Help kids to sop up knowledge when they’re best able to do so

Help kids to sop up knowledge when they’re best able to do so

In Natalie Lariccia’s story last Sunday, “Pint Sized Prodigy,” you featured the Dominick family in which 2-year-old Christopher can spell, write, and complete a puzzle map of the United States. Christopher’s mother says he is a bright but normal little boy — “a little sponge” for learning.

What most parents don’t realize is that every child is just such a “sponge.”

From birth to age 6 is what scientists like Dr. Maria Montessori have called the period of “the absorbent mind.” Recent scientific research has proven that, like a sponge, children’s brains are more capable of absorbing information such as language, math and life skills than at any other time in their lives — including the high school and college years.

Using hands-on materials like Christopher’s puzzle map allows the young brain to learn using the parts of the brain which control movement as well as memory, which literally builds the brain’s physical architecture for thought.

Unfortunately, many parents in our area cling to the notion that children (especially boys) should be kept out of an academic setting until age six or even later with the rationale that maturity is lacking, or that delaying school will provide better opportunities in sports or class rankings in high school. However, this old-fashioned notion fails to take advantage of the optimum period in human brain development — ages 21/2 to 4.

Undeniably, Christopher Dominick is a very bright little boy. I hope that parents read Natalie Lariccia’s article and realize that it is critical to give their own children the opportunity to learn when the brain is most ready for learning, so that every child in our Valley can reach his or her full human potential. Julia and Nicholas Dominick should be commended for their excellent observations of their child’s developmental stage and interests, and for providing him with the means to absorb as much as he can at this critical point in his brain development.

Amy-Anne Kibler, Youngstown

The writer is the executive director of the Montessori School of the Mahoning Valley.