Colby Read His First Words!

This has definitely been a shocking day to say the least! Colby woke up this morning and we went to potty. He has a basket of flashcards by the potty that keep him entertained while trying to do his business. He loves for me to hold up the card and he shows me the sign. The airplane flash card was stuck under the potty and the only thing Colby could see was the word "airplane". He looked at me and signed "airplane". I almost flipped out but I didn't won't to get too excited if it was just a coincidence. I held the card up and covered the picture with my hand and asked Colby what the word was, and he signed "airplane". At this point I was freaking out! I grabbed another flashcard and covered up the picture and he signed "fan", he was correct. I was so overwhelmed with excitement that I had tears in my eyes. I called Chris, Mom, Dad, and my three bestfriends at 7:00 o'clock in the morning to tell them that my 14 month old can read words. He also read ice cream and baby. I'm not bragging that Colby is a little genius by any means, it's just the results of signing. We spend our days talking, signing, reading books, singing songs, drawing, looking at pictures, and playing. All these activities create a print rich environment that builds literacy skills. He has learned to associate a word to a particular picture. Think about how much easier that is than learning every sound of every letter and then trying to sound out a word, which doesn't work half of the time because our language is bizarre ( ex. night, phone, bar). You have to try to explain to a child that you can't sound out most words because the -gh might be silent or the -ph sounds like an F or you can't hear the -a sound because it has a controlling r. Seriously, and we wonder why kids get so confused at 5 years old.




A baby’s brain thrives on stimulation and develops at a phenomenal pace…nearly 90% during the first five years of life! The best and easiest time to learn a language is during the infant and toddler years, when the brain is creating thousands of synapses every second – allowing a child to learn both the written word and spoken word simultaneously, and with much more ease. Dr. Titzer (creator of Your Baby Can Read) says the current practice of starting to teach reading skills in school is too late and children benefit greatly from getting a much earlier start since a child basically has only one natural window for learning language -- from about birth to about age four. During this period it is easier for a child to learn any type of language including spoken, receptive, foreign and written language. The earlier the child is taught to read the better they will read and the more likely they will enjoy it. Studies prove that the earlier a child learns to read, the better they perform in school and later in life. Early readers have more self-esteem and are more likely to stay in school. Meanwhile, a national panel of reading specialists and educators determined that most of the nation’s reading problems could be eliminated if children began reading earlier.



Can Colby read a book? No. Can he read a lot of words? No. Colby is just using his schema and experiences to become an emergent reader and it's a great start!

I will try to film him tomorrow reading his words so I can post it soon.




Sign Class

I have mentioned Reagan in a previous blog so I had to film her because she is such a doll. She is two and has a very broad vocabulary, not to mention unbelievable social skills . Her mother started signing to her at 6 months and still continues today. She started to sign the alphabet, but I think she got nervous when she saw my camera. Maybe she will sign more for me next week. She is so funny to listen to and to watch in class. Of course, my wild child is in the background closing the door on people and trying to dump the garbage can over.

Colby started signing "help" and it can be very helpful in situations. If he can't do something and needs my help then he can communicate that to me. Today he was trying to reach something and he couldn't get it so he signed "help". It's probably one of my favorite signs (second to I love you), it's just so sweet!

I am loving the verbal stage that he is transitioning into. It is so funny how he just all of the sudden throws a new word at us from nowhere. Last night Chris and I told him "night night "and he shouted back to us," night night!" Everyday is interesting to see what he might say.

My cousin Christi had her precious little baby girl! Ashlee Kate is so beautiful and has the best big brother ever! Bryce said Ashley Kate was cute, she could sleep in the attic, and he loves her a little bit, hehe.

Bryce & Mommy

Ashlee Kate