Source: http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=resources&id=4265738
Use Multi-Sensory Learning with Your Child
- When your child shows an interest in a particular topic, try to help her learn about that topic using as many sensory systems as possible. ie: If your child is interested in learning about flowers — let him see, smell, touch, and even hear the gentle sound the flower makes brushing against his ear. Or you can allow your child to see the words, hear the words, perform some physical action related to many of the words, and see and hear images representing the meaning of those words.
Respond to Your Baby
- Carefully observe and listen to your baby, then respond to her/his interests. ie: if your baby is looking at her toes do not talk with your child about whatever you happen to be interested in at that moment. Instead, you can say: “These are your toes.”
- These types of responsiveness activities may also increase his IQ. Several studies have found a positive correlation between parents’ responsiveness and their children’s IQs.
Cause & Effect
Infants younger than 4 months of age do not have many opportunities to control their environment besides crying for food or other needs. ie: Connecting the mobile to the infant’s ankle with ribbon. This will enable your baby to control the mobile by kicking (recommended for infants between the ages of 6 weeks and 4 months). Note: observe the infant at all times during this exercise.
Categorizing
A fundamental building block for intelligence is the ability to categorize. ie: Group animals or objects that are similar in some manner (toys could be grouped by color, size, shape, material, or function, or you can show and describe how you sort clean laundry to your young infant. Simply show and tell your young baby that, “This is a sock and this is a sock. This is not a sock.”).
