On the previous page, A Natural Approach, we saw that from birth forward, the child is intent on communicating what’s at their center. The large spheres in the image below show the path the child is taking.
The smaller set of spheres represent someone else’s path — in this case, the author of a book.
By the final stage — Writing –the child is able to reach over into the author’s Writing sphere and interpret that person’s ideas. This is now possible, for the skills developed through writing easily transfer to reading.
If raised in a print-rich environment, some children will see, on their own, the connection between speech and print. We know that’s happened, when they begin to Scribble on their drawings.*
A child not from a print -rich environment will also become developmentally ready at around the same time, but we need to help them make the connection. In both cases, we use Key Words — the caption for a child’s “mind pictures” — to help them move forward.
With Key Words — the caption for a child’s “mind picture,” we’re able to use a technique similar to what we did with speech: We model how to write the words they’re using to describe something that’s important to them. Then we wait patiently while they absorb what they see us doing and practice doing it themselves. The major difference is that we’re guiding them more intentionally with writing than we did with speech. And we do that by having the child carry out increasingly complex follow-up activities to Key Words. We call these follow-up activities The Steps. (See Key Words and The Steps.)
We look next at another way to envision the natural path the child takes.
5 Stages Along the Child’s Natural Path Toward Reading
Working with children over the years, I’ve noticed their easiest, “fail safe” path goes through the following stages:
1. Crying/Body language –>
2. Speech –>
3. Scribbling/Drawing –>
4. Writing —>
5. Reading Books**
The child proceeds along this path propelled by their desire to communicate what’s on their mind.
Books are more foreign to the child, for they represent what’s on someone else’s mind — or perhaps what an author thinks might be on a child’s mind.
So the last stage for the child is Reading Books written by someone else.
That’s an important distinction: The child’s easiest path toward reading ends with reading books others have written. It does not begin there.
What If A Child Is Asked to Skip Writing?
Deciding to move a child from Speech directly into Reading Books, interrupts their natural process, making any child’s progress more difficult. Here’s how it can affect children from different early environments:
A. Child from a print-rich environment: These children have probably already reached the Scribbling/Drawing stage. But most have not yet begun to Write — so when asked to begin with reading books, here’s how the challenge looks for them:
1.Crying/body language –> 2.Speech –> 3.Scribbling/Drawing –> 4.Writing —> 5. Reading Books
So when faced with a reading program that skips writing — one that begins with basal readers or by focusing on phonics, then phonics books — some may struggle a bit, perhaps a great deal. Yet it’s likely they will ultimately bridge the gap.
B. Child NOT from a print-rich environment: These children have stopped at Speech. So by skipping Scribbling/Drawing and Writing, the challenge for them looks something like this:
1.Crying/body language –> 2.Speech –> 3.Scribbling/Drawing –> 4.Writing —> 5. Reading Books
Many of these children struggle, even completely fail to make the leap from Speech to Reading Books. This can negatively affect their self-image, confidence, and chance for success in school and far beyond.
And this struggle and possible failure are completely unnecessary.
A child who has not yet gone beyond Speech need not be at such a disadvantage. Once we use Key Words to show them how their own speech looks in print, they quickly come to realize print is “talk written down” and steadily move forward. They will just need a little more time than the others.
So to allow every child to go at their own pace, we take them through an individualized approach to reading/writing, using Key Words and The Steps.
Key Words Capitalize On The Child’s Natural Process
So in sum, we don’t approach reading/writing in exactly the same way we help a child to speak. We are actually more intentional about it. But we do use a very similar process —
We model the skills that go into writing by emphasizing words with special meaning to the child.
Then we wait patiently, as the child absorbs and ultimately copies what they see us doing.
Over time, we continue with Key Words and The Steps until they can do all the writing themselves.
Personalizing the Child’s Experience
We are also personalizing the child’s experience by basing everything on their own interests and allowing them to go at their own pace.
Next, we consider the balance between skills and content in a personalized curriculum for the young child — and how that balance changes, over time. We also look at how to easily design your own, personalized curriculum for a young child.
– END OF THIS SECTION –
NEXT SECTION —> Personalized Curriculum
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* Occasionally a child in a print-rich environment figures out how to actually read and/or write, all on their own. But most children need our help. And it’s for them that I’ve created this website.
** The term “Reading Books” refers to the “cold” reading of professionally published books. But in fact, long before this, the child’s been “reading” people’s expressions, body language and intonation. They’ve also been recognizing labels on their favorite foods, toys, etc. So we’re actually just helping them read something new: print.