The Toddlers Edge - Home - Early preparation for school

I can unequivocally say yes to that question because I witnessed it. I wish I could also say I have the proof that this program has captured what is needed for that spontaneous reading to occur, but that proof must wait until the toddlers who are currently using the program get to the right age. For now, just think about it. When Galileo observed what goes up comes down, although it was a law of physics so obvious, no one had put it together before then. That simple discovery would revolutionize the whole concept of physics. This is really just a matter of simple brain functioning. Why has no one put it together until now? Well I was the right person at the right place and at the right time. A combination of many factors made that so. There was a large age gap between my first two and my third child. I had taught my older two children to read using a phonics approach, then decided to expose my third child as an infant to the phonic sounds. I had graduate training in learning theories, child development, intellectual ability testing, and brain physiology. The results were so amazing that I knew I had stumbled upon a great discovery.

Very simple. You really don't have to do anything. When a young child, over time, sees the letters and hears the letter's sounds, he/she will just naturally read because the brain will have that information stored. Reading will just spontaneously click for them, just like anything else a person learns well.

As I receive e-mails, questions, and responses, I have developed a sense of how The Toddler's Edge is being received. Of course that varies by individual but the overall feeling I get has sparked this answer to that question.

As I made this discovery with my own daughter I believe it was a good three months before I was able to accept it myself even though I was witnessing it. Everytime I would have her read I would say to myself, she won't be able to read that way this time. But of course she always did. I am a psychological examiner who professionally gives intelligence tests with lots of years of experience behind me, I know my subject. My youngest daughter was no more intelligence than my other two children. They are all bright but not at the level of giftedness, just at the higher end of the high average range. And yet I had done nothing different with this child than with my other two with the exception of showing her the phonic sounds from her first months of life. Why is it so hard for us to believe something that really should be very obvious. We are exposing VERY young children to the basic knowledge of a given subject and it MUST be VERY simple. That's what makes it work.

I don't know why we just can't seem to understand the simplicity of things. Maybe it is because we are adults now with complicated thought processes and have forgotten that we had to learn the simple first before we could understand the complicated. The amazing thing about this discovery is that it all happens naturally and effortlessly. I hope my buyers appreciate that and don't push anything on their young children.

Now that question I must admit is still partially speculation on my part. But let me tell you the reason I feel it is so valuable to start early. The infant's brain processes are forming at a rapid rate till the age of three and then on to age five. It is like an extended period of development beyond the womb. The pattern the child will use to process information is forming. I feel this is very important in preparation for the learning to read stage. Also, although phonics in teaching reading is going to work well at an older age, it will be a much slower and much more time consuming process. The transfer from phonics to the word reading stage is virtually skipped. It is unnecessary because the phonics is already well ingrained in the mind.

In getting responses and questions from people, this theme seems to be a common one, so I felt it deserved some attention on this site. Attention spans are nonexistant, as one responder termed it, at the preschool age. So how does one get around that. The answer is you don't. Let your child play and do the things he/she enjoys while you read with them or play the DVD. You would be surprised how much they pick up when they seem to be doing every other thing but paying attention. And later, when they are ready for the workbooks, let them decide when they want to do an activity and how long they want to spend at it. You have lots of time. You will see nothing extraordinary immediately, but when your children acquire reading effortlessly, you will know then that they had been taking it in all along.

First let me emphasize that only time will be able to answer questions like that completely but there is no indication from present brain research studies that that would happen. The brain will naturally process the information correctly when the time is right. I believe in all wisdom though that early learning should not be forced on a child. They are eager to learn so if there are indications of discontent then it is an indication to you to back off for awhile.

The difference lies in the concept of teaching or really just exposing the young child to the most basic element in a learning process. Actually I am not an advocate of early teaching per say. I am an advocate of utilizing the natural processes of the developing mind. Other early childhood programs teach, in the area of reading, a whole word and the parent is excited that their young child can read that word early. However, that is all they have learned, just the one word or the series of one words they are exposed to. I am not criticizing that, it is a good and remarkable thing, but let the young mind have the phonic sounds of the letters ingrained deeply instead of just isolated words and they will be able to read any word when the time comes.

For the first few years after completing this program I have concentrated on sales to individuals wanting to work with their young children. I have begun to switch my focus toward child care providers. I am providing means to copy workbook activities as a part of sales. This should make the program particularly economical for childcare providers. The content is just what you are looking for in regards to academic preparation, as I am sure you can see from reading through this site.

I occasionally get someone asking how to use the program. I believe once someone receives the program they will see it is explained adequately. I don't recall anyone asking that questions after receiving the program. But for those of you who are still debating about buying I thought this answer might help.

There are really just two simple keys to the use of this program, which are exposure and repetition. The program itself is very simple. The keys to its effectiveness is very easy, show your young toddler the phonics DVD, read the ABC book, and repeat that over and over again. It really doesn't have to be that often because you are starting so young with them, so just once a week or so will give them that repeated exposure needed. The workbooks are just fun activities to supplement the two keys of exposure and repetition.

This has come up a few times recently and I thought I should add this note here. The Toddler's Edge is based on such a simple concept that it appears to be difficult for the adult mind to accept it. I have decided it really takes the mind of a child to understand since the adult mind is bent on complicating things and is unable to accept simplicity. Ok I have said this many times here but I continue to need to repeat it. I continue to get e-mails from people wanting to make this early learning program a method of teaching. It is not that, it is instead a method of exposure to basic knowledge and a fun learning device for the infant and young toddler.

I can't help but feel many reading through this site respond with a lot of skepticism because honestly if I were on the other side of the fence I probably would do the same. But let me appeal to your reason just a minute. Those extraordinary individuals like William Shakesphere, Joan of Arc, Alexander the Great, Leonardo De Vinci, et. al., in all reason are they a product of random factors or are they the product of laws not yet known to us? Which is the most reasonable explanation? If you remain unconvinced that is understandable but you must admit there is absolutely nothing presented in this site which is not within the realms of reason and possibility.

Whether or not I have discovered the basic mental law behind extraordinary abilities is yet to be determined but there are laws behind it. These extraordinary individuals do appear in history, there has to be some explanation for that, and in that brief period of time in Ancient Greece it became the norm!

We know that the human mind is an extraordinary instrument that stores and processes information. We know that those processes occur at a very rapid rate between the ages of birth to 3. These are already established facts. Again I appeal to your reason that it is not out of the realms of possibility to put one (fact) and one (fact) together and come up with two. And as I have said over and over again in this site the two that we come up is VERY simple and the very simplicity of it makes it all the more difficult for us to believe. _________________________________________________________________________

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