Psychomotor exercises to facilitate reading
Fortunately the reading ability A child does not depend on chance, but on the basic functions and abilities that underlie that sophisticated function of reading. We, as parents, can do a lot to develop them properly.
Reading is one of the funniest activities what we can do throughout our life. Yes, it is also a fundamental activity for learning, but when I think about the future of our children, I always like to put the accent on "fun" rather than "obligation". Reading is fun as long as it is simple and effective. But unfortunately it is not always like that. There are children who have trouble learning to read and many others who never get to read fluently.
Eye coordination
It is evident that two of these fundamental functions are balance (base of hemispheric laterality) and ocular coordination. We have to realize that human beings have developed our vision to read letters of 2 millimeters! That is why the vision, not only the visual acuity of each eye, but also the coordination between the two, must be optimal.
How can we develop balance and visuo-motor coordination?
Playing, of course. Playing gymnastics, playing "croquettes and cartwheels" and playing crawling and crawling. These last two functions have proven to be of vital importance in the development of good eye coordination. Especially during the crawling a series of fundamental processes are given for the coordination of the eyes with the two hands and of the eyes to each other.
Most of the children perform the games that we are going to propose to you in an absolutely spontaneous way. It is as if a "genetic imperative" (in Glenn Doman's terms) compels children to do those activities that will contribute to their neurological development, but perform these games systematically, beyond what children they do it spontaneously, it can contribute to an easier development of future skills.
Motor development
In all these games we must take into account the motor development of the child. That is, not all children are trained or at the optimum time to perform all these games, and therefore we will have to adapt to their evolutionary level.
Thus, for example, once a child has begun to walk and masters this function, it is very difficult to get it to move again crawling or crawling. He has just acquired a new form of transport and will not return to previous forms until he has completely mastered it, almost until he is running. Therefore, between 18 and 30 months it is best to devote to the development of balance.
It is not necessary to spend a lot of time on each activity, andIt is preferable to do them once or twice a day, very little time instead of doing a single session very long and that he gets tired. Remember that all these games should always be done with your supervision and making sure that there is no danger. It is also important to remember that all balancing activities must always be done in both directions (from right to left) to make sure that we give full information to the brain.
After 3 years
Up to three years old, more or less, it will be difficult to crawl again. The drag will help you develop better global coordination and a deep breath, which may give a boost to your spoken language. Since we have all the body in contact with the surface, it is very tired, so it is important to make very short sessions on a smooth surface and with a lot of rubber footwear so that it is easy to push with it.
The first days you may see that when you play to drag you do not alternate left arm with right leg and vice versa, but pull the two arms simultaneously and leaves the legs stretched, it is normal at first.
Exercises to facilitate the path to reading
1. Develop balance. In addition to using all the "gadgets" that are in the parks (swings, slide, up and down) you can make croquettes (roll) on the bed, make it turn - very gently - on a swivel chair, even spin them on themselves, well lying on the floor and turning on his navel, or standing up, spinning in both directions.
2. Crawling again. After approximately 18 months since your child started walking, it will not be hard to get back on "four legs" and use crawling as a game. It will do so by traveling short distances and always with a clear objective: catch the ball, reach you or any other game that you propose, but you can repeat it many times throughout the day (from 5 to 10).
3. Change the look. If you want to center your attention a little more you can put a sticker of one color in one hand and another color in the other and go "marking" what color you want to look at (changing from one to the other alternately). To "train" the changes of focus from the short to the long distance (as you will have to do years later when copying from the board) you can ask him to change the look of the hands to a drawing or an object that you have put in the distance.
4. Cross pattern. After 3 years, this drag exercise is very stimulating. Exercising it upside down and upside down in a "static" manner, that is, without moving from the site, sliding on the surface an arm and the opposite leg with the fixed gaze on the hand that is moving and then changing the position of the limbs and head.
Marisol Nuevo Espín
