Teach Your Child to Read in 60 Days

Ethel King-Shaw is a professor emeritus of curriculum and instruction at
the University of Calgary.

The author has had an interest in teaching young children to read for about 30 years. At first it was through teaching machines, then with the initial teaching alphabet, and now by using certain motivational strategies. Like several others, Ledson, who had no professional training, taught his two daughters, ages nearly 3 and 4, to read 186 words in 60 days.

This book is written in three parts. The first four chapters provide an overview of the views of some educators on early reading, the author’s opinions on present classroom techniques, and his views on how to accelerate learning through memory aids and rewards. In the second part the readers are provided with the details of a case study of the two Ledson children 13 years ago. Finally, suggestions are offered to other parents based on the author’s own experience.

The review of the related literature is, of necessity, brief and includes a cursory treatment of some prominent educators who wrote on the topic from long ago to the fifties and sixties. (The most recent publication cited is 1974.) More recent studies suggest serious questions might be raised on linguistic accuracies, theories of learning, and teaching strategies.

During the 60-day teaching period, the author and father repeatedly refers to his own and his daughters’ frustrations, struggles, problems, tensions, puzzlement, and depressing moments. While his candidness is to be commended, is that kind of experience really necessary? Not only will child psychologists have concerns oven the emphasis on extrinsic motivation in the program, but nutritionists also will, as the large numbers of rewards include raisins, cheesies, potato chips, and biscuits.

Perhaps one of the most serious omissions in the program is the relationship of the children’s own experiences and that of their language development to learning to read. Nonsense words and meaningless sentences are included. But if a child is going to progress in learning to read beyond word calling, then the foundation for interpretation should be stressed from the beginning.

Most children of normal ability can be taught to read words before coming to school. The more important question is what kind of prior knowledge will the child bring to the printed page so that reading is more than the accumulation of certain skills but is, in fact, a process that can facilitate learning.