Shichida vs Glenn Doman FLASHCARDS

Guidelines for Shichida and Glenn Doman's flashcards methods

Shichida believes in building up the images in a child's brains before showing the words.

Content: (start with only images and slowly input words after child is ready or gets older)
Number of cards: 1 to 20 sets of cards (depends of the child's attention span), each set consists of approximately 10 cards and an individual topic(cover page) of each set.
Intensity: Clear images on A5 size (recommended size for fast flashing). Input as much information as you can.
Frequency:Flash only 1x a day (do not repeat)

Glenn Doman believes in building up the words in a child's brain first to prevent child getting bored or lose interest in words easily if images are shown to the child before words.
Content: 3-inch red words
Number of cards: 5 sets of words , 1 set consists of 5 words
Frequency: 3x daily (2x daily for working moms)
New words: 5 daily (1 in each set)
Retired words: 5 daily (1 in each set)
Life span of each word: 3x daily for 5 days= 15x

For both methods
- Begin as young as possible
- Be joyous at all times during the flashcards session (never force the child)
- Stop before the child wants to stop
-Flash each card quickly (<1sec per card)
- Introduce new materials frequently
- Be consistent
-Prepare materials early and carefully and stay always ahead of child

Exploring the Glenn Doman 's Method

Finger-training- Ladybirds on the leaf

How to play: Instruct child to put the correct number of ladybirds onto the respective leaf

Objective:
To exercise their thumb and index fingers using clothes pegs in a much more interesting way.

IQ & Language - Can you find my baby?

How to play : Go through flashcards on animals and how their babies look like, then ask child to match the right babies to their parents on the ice-cream stick. Eg," Mummy Kangaroo has lost her baby, can you find her baby called the joey?"
Don't forget to add in the frog and the tadpole, it's amusing to see how some of my kids got confused trying to match the tadpole to the right animal.
Objective:
Learn to differential animals and able to classify them correctly.
Input the names of what the animals' young are called.

Photo memory - Toys in box

How to play: Same like all photo memory game, flash your set to the child for 3-5 secs (depends on child's ability.) Ask the child to capture the image in their mind and placed the right toys back to the box. Bring out your set that you flashed earlier and check answer with your child.

Language - Feed monster with alphabet ice-cream

How to play: Tell child that monster loves to eat alphabet ice cream and they are to help to feed (insert into the mouth) it with the ice-cream of the right alphabet letter in sequence, A to Z. I made some mini flash cards on the alphabets in sequence for children to match and pick up the right letters, especially if they're still not familiar with the name of the alphabet letters.

For children who are already well-versed with the alphabets, you can input spelling by making cards with short words like "cat, dog,boy, toy". Parent can say "Monster says he wants to eat DOG, so you have to pick up the ice-cream letters D,O,G to feed the monster."

Goal:
Recognize alphabets and able to arrange them in sequence.
or
Input spelling of short words.

Photo memory - Babies' room

How to play: Flash your set to the child for approximately 3-5 secs (depends on child's ability) and ask child to pretend he/she is taking a photo of the picture and they can easily view the photo again in their mind. Hide away your set, give the child a new set and ask them to choose the 3 babies they saw in your set just now and placed them back to the correct position. After he/she is done, take out your set again to check if child's answer is correct.

IQ- Hit the insects only!

How to play: Flash the cards on how to differentiate insects. Threw the cut-out insects+other animals onto the floor , get down on all fours together with the child with a small rolled up newspaper or fly swatter. Tell child to help mummy hit all the insects. At the same time, mummy can guide and point to each cut-out "Is cockroach an insect? YES! Hit It!" "Is bird an insect, does it has 6 legs? No! Don't hit it!"

Objective:
To input simple characteristics of insects.
To differentiate insects from other animals.
To have some fun exercise with parent.

Finger-training - Pick up pasta with baby chopstick

This cute baby chopstick can be bought from Daiso at $2 a pair.Encourage child to use the baby chopstick to pick up the pasta and count them one by one.

Objective:
Chopstick training.
Practice good control of thumb and index finger.
Train concentration and hand-eye coordination.
Learn counting.

Flashcards- Action Verbs

What you need to prepare

To create your own home-made materials, below are what you would definitely be using frequently..

1)Paper...LOTS OF IT!!!!!!!! A5 or A4 size, at least 270gsm, 1 side matt and 1 side glossy
2)Colour printer (get a really good and fast one)
3)Laminating machine (if you want your materials to look neater and last longer, laminate them.)
4)Scissor, glue, velcro ... etc (get enough supply)
5) TIME (most important of all...)

The 6 learning categories

The early learning home materials I create are catered for children 0-3 years old, which I'll break into the 6 different categories below.

1)Flashcards
- A quick learning technique which can activate the right-brain of young children, as well as improve memory, association, language and vocabulary. Flash cards aids in the retention of basic concepts to young child’s mind. A child could not be forced to memorize but could easily and effectively learn through flash cards.
In the Shichida Method, flashcards activate the right brain when it processes the pictures on the cards at high speed,while at the same time, stimulatates the left-brain when it processes the words or language that you say. In addition, cards are not repeated, therefore it consequently developed the child’s instant memory.

2) Photographic memory
Photographic memory is a right-brain memory training technique which allows immediate access to information stored in the memory. The child is taught to remember by capturing the entire picture and viewing it on the screen in their mind, like a photo snapshot.

3)Finger-Training
It is important to enhance motor skills as well as to exercise the use of the child's thumb and index finger, which are essential in learning to write. A child has weak control of their fingers and the earlier they practice finger-training, the earlier they have full control of their fingers and able to hold a writing tool well, which eventually lead to early learning of writing in their young age. Finger-training also helps to improve concentration span and eye-hand coordination; eyes to direct attention and the hands to execute a task.

4)Language activity
Alphabets, phonics, reading and recognizing words or short sentences, ability to express emotions and imaginative experience into words...etc

5)Math activity
Recognizing numbers, counting up and down , simple concept of math , sequence...etc

6) IQ activity
Comparing, measuring, sort according to similarities and differences, preposition, classification,basic science and general knowledge...etc

A child's "window of opportunity"

The first three years of a child, as what many named as “the window of opportunity”, is the most critical time to shape a child’s brain architecture. It is also the “golden” years when a child is most receptive to learning. The foundation laid in their early years is fundamentally important as it will truly shapes a child’s happiness, growth, development and learning achievements in future.

Let me begin with a short intro of my background. Hi, my name is Adeline and I’m a “just-married” woman with a passionate interest in children. I used to work as a Shichida trainer, currently a teacher in an educational centre, and also a speaker for workshops and seminars in the education field. At the same time, I’m also a private trainer guiding parents on early-learning and home practice for their child.

This blog is created to share information, ideas and simple home-made materials to parents learning to start their child’s early learning route.

Let us start to brainstorm....what can you input to your 0-3 years old child?