Child discovers when he learns to read

There are three distinct level of understanding in the process of learning how to read. As the child conquers each of them he will show exuberance at his new and very exciting discovery. The joy Columbus must have known in finding a new world could hardly have been greater than which the child will experience at each of these levels.

Naturally, his first pleasure and delight is in the disclosure that words have meaning. To the child this is almost like a secret code that he shares with grownups. He will enjoy this vastly and visibly.

Next he notices that the words he reads can be used together and are therefore more than merely labels for objects. This is also a new and wonderful revelation.

The last discovery he makes will probably be very noticeable to the parent. This, the greatest of them all, is that the book he is reading represents more than the simple fun of translating secret names into objects, and more even than the decoding of strings of words into comments about objects and people. Suddenly and delightfully the big secret bursts upon the child that this book is actually talking to him, and to him alone. When the child comes to this realization (and this does not necessarily happen until he has read many books), there will be no stopping him. He will now be a reader in every sense of the word. He now realizes that the words he already knows can be rearranged to make entirely new ideas. He does not have to learn a new set of words every time he has to read something.

What a discovery this is ! Few things will compare to it in later life. He can now have an adult talking to him in a new conversation any time he wants, simply by picking up a new book.

All of man's knowledge is now available to him. Not only the knowledge of people he knows in his home and neighborhood, but also people far away whom he will never see. Even more than that, he can be approached by people who lived long ago in other places and in other ages.

The power to control our own fate began, as we shall see, with our ability to write and to read. Because humans have been able to write and to read, they have been able to pass on to other humans centuries later and in remote places the knowledge they have gained. Human knowledge is cumulative.

Humans are human essentially because they can read and write.

This is the true importance of what your child discovers when he learns to read. The child may even try in his own way to tell you about his great discovery, lest you, his parent, miss it. If he does, listen to him respectfully and with love. What he has to say is important.

- Glenn Doman