Babies’ Learning Characteristics
When you start to teach your baby, you will notice that your baby will learn and REMEMBER new things really FAST. However, you may also notice that your baby will FORGET what he or she learned really FAST too. For memory retention to take place in the brain, a neural pathway needs to be formed. It takes time for the neural pathway to stabilise into long term memories.
If a new word is not repeatedly flashed to a child since its initial introduction, the neural pathway will disappear and the child will not be able to recall the word.
For an average baby, it takes 7 to 8 repetitions for a permanent neural pathway to be formed. However, babies dislike repetitions as they seek new and interesting experiences; early childhood educators and parents will find that getting babies to revise the words would be far more challenging than introducing a new word to them.
The Solution
The trick is to instill a habit of learning in your infant. You have to find out the memory retention gap (MRG) of your baby and implement a learning routine that coincides with his or her memory lapses cycle. It is the onus of the adult to find out the MRG so that the learning routine would be appropriate and effective. Repeating the words too often would bore the child while inadequate repetitions would not lead to mastery.
Coupled with games to stir his or her interest, your baby would be on his/her way to mastering 400-1000 words before the age of 4-5 years old.
The Teaching Formula
1. Instill a habit of learning in your infant.
2. Implement a learning routine that coincides with the memory lapse cycle.
3. Introduce games to keep your baby interested.
Reference:
Translated from 四五快读 by 杨其锋
Adapted from How to Teach your baby to Read by Glenn and Janet Doman
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