Your Baby Can Read? - Dayton,OR

I do not have the program. My mom did something with me and my sister when we were little, which LOOKS similar to something in the program fromthe infomercial, and it DID work well with me.

She pointed to words in books when she read them. She put 3x5 cards all OVER the house, labeling objects. "Sofa", "table" & so forth. LOTS cheaper and no harm in trying! : )

I was reading by the time I was 3. It is true that I only "recognized" words, as I didn't learn my alphabet until I was in 3rd grade (I was sooooo sad when I realized that "lmnop" was not one letter:) but I was reading on a 6th grade level and am still a voracious reader. And yes, I know my alphabet now too!

It didn't work with my sister, who was mildly dyslexic, but she reads a lot now too.

I have tried this with my kids. Didn't do much for #1. Looks like it is working with #2. #3 is too young to know.

I've heard from teacherd that is not good. It just teaches children to recognize the words but it doesn't teach them the fundamentals of reading.

This always makes me laugh. I think to myself...Why would anyone want thier baby to read?

Hello, I am a former Early Childhood teacher and have a masters in Ed with a focus in early literacy, so for what it's worth, here's what i think:

My advice would be to steer clear of this program for several reasons. TV watching actually changes brain wiring so that the brain develops to be more passive. With infants and very young children, even an "educational" program still has this effect.

Second, any TV watching takes time away from babies' and toddlers' most important developmental tasks- forming relationships with others and developing a positive sense of self. TV can NOT help babies do either of these things.

Third, there is absolutely no research to support this type of program. Even with "success", which in this case means getting a baby or toddler to read words off flashcards, this in no way predicts future school success. A toddler may indeed be able to decode or recognize sight words, but this does not mean that he/she will have improved reading comprehension. In other words, being able to read single words does not mean that the child will be able to read a story and understand what he/she has read. And after all, isn't that the point of reading?

This type of program may make it appear that a child is "ahead" of his/ her peers, but the gains are superficial, and offer no benefits that can't be taught at an age that is more developmentally appropriate. In other words, a baby who learns to read from a DVD is not necessarily going to be smarter, more creative, or more successful than a child who has rich early experiences and is taught to read at age 6 or 7.

Research shows again and again that young children learn best through play and through their relationships with others. The best thing we can offer our children, especially through the toddler and preschool years, is periods of uninterrupted, self-directed play time with developmentally appropriate materials. (for babies and toddlers, think simple: blocks, dolls, balls, animals, play scarves, anything that requires imagination to use)

The biggest predictor of reading success is whether or not the child has been read to and how many words have been spoken to the child in the early years. So..... read to your child, talk to her about the pictures, teach her new vocabulary words, let her see you reading for pleasure, take her on outings and talk to her about what she sees, play rhyming games with her, sing songs, do fingerplays, point out the letters of her name, let her draw, tell her stories from your imagination, tell her nursery rhymes, let her tell you stories, help her develop her imagination.

Children who have a rich imaginative life tend to be better readers because they can hold a picture of what they are reading in their minds. To help your child develop a rich imagination, steer clear of toys that do all the playing for the child (electronic toys) and keep toys simple (if your grandmother played with it, it's probably a good toy. well, except for the lead paint ;)). Avoid TV as much as you can (hard I know, but we put ours in the basement and it hardly ever gets used- out of sight out of mind I guess)

Sorry this is so long, but believe me, all of these things that you are probably already doing with your child are going to benefit him/her a LOT more than any DVD will, no matter what they promise!

I have posted on this before so I will keep it short...

These programs can be successful in developing early sight word vocabulary. They do NOT however promise long-term academic progress and do not prevent the onset of a learning disability. These programs do not teach your child to "read", which is a dynamic interaction between decoding ("reading"), comprehension and mental imagery.

There was a good article in Parent magazine several months back that examined the research behind all of these early reading programs. Short-term, you may see a bump, but long-term most kids even out!

You are best to just read with your child for 20 minutes each day and provide them with lots of real-life experiences to draw on as they explore literature!

Hi T., this topic has been asked many times on Mamasource...just do a search and you'll see all the tons of responses.

I have it. May son is four and is quite behind in some aspect and ahead in others (for instance - ahead in math but behind in language development.) I think this product is awesome. In the short time I have used it he is learning how to spell his name and and his classmates at preschool. I saw it at Costco and was upset that I paid so much $$$ and it was there for $60. An older gentleman told me it didn't matter how much I spent as long it was benefiting my son. He told me his 2.5 year-old grandson could read and he only used it for 7 months. Like the other Moms say it is at your own risk. Every child had their own learning style and this method is working for my son.

I have not used this, nor do I know anyone who has used this particular product, but I do know children who began reading almost as soon as they were talking. They just picked it up!

