Before Daliyah Marie Arana was even born, her parents say, she was learning how to read.
Introducing Daliyah, the 4-year-old girl
who has read more than 1,000 books
Before Daliyah Marie Arana was even born, her parents say, she was learning how to read.
While she was pregnant with Daliyah, her mother would read books to her other young children on a daily basis. When Daliyah was an infant, she would hear her older brother reading chapters of books out loud. And by the time she was about 18 months old, she was recognising the words in the books her mother read her.
So it was no surprise when, at 2 years and 11 months - the age that most children barely understand the concept that text carries a message - Daliyah read her first book on her own.
Now 4 years old, Daliyah has read more than 1,000 books and has managed to read certain college-level texts.
Through the 1,000 Books Before Kindergarten programme, her mother got the idea to start counting the number of books Daliyah read. She was about 3 years old at the time, and had likely already read about 1,000 books with the help of her mother. In the year or so since, Daliyah has met the programme’s 1,000-book goal, and aims to reach 1,500 by the time she enters kindergarten next fall.
Her parents have never tested her exact reading level, but Daliyah is capable of reading books that her 10- and 12-year-old siblings bring home from school on her own, seeking help only when she gets stuck on a big word. Her favourite writer is Mo Willems - author of the “Pigeon” and “Elephant and Piggie” series - and she has a special interest in dinosaurs. She can spit out numerous facts about dinosaurs and dreams of someday digging up dinosaur fossils as a paleontologist. Yes, the 4-year-old knows the definition of the word paleontologist.
Yoga is the key to relieving long-term back pain
With its catalogue of headstands and one-legged contortions, it might be thought yoga was best left only to those in peak physical condition.
New research from the US, however, suggests the group of people who could most benefit from adopting the lotus position while locating their spiritual core are in fact those immobilised by pain.
Analysis of more than 1,000 men and women with long-term lower back pain found that patients who practiced the ancient Indian discipline were most likely to reduce pain levels and improve their mobility.
Back pain is the cause of more disability than any other condition and affects nearly one in 10 people, becoming more common with age.
The vast majority of lower back pain cases have an unknown cause, making them hard to treat, and patients commonly resort to long-term use of strong painkillers.
The scientists behind the new research are now calling for fresh longer-term trials to understand the full benefits for patients with persistent back pain, as the existing data only relates to the first 12 months.
Derived from a Sanskrit word, yoga aims to “coordinate the breath, mind and body to encourage balance, both internally and externally,” according to the British Wheel of Yoga.
Compiled by Usama Rasheed
