Monday, February 27, 2012

A Question About Flashcards

"Just a quick question for you. I am working on flashcards for my 20 month old. I was just going to do photos of animals and family members with the word underneath since we are just working on naming items, not reading. Do you have any info about what is the best size to use and if the fast flash method works the same with photos?"

First of all, why not put a picture on one side & a word on the other & teach  both at the same time?  It is a much better use of your time, you'll get a much earlier start & if you try to teach the word with flashcards later.  If you do the same ones later, it is possible that your little one may not find it as exciting.

When you say that you are working on naming, do you mean that you wanting your 20 month old to respond with the name or do you plan to just give input? Our approach was just to input only, so that we were never pressuring our daughter.  Only very recently, at age 4.5 have we ever asked K to read to us.  Before, she just read to us when she felt like it.

Yes, fast flashing works for photos.  We have done this for encylopedic knowledge cards - blog post to follow on this soon.  

I've loaned my How to Teach Your Baby out right now,  but I'll try to remember what I can about card sizes. I'm sure at that age we were already using a 4 X 5 inch card, because I remember my 2 youngest girls reading them together just before K's 2nd birthday.  Usually, I used Little Reader's print function set to put a word & pic on each page, folded them in 1/2 & laminated.  Do you have any idea how well your child can see? If in doubt, go larger because it is not uncommon for kids with Down syndrome to have vision problems. 

It's wonderful that you are starting with familiar people & animals.  This is always a great way to keep kids interested in learning.

I hope this helps.  Please feel free to ask any other questions you have.

2 comments:

  1. Thank you so much for your response. This is very helpful. I am only wanting to give him input with the cards right now.

    Very good point about using both sides of the cards with the photo on one side and word on the other.

    I have "How to Give Your Baby Encyclopedic Knowledge" by Glen Doman, and am familiar with the bits of intelligence cards. That why I was wondering about the size. I think 11X11 is recommended for the bits of intelligence cards. I guess it just depends on the child and his/her vision.

    Thanks so much for your response! Your blog is a great resource!!

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  2. Yes, 11 X 11 is the recommended size, although we have used various sizes, often 8.5 X 11 cardstock because it is easy to find. Now that our daughter is 4 years old & we know that she can see the cards well, the size is not quite so important.

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