10 things you may not know about early reading the right way

Being the Early Bird – A Head Start

Ten things you may not know about early reading that could change your child’s future.

(taken from Vol. 2 of It's Not Rocket Surgery! by Shannah B Godfrey)

      Did you know Americans tend to believe that their child’s intelligence is either genetic or comes from what they learn in school? But guess what, that isn’t really true. IQ is only about 50% nature (genes) and the other half is nurture (parenting environment).

[Actually, there is a third factor in the mix, the child’s inner motivation, but more on that later.]

      My years as a foster mom showed me the effects of the home environment and the difference when parents ignore their child’s peak learning-years, from ages birth to five. Many of those children’s learning problems could have been avoided.

      Trauma can produce learning disabilities that aren’t genetic. Also, abuse and neglect can re-wire the brain. Nurture has a strong influence on intelligence.

      For example, once I received three little sisters in my foster home, whom I later adopted. The oldest girl was ten years old, struggled with reading comprehension, and had already failed a grade. The middle girl was eight years old and struggled with ADHD. The youngest was only four years old, and should have had the worst learning disability, because her biological mother’s alcoholism had become increasingly worse over the years with each pregnancy.

      When the girls arrived in my home, the four-year-old had a speech problem, which can be an indication of future dyslexia. Using phonics, I was able to help her re-learn the hard g and k sounds properly, as well as begin reading before kindergarten. She became an excellent speller in school, too.

      In fact, as an adult she took a college course to become certified as a phlebotomist and received straight A’s, graduating at the head of the class.

      I had also brought her older sisters up to grade level by their middle school years, but the youngest improved the most. I know it was because I was able to start at a younger age with her, during those peak learning-years.

                I am so grateful for all my daughters and what they've taught me over the years. The phlebotomist is now a foster - and adoptive - mom herself!

                In his book, Maximizing Intelligence, Professor David J. Armor from George Mason University shows that intelligence is plastic or changeable. He writes,

      “Children’s intelligence levels can change in response to some types of environmental influences… In other words, one arrives in the world not with a fixed IQ but with intelligence that can be damaged or enhanced, primarily by one’s parents and mainly during the pre-school years.”

                Only about half of IQ may be genetically determined, which means that half or more can be improved by the environment in which a child is raised. This is great news! Any child’s abilities can be more than maximized by positive parental involvement.

There will be more of the ten things you may not know about early reading the right way in my next blog from Vol.2 of It's Not Rocket Surgery!

See you then!

http://thegodfreymethod.com/blog/head-start-10-things-you-may-not-know-about-early-reading