I've always wondered about it too, but I personally would never try to teach my baby to read simply because I was told by my childrens' optometrist that children really shouldn't be taught to read before the age of 5 or 6 because their eyes are not developmentally ready for the focus necessary for this skill. It causes near sightedness or far sightedness (I can't remember which). Of course, should your child learn to read before that on his/her own (like mine did), she suggested encouraging them to read with a finger so that they can have something to help them focus.

Why should your baby learn to read when there is a whole natural world waiting to be discovered and the development of inborn talents. My little brother taught himself to read by the time he was three. At four he explained to me a 12 year old how a heart attack works.
He is a genius. I did not expect my children would be geniuses and though they are very smart people they were not readers until entering school.

I investigated this for my now 26month old last year. I opted not to buy it. Instead, from day one I have read to him, sang to him, and talked to him all the time. By the time he was 22months old he knew and recognized all the leters in the alphabet, numbers 0-10, shapes and colors. Now that he is 26months old he has an extensive vocabulary and is saying 5 word sentences, can count to 10, can sing 4 songs, and even knows colors like turquoise. And countless animals.. including odd ones like walrus, flamingo, etc. I think those types of learning and understanding are more important at this early age than reading. And what I did was free.... only priceless moments reading and talking to my smart little boy. :-)
And by the way... I work full time. Therefore I only really read to him about 30 or so minutes a day before bedtime. So it doesn't take all day.... just consistency and frequency. It is amazing how quick they pick things up.

My husband bought it thinking it was only 14.95... ( he sure didnt pay attention) But my daughter loved it so we didnt return it. I dont thin kwe put as much effort into it as we shoudl have, she doesnt read but she does enjoy the books!

Save your money and buy books instead. I agree with doing the search, you will see lots of good posts on this topic. Happy reading!

I think there are a lot of factors in children learning to read. Each child has their own time when they are ready to read. There has been a kind of panic in parents about wanting and being afraid their child won't learn to read and I feel some of these programs pry on parents fears. I believe children learn best when they are ready and not every child is a genius.

My 2 boys who are avid readers and young men now learned when they were ready and they are both high level readers.
The oldest learned a little later. He was at the end of 2nd grade and wanted us to buy him "Tin Tin" comic, which he was intrigued by. We told him because there was lots of writing he needed to be a reader first. Bang he became a reader.
My younger son learned to read as a kindergartener because he wanted to and was ready. No one taught him but himself.

I say skip it and let it happen naturally.

i would not do it. it doesn't work my sister and friend have tried it and it didn't do a thing for their kids.

We bought this series and my husband, who stays home with our daughter didn't really follow the directions explicitly. You are supposed to show the video twice a day and then there are flashcards and other things you are supposed to do. My husband only showed them once a day in general. I think it did help and my daughter did enjoy the videos but from an adults perspective they are VERY boring and kind of hokey. I think a better series for the money might be the Preschool prep series which is good. Costco recently had a box set of their DVD at a pretty good price. don't know if they still have them. I also think if you just read to your child all the time it's just as good and a lot cheaper. =)

I used to teach k-1 grades. One year I had a boy in class whose mother had started to teach him reading before 1 year of age. Thing was he couldn't do anything else. Tie his shoe, run, interact with other, hug any one, act like a 5 year old, count, etc.

I am not in favor of it. Most cultures teach reading, writing and math around five and 6 years of age because that is when a child's brain is read for that type of information. Enrich a child's live in culture, out door activity, and love.

Look into it online a little, there are many reports with the BBB on this company and their money practices, so buy at your own risk.

As for the person who created this program, he is a published author, but his books have zero to do with reading or babies, so they deliberately try to mislead you in the commercials, which does not speak well for the intentions of any program.

The data is pretty clear too, you cannot excelerate reading before it is developmentally possible, and any percieved gains from acceration are going to be gone very quickly for the vast majority of children. There is little point in trying to push kids beyond an enriched enviornement until 3rd grade. By the end of that year, kids who can be accelorated are distingushable from the kids who just learned early skills quickly, but even out to average by this time. There is little point prior to that time in doing anything more than good, solid education and plenty of play time for socialization.

The very best, and cheapest thing you can do is to read to your children every day. Nothing beats it in enrichment value, or cost.

M.

Lots of answers for your question :) I wanted to suggest the Leapfrog DVD's instead. We don't watch a lot of tv but when we do, I try to make it educational. My 2 year old knows her letters and their sounds from the Letter Factory DVD. All 3 of my kids have really enjoyed it and ask for it.

:)

We have it, it was given to us as a gift. Our kids (36 month old twin boys and 14 month old girl) love it. It isn't just DVD's, there are flashcards and books as well. The boys have definitely started recognizing words. I take it with a grain of salt-it is entertaining for them, but it isn't that important to me when they read. But it has helped their language development. Both my boys were speech delayed and they are very visual learners, so I think the visual really helps them with vocabulary.