The Joy Of Learning

Development Required Before a Child Can Read

What is developmental appropriate activities? Making 2-3 years old holding a pencil with the wrong grip is setting her up for lifelong hatred of writing. Flashing cards to wigglers who can’t sit still for 20 seconds is setting ourselves for frustrations.

Parents came to me and said their 4 years old is “slow” because the academic progress is not as satisfactory. Usually, almost everytime, it’s because the developmental needs of the child were not addressed. If a child can’t concentrate for 20 seconds, he won’t be able to read and sit still to learn, and that is the underlying reasons why he is not “performing” academically.

In an authentic Montessori classroom, we prepare the children by allowing them to develop the right skills required for academic success, namely: ability to focus/concentrate and love of learning.

What are the developmentally needs and how do we prepare them?

Developmental Preparation
1. Sensorial development to receive information
2. Perceptual development in order to organize, understand and integrate information.
3. Neurological(tactal, stereognostic, etc) to utilize information in a physical manner.
4. Social development of interpersonal relationships to relate to people and events.
5. Symbolic development in order to decode.
6. Concept fromation
7. Verbal language
8. Visual language reading

Development Needed
1. Gross motor control
2. Fine muscle control
3. Eye-hand coordination
4. Ability to perceive figure in space (walking on line, etc)
5. Directionality (top-bottom, right-left, etc)
6. Ability to organize a temporal, spatial relationship (understanding, difference between in and on)
7. Ability to differentiate contrasting symbol and sound i.e. “a” and “t” is a good contrast in sound and symbol “b” and “p” are too similar .
8. Ability to classify
9. Ability to udnerstand conceptions presented in text (content meaning)
10. Well developed auditory discrimination
11. Ability to focus and listen to verbal instructions
12 General ability to focus on the task on hand.

Reference: “what’s involved in being Able to Read” Ellen de HArt Young Children, March 1968

Some of the activities and games that we used in the Montessori classroom to help to aid this developmental needs and develop the necessary skills.

http://joymontessori.blogspot.com/2007/01/sound-cylinders.html

http://joymontessori.blogspot.com/2007/01/visual-discrimination-cards.html

http://joymontessori.blogspot.com/2007/01/pre-reading-exercises.html

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