There Is A Time For Everything, Or When Should A Child Start Writing And Reading?

2024 Author: Harry Day | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 15:43

I will make a reservation right away that in this sketch we will not manipulate the concepts of "early development", since this can be understood as various states. If it is carried out within the framework of psychophysiological age possibilities plus in the zone of proximal development, then this, on the contrary, creates an excellent psychophysiological basis for a growing person. We will not analyze various developmental systems, their pros and cons - there are enough such reviews. Let's focus on when the child is ready to start writing and reading, and what happens if they do it earlier.

A brief neuropsychological educational program.

Speech is a specifically human mental function, it is a complex activity, a process of communication with the help of language, which is divided into various types and forms. The child's speech is formed as he masters the language, going through several stages, gradually developing into a system of communication means.

Allocate impressive (the process of understanding oral and written - reading) and expressive (the process of speaking orally and in writing) speech. They, in turn, include several speech functions, we will not dwell on this, we note that the speech system is a very complex, multifunctional, supersystem with many characteristics. And its complexity is due to the fact that each of these subsystems has its own terms of formation in the process of growth and development of the child and autonomy.

It should be noted that the understanding of oral speech and oral statements is formed by the age of 2-3, and the formation of reading and writing as a conscious activity occurs much later, which is also reflected in the most complex brain organization. Also, all analyzers (visual, motor, auditory, tactile, etc.) take part in this supersystem, each of which makes its own significant contribution to the foundations of speech. Therefore, speech disorders are so diverse and differ in nature, as to where exactly this or that defeat or underdevelopment occurred.

The development of speaking and writing is dramatically different. This is due to the fact that the assimilation of oral speech occurs by imitating the speech of adults, and for a long time remains unconscious, involuntary. The arising randomness at the time of learning to read, develops the skill to automatism, folding the stages necessary at the beginning of the path. Whereas written speech is initially conscious, since it requires high randomness and occurs in the process of special training, being automated as the skill is developed.

When a child is just starting to master writing, he needs to focus on how he writes a letter, what kind of letter it is (what elements it consists of), where it is located in the paper space, in which direction it needs to be written, what is the sequence of letters in this word. A child, writing down a word, listens to it very attentively, pronounces it in a whisper or aloud, carefully writes down a letter. In the future, the implementation of the plan to write a word or phrase is accompanied not only by the need to preserve the sequence of letters or phrases, spelling correctness, but also to inhibit all extraneous phenomena: anticipations (instead of "table" - "slot" or "salt"), permutations of letters (instead of "hello" - "rpivet"), skips (instead of "book" - "kiga"), repetitions (instead of "milk" - "milk"), etc.

Roughly speaking, both the subcortical structures and the cerebral cortex must have a sufficient level of their development to ensure the implementation of three stages of written speech: analysis of the sound composition of a word (phoneme), translation into the corresponding letter and its graphic representation.

Reading begins with the analysis of the graphic image, translating it into sound structures and ends with the assimilation of the written.

We will not consider situations of any serious defeats, since there will already be their own characteristics, depending on localization, requiring long-term and purposeful correctional and pedagogical work. But let us dwell on situations when certain difficulties arise in the process of mastering reading and writing in a relatively healthy child.

I would like to very briefly draw your attention to a certain feature of GM maturation from the point of view of neuropsychology, which will give us some understanding of how this all works.

Schematically, this can be depicted in the form of a house, where the foundation will be the first block, the energy one (these are subcortical-stem structures, ripening by 1 year). A building is being built on it - the second block - an operational one (the cortex of the hemispheres, matures by the age of 7), where each brick is laid in due time, as soon as it is ready, and the roof (the cortex of the frontal lobes of the hemispheres, matures by the age of 14-15) - the third block, the main tasks of which are programming, regulation and control. If, for some reason, such as, birth trauma, some problems during pregnancy, moderate asphyxia during childbirth, there is a slight damage to some part of the GM (we do not consider cases of severe lesions), then this whole house, without any something of adequate support, begins to build the way it can. Often, without affecting one's intellectual capabilities, it "gives out" difficulties at different levels, according to the focus of the lesion - "where it is thin, there it breaks." If this is at the level of the "foundation", then the entire house will undergo changes, adapting to what is, compensating for both the active development of the GM, and due to the zones adjacent to the hearth. In my previous Tuesday articles, I have already described the symptoms of these lesions.

And what happens to this "house" when they deliberately focus on the development of something specific - for example, teach reading at 2 years old or writing at 3? If the brain is required to perform tasks for which it is not yet ready, it begins to adapt, finding other ways to accomplish the task, at the expense of something else, due to the fact that the energy potential is not enough both to ensure such a complex process, and to develop some other skills and abilities. Or, simply, the child gets tired. If you look at the house, as a result, there is a distortion in development, where, with a good initially "foundation", part of the wall turned out to be at the level of 9 floors, and part - at 2-3. And on all this there will somehow be a "roof".

As we have already noted above, both reading and writing at the stage of their mastering requires awareness and voluntary attention, serious efforts and participation of almost the entire supersystem. The most suitable age to start getting acquainted with reading and writing is senior preschool, starting at the age of 6. Let's make a reservation here that this is on condition that the child himself was not the initiator of the study of letters before. It should be noted that a child's persistent interest in learning letters should be supported, even if he is not yet 6-7 years old.

The idea is that the "mature" brain very quickly learns the necessary skills required for reading and writing. He does not need so much effort, he does not need to spend a lot of energy, including in order to focus on the activity for a sufficiently long time, which is a prerequisite.

How can you help your child learn to read and write?

- create a multi-sensory environment for a baby of the first year of life, caress, love, carry on handles, walk together in the pool, move, dance smoothly;

- at 2-3 years old and further - to stimulate and support any movement games, finger games, development of emotional intelligence, offer materials for creativity, listen to music, teach songs together, read a lot of your favorite books, audio fairy tales to your child;

- in 4-5 and further - movements, gymnastics, elements of dance, elements of acrobatics (flexibility, dexterity, coordination of movements, etc.), memorizing songs, poems, dancing together, telling each other fairy tales and stories, listening to music, construction, design elements, read a lot aloud, listen to audio tales, children's performances, participation in some events, familiarity with simple musical instruments, the development of emotional intelligence;

- at 6-7 years old - in addition to everything that was in the previous paragraph, in an interesting playful way, acquaintance with letters, sculpting letters, body image, writing, which can be started not with the letters themselves, but with various patterns, curls, hooks, squiggles without forcing events. As you master the motor skill, start writing letters and syllables, forming words, gradually moving on to copying the text written in capital letters; reading gradually from syllables, moving on to the full word, invite the child to choose interesting books for reading from those available for his level, allowing any volume that he himself determines for himself on the day of the lesson, discuss what he read in an easy way - not so much in content, but how much in form, some analysis of the text.