Early Childhood Education: The Shichida Method

The further I research the topic of Early Childhood Education, it seems the more uncertain I am about which direction to head towards.  I had heard about the Shichida Method from a friend but knew very little about it except that it was a flashcard method of teaching infants – or so I thought.  It appears that the true Shichida Method is more than that. I wasn’t able to glean much about the Shichida Method from their website as much of the information explaining it was rather obscure.

In a nutshell, the Shichida website tells you that babies have great potential and that it is important to help them realise this potential.  Tell me something I don’t already know.  If you want to know more about how to do this, you need to sign up for their course.  They say you can implement the Shichida Method by reading about it from the books but the courses give you practical guides that you cannot get from reading alone.  Unfortunately, I couldn’t find a single Shichida book that was written in English and available for sale on Amazon or Kinokuniya.  No wonder they say it is difficult to implement the Shichida Method without having attended one of their courses…

After a little more digging, this is what I have been able to find on the Shichida Method.  I do not know if this is an accurate depiction of the philosophy since it did not come directly from any official Shichida source, but I think the gist of it is here.

What is the Shichida Method?

Also known as “Right Brain Training”, the Shichida Method begins with the premise that all babies are born geniuses.  From birth to about 3 years old, an infant uses mostly the right side of the brain.  However, as the infant grows older, the left side of the brain begins to develop and to dominate the right side.  This makes it harder for an individual to access abilities from the right side of the brain.

Both left and right sides of the brain have different capabilities. The left brain is logical, sequential, rational, analytical, objective and tends to look at parts.  The right brain is random, intuitive, holistic, synthesising, subjective and capable of capturing images as a whole.  Both sides of the brain function as opposites and compliment the other.

It has been found that most successful individuals demonstrate a key ability to utilise the right brain’s distinct image visualisation.  It is also believed to hold the potential for genius as it lacks the concepts of limits that are imposed by the left brain.  This is one of the reasons why flashes of genius are often witnessed in autistic individuals – because of the poor communication between the left and right brain, the left brain is unable to exert the usual controls over the right brain that is present in a normal individual.

So to help out children maximise their potential for genius, the Shichida Method focuses on training the right brain of infants (as young as possible – preferable between the age of 0-3) with right brain specific activities.

How Do you Stimulate the Right Brain?

One of the methods described by Shichida is to use flash cards which are presented quickly.  Information that is presented slowly and repetitively exercises the left brain.

What is the Difference Between Glenn Doman and Shichida?

According to Brainy-Child, the fundamental difference between Shichida and Glenn Doman is that Shichida “believes in not over-emphasizing on knowledge education, and that the cultivation of the child’s ability to learn on his own is of utmost importance.”  If the child’s brain is overstuffed with knowledge, it becomes difficult to exercise and develop the right brain.

However, if you read the article from the International Parenting Association, it quotes Shichida saying that presenting large amounts of information at a fast pace to infants, toddlers and preschoolers stimulates the right brain and can activate photographic memory. If presenting large amounts of information isn’t stuffing the brain, then I’m not sure what is.

Is there a difference between Shichida and Glenn Doman?  I’m not sure, but I believe it has something to do with the number of repetitions.  Any parent who has tried either or both methods –  please feel free to share more about the differences between the two.

- DR SHEN-LI LEE

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

A love of mathematics

It is easier and better for all of the reasons already stated above. Understanding mathmatics when he goes to school also helps to make him school-proof.

If  you teach your baby how to read, give him encyclopedic knowledge, and teach him mathematics while he's a baby, you will give him:

A love of mathematics which will continue to grow throughout his life;

An advantage in mastering related subjects;

Increased capability and intelligence;

Increased brain growth.

And, if this is not enough he will also be a happier human being.

Learning is easiest

Children who are permitted to learn when learning is easiest don't spend much time being bored of frustrated or causing upsets in order to get attention. They lead happier lives.

They like adults. They also like children. They make friends more easily they keep those friends more easily than most children do.

Our children are easy to spot - they are the kids who are highly capable and highly confident and very, very gentle.

- Glenn Doman

Always Tell Your Child the Truth

If you do you will always be a winner and, what is even more important, so wil he.

The whole world is betting against the little child - betting that doesn't understand, betting that he doesn't remember, betting that he doesn't "get it". Your child doesn't need one more person on that team!

Child Believe Everything We Say is The Truth

Your child was born thinking that everything that you say is the truth. Never give him any reason to revise his thinking on that subject.

Don't allow anyone else to give him anything less than the truth either. The reason for this should be obvious.

Since you have infinite respect for your child, it is only right that your child should return that respect. If you keep your world in all things and at all times he will respect you. If you do not he may love you but he will not respect you. What a shame it would be to deprive him of that joy.

- Glenn Doman

Babies love to learn but hate to be tested

Our strongest advice on this subject is do not test your child. Babies love to learn but they hate to be tested. In that way they are very like grown-ups.

Testing is the opposite of learning.

It is full of stress.

To teach a child is to give him a delightful gift.

To test him is to demand payment in advance.

The more you test him, the slower he will learn and the less he will want to.

The less you test him, the more quickly he will learn and the more he will want to learn.Knowledge is the most precious gift you can give your child. Give it as generously as you give him food.

What is a test?

In essence it is an attempt to find out what the child doesn't know. It is putting him on the spot by saying, "Can you tell the answer to your father?"

It is essentially disrespectful of the child because he gets the notion that we do not believe he can learn unless he proves that he can over and over again.

The intention of the test is a negative one - it is to expose what the child does not know.

The result of testing is to decrease learning and the willingness to learn. Do not test your child and do not allow anyone else to do so either.

Well what is a mother to do? She does not want to test her child, she wants to teach him and give him every opportunity to experience the joy of learning and accomplishment.

Therefore, instead of testing her child she provides problem-solving opportunities.

The purpose of a problem-solving opportunity is for the child to be able to demonstrate what he knows if he wishes to do so.

We will discuss different ways of presenting problem-solving opportunities when we discuss how to teach your child to read, to gain encyclopedic knowledge, and to learn mathematics in the following chapters.

- Glenn Doman