When my husband, Wes, and I only had two little girls he worked long hours and didn’t get to interact with them nearly as much as I did. When he came home at night we would have dinner and it wouldn’t be long before it was bedtime for the girls. Wes would do the work he brought home in a chair in the corner of the living room while I, like a nanny, would take care of them and put them to bed. I wanted my daughters to have more meaningful time with their dad so I would put a little stack of books, that were age appropriate to the girls, next to Wes’s chair. So began a tradition of Wes using different voices, conversation among the three of them, and the little girls pointing into the books to answer their father’s questions, bringing these little picture books to life. It might sound corny, but, bringing all of us to life.
In The Read Aloud Handbook by Jim Trelease he notes the following:
In 1983, the U. S. Department of Education created its first Commission on Reading to explore the reading decline. Its 1985 report (Becoming a Nation of Readers) included these findings:
“The single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children.”
“[reading aloud] is a practice that should continue throughout the grades.”
This blog is intended to be informative and I hope many people will learn from it and help their children. One of my above mentioned little girls learned to read fine in kindergarten. She eventually went on to become fluent (reading, writing and speaking) in two languages. The other is a delightful and smart adult who is total blast to be around… and she struggled with reading. She was the reason I became involved in this auditory intervention method known worldwide as the “Tomatis Method.” We went on to add four more children to our family and three of them also struggled. When my struggling readers did learn to read they excelled and all of them read daily for pleasure. I attribute much of their success and love of reading to being read to daily by my husband and myself.
Even if your child has trouble learning to read he’ll enjoy reading more when he does learn to read if he has happy memories associated with being read to aloud.
Testimonials
"My son Erik was a struggling reader all through elementary school. Erik started auditory intervention at Boost Listening Center in the fifth grade. When Erik started he was reading at a fourth grade level, and when he finished was reading on a 9th grade level. Erik is in the 6th grade and has been on the Honor Roll for the first two semesters. He loves school now. Math and Science are his favorite subjects. I believe that if it was not for Boost Listening Center and Liz he would be far behind the other 6th graders."
Jan A.
"I have Boost Listening Center to thank for helping my son, who has been diagnosed with mild autism to become more confident and a better communicator. He now speaks up more and is more clear in his speech. He has begun to look at people when he talks and initiate conversations. This is a big accomplishment!"
Cindy C.
"Our daughter was adopted in the US, from a state adoption agency, at the age of seven. She is not from a foreign country. She has a history of sexual abuse, neglect, loss, abandonment, and in-utero drug exposure. Her educational and emotional challenges are significant. Counseling continues and is slowly helping. In one year, we have spent over twenty thousand dollars on professional tutors for our daughter and the intervention yielded minimal improvement. Prior to the Boost Program in 2008, we had exhausted every resource we could find in an attempt to help our daughter. We sought professional evaluations at local Children's Hospitals, in and out of state specialists, and Ph.D. psychologists recommendations, programs, etc.—none of them helped and none of them recommended the Tomatis based program offered through Boost Listening Center."
"Prior to the Boost Listening Center program, at age eleven, homework was agony for us and our daughter. The work was so challenging that she would cry, argue, refuse to try—just essentially shut down. Unfortunately, that behavior were our daughter's response to every challenge in her life—not just homework, games with friends and peer relations were also impacted. Homework still takes a long time and our daughter is still in resource class, but her disposition no longer causes her such pain. Overall, she is a happy now and has a relatively normal/sunny disposition. The crying, arguing, and refusal to try has disappeared from all areas of her life. We believe she is now in a place where maybe she can learn and heal with her therapist's continued support. The Boost Listening Center is the only thing that has helped our daughter and we recommend the program without reservation."
Name withheld
Need An Extra Brain?
Back in the 1980′s, Dr. Max Cowan, a world-renowned neurobiologist, was invited to speak with some congressional aides about the structure of the brain. Figuring most of them had never seen an actual brain, he grabbed a postmortem specimen, wrapped it in plastic, and headed off to Capitol Hill. However, when security opened his briefcase and came across the brain, there was considerable alarm. When Cowan patiently explained that it was just a brain, the guards asked warily, “What are you going to do with it?”
“It’s like this,” he explained. “My colleagues here come from sophisticated places like Boston and New York. I come the Midwest…I feel I need all the help I can get, so I always carry a spare.”
Beyond the humor of that situation, an extra brain would certainly give a person an advantage, especially if you could hand-pick the brain. Imagine how helpful it would be in taking a test. If only there were a way to carry a spare brain, not too large, mind you, about the size of a —paperback book!
And that’s exactly what a book (or magazine or newspaper) amounts to: a spare brain. The reader is walking around with the brain of the author stuffed into a back pocket or purse. With that arrangement, you’re no longer limited to just your own experiences. Every time you read, you’re tapping into the author’s experiences, tomorrow a different author, a different brain. It’s the reader’s advantage.
Taken from, “The Read Aloud Handbook” (page 96) by Jim Trelease. Fun Story!
Here is a list of favorite children’s books I got from my friends on facebook.
Kettie liked/s anything by Louisa May Alcott and the “Chronicles of Narnia”
Susan: “A Wrinkle In Time”
Mandi: “The Hundred Dresses” by Eleanor Estes
Darren: “Carry On Mr. Bowditch” By jean Lee Latham
Jaci: “The Little Prince”
Christine: “Anne of Green Gables”, “A Girl of the Limberlost” and also a fan of Louisa May Alcott!
Dan: “The Five Chinese Brothers”
Penny: “Charlie’s Monument” and “The Giving Tree”
Kerri: “Love You Forever,” “The Chronicles of Narnia,” and “Inkheart”
Wyndie: “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett and “Green Eggs and Ham” by Dr. Suess
Quin: “The Hobbit”
Suzanne: Some of my favorites are “Ender’s Game”, “The Bridge to Terabithia”, “I Love you Through and Through” and “Mr. Brown Can Moo, Can You?”
If more get listed I will add them. Some I haven’t read and plan to get them at the library. Send me your favorites.