reading aloud to childrenRudy Shur, publisher and CEO of Square One in New York, and a respected veteran of the American book industry, told me the other day that he was delighted to read a New York Times article recently about the AAP (American Academy of Pedriatrics) releasing a statement endorsing the practice of reading aloud to babies. Why? Because one of his firm’s authors, the late Glenn Doman, published a book 50 years ago that said the same thing when he was director of The Institutes for the Achievement for Human Potential.

“It’s very rewarding to watch the scientific community catch up to the facts,” Shur, 65, told Teleread in a recent email.

The Times article noted that parents who read out loud to babies help their child’s brain develop better, Shur said. Doman proved the same thing long ago, having tens of thousands of parents do exactly that with their babies. And it doesn’t matter if parents read aloud from a Kindle or an iPad or from a book.

Doman wrote ”How to Teach Your Baby to Read”, along with seven other bestselling titles in his “Gentle Revolution Series,” and his daughter now continues his work nationwide.

“Doman’s parenting books became the most widely-read parent series in the history of publishing, selling over 13 million copies,” Shur added.

That’s the good news. The sad news is that for decades, Doman’s work was largely ignored or put down by doctors and professional educators who rejected the mountain of proof he had showing that reading aloud improved children’s brain development, Shur said. “Glenn passed away in 2013, but all his life he never weakened in his resolve to show the importance of reading to children,” Shur said.

“His daughter Janet Doman is now the director of the institutes, and the series remains among the top sellers for Square One.”

So there you have it: visionary Glenn Doman was way ahead of the times, but now the New York Times has vindicated his visions in an article being read by thousands, perhaps millions of parents and educators.

Do you read aloud to your children?

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