.

Hi Preethi,

good to know that your babies like the flashcards- good luck with the program.

I did'nt know you were in India- in that case making your own cards would definitely be cost effective. I have the Doman math cards- let me know if you have any questions/ need to find out more details- I look at my cards and tell you what you need to know. In India, you have more resources to make your own BITS cards (we have good educational posters from which we can cut pictures and make picture cards)- it is very expensive here and hence the LR helps...so don't worry if you can't get the LR. I am actually flying to India next month and plan to get many such posters and pictures to make BITS cards for my son.

BTW, the Doman institute has a course scheduled in India (February 2010)....www.iahp.org

Also, check this website for free printable math cards:

http://www.internationalparentingassociation.org/Materials/index.html

Hope this helps. Take care.

Hi KL,

Thanks for the free upgrade and the curriculum. I had a few questions- Where is the suggested curriculum for phonics? Sould I expect a new word to be added/ retired each day to the categories that are to be shown in week 1 (action words, animals and parts of the body)?

Thanks.

Congratulations Nadia and Questers! It is very encouraging to read such posts.

I wish I could get some indication of how much my son has learnt- he hates being tested. If I ask him about something, he'll show it to me once. If I repeat the same question later/ after a few days- he totally ignores me as if 'I know that, don't ask me that again' He will answer some of my questions- when he feels like it

He does appear to be smarter than kids of his age and has shown us that in many other ways-but I wish he would, atleast once, identify the cards for me. Anyhow, I will keep teaching and maybe someday he will tell me something. Till then, posts such as yours will serve as encouragement- so Karma to you

Latest research also shows that watching TV reduces a child's imagination. They also found, among other things, that parents talk less to their children when the TV is on- thus delaying language development. Watching TV has not shown to improve language skills. Children learn faster when their parents/ others talk to them.

I think that because of the fact that parents don't talk to their children/ pay attention to them when they are watching TV etc, the children start becoming hyperactive- to get more attention- may be both at a subconcious and concious level. Hyperactivity in addition to inattention and lack of concentration are components of ADD. We should be careful of overdiagnosis.

I have not heard of children becoming hyperactive (in a negative sense) when their parents sit with them and participate in various activities, like LR, flash cards etc. It may make children more active, curious and interested in their surroundings and this may be perceived as being 'hyperactive' by parents whose children are not that active! As long as they are concentrate, pay attention and are curious, I don't think hyperactivity is bad. 

My son is always on the move and very curious about things- he appears to be more active compared to children of his age. I spend a lot of time with him and do various activities like math cards, LR, physical activities, music etc. When it comes to reading books, he can sit still and pay attention for 10-15 minutes at a stretch- which I think is a lot to ask of some child who has just started enjoying the joys of being mobile! He has a regular routine, sleeps well and eats well.

So I guess if we recognize the signs of overstimulation- child looking away, not sleeping well, cranky, etc, we can keep them from becoming hyperactive.

The only thing that stops babies from learning, is us- we think that certain things are too much for them to learn- but they always prove us otherwise. Don't limit your child's learning- just pay more attention to their needs, because if these needs are satisfied, they can concentrate totally on what you are teaching them. For all you know, the 'hyperactive' children may just be bored and want to learn more (Read 'learn' as learning from interaction with parents and peers, not from sitting in front of TV)

Hi Saniso,
its good to know that I have company Ours is a multilingual household- my husband speaks Telugu, I speak Marathi and we speak with each other in Hindi and English. I really want my son to speak Marathi (actually, any Indian language will do- I thought of teaching him Hindi but it will be easier for me to teach him Marathi). I want him to be able to read the Devanagiri script. I have a few marathi songs CD's and will get some more educational material when I leave for India next month. I will let you know if I find something good/ make some presentations.
How did you begin teaching your daughter? Do you speak ONLY in Marathi with her? We have just moved to Houston. I tried to see if someone taught Marathi here- atleast then my son would be in the company of marathi speaking kids- but there are no such classes.
Nevertheless, I will keep trying
Take care.