When you talk about multiply your child’s intelligence, you can’t help but to mention about Dr. Glenn Doman. He is the founder of The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential and began pioneering the field of child brain development since 1940. He and the institute are famous for their pioneering work with brain-injured children and their work in early development for well children.
Glenn has authored many books and materials that teach parents how to teach their babies at home such as ‘How to teach your baby to read’, ‘How to teach your baby math’, ‘How to teach your baby to be physically superb’. Of course, his best selling book “How to give your baby encyclopedic knowledge” that I had used to train my children. Guess what? It really works.
“How to give your baby encyclopedic knowledge” - Glenn Doman
Glenn, after 40 years at the Institute, had learned that: “Every child born has, at the instant of birth, a higher potential intelligence than Leonardo Da Vinci ever used”. He strongly believes that it is easier to give a one-year-old encyclopedic knowledge than it is to give it to a six-year-old. The book tells you exactly how to give encyclopedic knowledge to a tiny child starting at birth or at any time prior to six years of age. To summarize his method to teach your child to acquire encyclopedic knowledge, here are the steps:
1. Identify the knowledge to teach your child. In an intellectual sense, it is knowledge from science, to art, biology, geography, history, music, language, literature, and all else that matters to man.
2. Once the divisions of knowledge been identified. Go further to list ten categories in each of the division of knowledge. For example, in ‘Biology’ division, you can list categories such as mammals, birds, reptiles, amphibians and etc.
3. Next, list the ‘bit of intelligence’ (BOI) under each category. For example, under mammal category, you can list down the bit of intelligence such as lion, tiger, cow, wolf and etc. Since knowledge is based on information which can be gained only through facts. Presenting those facts (BOI) in a properly way to a child will ensure these knowledge literally grows in the child’s brain and they will be the base of all his future knowledge.
4. The characteristic of presenting the BOI in a proper way are: BOI must be accurate, one item only (no other items in the background. You may have come across poster board with many animals, this is NOT the proper way to teach your child about ‘lion’ for example), specifically named, large, clear and new (mean something your child does not already know). Essentially, it is commonly known as flash card.
5. You can create the flash card yourself. Collect the BOI from magazine, newspaper, journal and etc. Organize them into categories of intelligence. Cut or obtain 11″ x 11″ white cardboard. Glue the BOI on front of the cardboard. Label the BOI on back of cardboard with black marker. A web site called ‘Flashcard Exchange’ (http://flashcardexchange.com) is a great place where you can find load of flashcards ready made and you can print out with your printer. Since it is a community supported site, you could contribute too if you have some flashcards. Another web site using software flashcards is http://www.frankchenphoto.com/powerflashcard/. Alternatively, you can purchase the flashcards from shops.
6. To teach bit of intelligence. You position yourself and your child comfortably facing each other. Show the cards about 18″ away from your child. Make it like a game. Move the back BOI in the stack (get a quick look at the name you are about to say) to the front and say, ‘Tiger’. One second for each card and no longer. You must present the BOI very, very quickly.
7. Begin by introducing five different categories with ten BOI in each. Make sure you teach each category three times before the day ends. As your child progress, begin adding more categories day by day until you are doing ten different categories.
8. Ten days after you have reached ten categories, begin to retire one old BOI from each category daily. Place these retired BOI in your file for new use later. Add one new BOI to each category daily to replace the one your have retired. From this time on you continue to add one new BOI per category daily or a total of ten new BOI daily. This is a minimum number; you can introduce new BOI faster if you can. Don’t worry; the capacity of the brain of a tiny child can hold them with no question.
My personal experience shows that this method works perfectly. My children began to acquire knowledge like a super dry sponge. I was amazed by their photographic memory and the speed they could absorb the knowledge. My only regret was that I didn’t have enough time to create the BOI fast and sufficient enough. Therefore, I adopted another method to help my children to acquire encyclopedic knowledge through our daily life. I taught my kids on the make of cars when we walked in the car park, name of the petrol stations when we were driving around town. They can even practice the BOI that they have learned about vegetables or fruits when we were at the supermarket. The salient point is you can teach your child encyclopedic knowledge anytime, anywhere!
While I encourage you to teach your child encyclopedic knowledge, one should beware that the focus of education should not be mainly on the mastery of encyclopedia knowledge alone. For information is expanding geometrically, it is just impossible for you to teach your child to master all of it. Therefore, you need to nurture your child to develop a desire for continuous learning and the skills to master new information. You should also understand the important of teaching not just facts (BOI), but higher-order thinking skills as well such as creativity, problem-solving and analytical skills.
Andrew Loh is the owner of Brainy-Child.com, a website that helps you as a young parent to learn how to nurture a smarter kid! You can find articles, resources, library and latest updates on early child development. You can visit his website at: http://www.brainy-child.com/
