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Back to Marks and Mind Book Series Marks and Early Childhood The program described in this book uses children’s mark-making in a comprehensive sensory/emotional/perceptual training to strengthen attention, positive emotion, confidence and trust, autonomy, empathy, speech and literacy--- the special cognitive skills and brain states that characterize functional, effective human beings. This program is designed not only for children, but for their caregivers, too. It’s a speech and literacy program for everyone! From the first random scribblings and careful drawings and topsy turvy printed words, children’s marks are where their commitment to attentive thinking begins, and where self-knowledge and self-confidence begin. Marks are important seeds in the garden of the child’s development. Babies are designed to “read” their worlds and to express their needs. If they can not get their parents’ attention, there will be no food, no warmth, no touch, no love, and, of course, no speech and no literacy. Little children start to “write” their worlds the first time they pick up a crayon. They are composing their inner worlds. They are beginning to record, change, and control their outer worlds. This is what “reading” and “writing” really mean; taking the tangle of feelings and thoughts and swirling them into patterns and forms that make sense to the child’s body and to the child’s mind, and then, with time, to other people in the world. Birds build nests. Humans make meaning. Literacy builds meaning with dots and dashes, lines and squiggles the way birds use twigs and leaves and grass and bits of string to make nests to hold their young. Our brains are coded to become nests for the birth of our ideas. Ever so delicately and skillfully, the beak of the bird picks up a twig; ever so delicately, the fingers of the child hold the pencil to make its first tentative marks of meaning. The child is building its brain. And like some birds with their nests, children are intent on building beautiful brains. Art and music, literature and mathematics are part of that beautiful construction. To build a log cabin with Lincoln logs, you need Lincoln logs. To build a tower of blocks, you need blocks. To be literate, the brain needs something to work with; it has to have some symbols. A symbol is a mark made by the child which gives pleasure to the child, and, with time, has meaning for the child. Symbolic marks enter the brain through the hands and eyes. Marks are like nourishment to the brain. Loving touch, loving talk, the freedom and fun of scribbling and drawing ---these actions shared between parent and child are where confidence in loving begins, where confidence in communication begins, where a love of reading and writing begins. Children need to explain, and understand, and express, and adapt to and organize and change the world around them through personal, hands-on practice with marks that carry meaning. Our part of the story begins when a pudgy little hand first grabs a crayon. That very first scribble starts the special human adventure into mathematics and music, art, science, and literature, the world of computer technology, the world of marks and meaning. A child’s adventure into the world of literacy is about making sense. It is about learning to work with the world, meeting its challenges, and enjoying its benefits. Launching a child into the world as a meaning-maker is one of a parent’s most important responsibilities and privileges. It can also be a lot of fun. This book is about the shared fun of the growth of literacy in a child’s life. Scribbling and drawing provide simple and fun-filled ways for parents and children to get to know each other, to appreciate and trust each other, to practice paying attention, as well as listening and speaking thoughtfully to each other, learning to treat each other with interest and respect. How much time does the program take? With the age group targeted in this book, children from sitting-up age to four or five or six years old, a little bit of time every day for mark-making is ideal. Working with scribbling and drawing is like brushing your teeth. Mark-making cleans your brain and makes it shine. How much does this program cost? It’s only as expensive as the cost of a set of thin markers, one set of fat markers, and a pad of unlined paper. Markers, even washable ones, are sometimes better than big, snub-nosed crayons. Crayons require strong bearing down by little hands, and some colors do not make much of a mark. You want to set it up so that your toddler’s own marks catch your toddler’s eye, allowing the child to become self-enchanted. I find that thin washable markers are perfect for small hands. A hand that can pick up a minute bit of fluff from the carpet has the manual dexterity to hold a thin marker. What equipment does the program require? Markers, and paper, plus a quiet place at a comfortable temperature with natural light, if possible, and a few household objects including safe kitchen utensils or tools or rocks or shells. And silence. Or if you like music, that’s fine, too. Soft, instrumental music without lyrics is a good choice. As you are protecting your child’s eyes and, via its eyes, its brain from visual assault from the technology of the television and computer whose raster rates, or screen speeds are wrong for small children’s brains, so you will protect your child’s brain by monitoring what you let into your child’s ears. The Promise A closer, more harmonious home-life. Children who are mentally prepared to be talkers, readers, writers, communicators, and problem-solvers. Parents and children who are calmer, less irritable and less rushed, more centered and grounded, more effective at home and in the world. Parents and children who are or will become more literate, invested in a life where reading and writing words, and making and appreciating images and other kinds of symbols, are important and meaningful and inspirational aspects of life.

Please e-mail your questions or comments for Dr. Sheridan at susan.sheridan9@gmail.com

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