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South Florida Babies
"Your Baby Can Read"
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Re: "Your Baby Can Read"
There are some girls who are reading coaches here, so they may have a little more insight... 'but, it's not "reading." It's memorization of key words, just as if they were learning a shape or an item. It helps because the words "cat," "dog," "baby," etc... are recognizable, but it's not teaching the sound the letter makes or what the letter name is.
That being said, flash cards to learn the words work really well. I bought the dvds thinking it would help abby get a jump on learning some words and she didn't care for it. she walked away, didn't pay attention to the dvd at all. We did flash cards for letters and sounds instead and, although she may not be able to "read' yet, she knows her alphabet and what sound each letter makes. By reading to her and doing flash cards, we can start working on how the letters sound when they "meet" or get put together.
IMO, YBCR is a waste of money. It does exactly what a parent can do, but for a lot more money!
My inlaws bought it for Nicholas for his 2nd birthday. I can't speak for every child, but mine found it boring and wouldn't sit through the videos. They are boring and monotone. He learned his alphabet and how to spell simple words from a few Leap Frog videos and toys, which were much less expensive and much more interesting.
Now it might work for an infant, who is a captive audience, but I would feel funny plopping a young baby down and forcing them to watch it twice a day.
We had this discussion at Mommy and Me a few weeks ago and the teachers at the Parenting Place @ Nova are against it and gave us some info on studies that have been made. Not only should a child learn through playing during the first years but one of the studies that were done, I believe with 3rd graders, some who were exposed to MBCR as infants and others who learned at school and they were at the same level... So in the end they recommend just letting your child explore through play.
This article is also helpful https://www.theness.com/neurologicablog/?p=569
Like Jen said, I would wait until the appropriate age to start teaching them phonics instead. It is just word recognition not actual reading. This is what they do in PreK and Kindergarten with words that are not spelled phonetically (the sight words) so that kids can remember what they look like. From the research I've done, what helps the most at home is to just read to your children on a consistent basis, show them how to hold a book, that reading is done from left to right, and make reading interactive, like asking questions, role playing, predicting what will happen next, etc. If they also see you reading, they will take more of an interest in it. These things will get them ready for reading at school. Also, it seems that part of the program is through a video and, like a pp said, babies should really be learning through interaction and play not by watching a video. Another research study I read while in college showed that the quality of conversations parents had with their children was an indicator of how they'd do in school - helps them enhance vocabulary, comprehension, etc. The ultimate goal of teaching reading is comprehension so it's a lot easier to teach kids how to read when they know what it's purpose is. And, yes Carolette is right, yet another study (not related to this particular program but development age in general) has shown that there can be a development age difference of about 3 years when kids are in primary grades, but that by third grade most of the kids tend to level out. So, even though some kids start reading early and it definitely helps their academic achievement early on, kids that were not so advanced from an early usually catch up and can become just as successful.
HTH
My parents bought it for Quinn and he LOVES the flash cards ... but he loves all flash cards for that matter. He can recognize most of the words now. Obviously it is more memorization than reading at this age, but according to my mom who is a reading coach, the first step to reading is memorization when they are young. Then comes the comprehension part of it. That being said, we have read to Quinn since we brought him home from the hospital so he already has an appreciation for books and words. He knows his alphabet so the "Your Baby Can Read" program is a supplement to what we are already teaching him as parents.
I dont know if it is legit or poop from my personal experiences. However, I do teach Kindergarten. I have had children that have come through my class that were pushed from infant/toddler stages to "read". Unfortunately for them, the set reading program in Broward County for Kindergarten has the kids learning their letters still and learning to read simple sight words (and, the, like, little, etc). So when these children come into your classroom you have some of the following that can happen:
1. the child is bored. 2. the child knows that he/she can read and can be rude to the other children that are still in the process of learning 3. the parents demand a harder curriculum for their child b/c they are "gifted".
I have noticced that these children yes can read, get the phonemic awareness out of it, but cannot comprhend. The parents pushed and pushed for the child to "read" but the child cannot answer simple questions of who what when where how of the book. which as a teacher this is more important to me. I have students that y ou give a reading pasage to that might struggle and are sounding out the words but they understood what they were reading whereas the "reader" got the words more fluently but had NO clue what htey just read.
IMO let youngsters be youngsters. Yes expose them, but make it fun. There is this website...No time for Flashcards. The creator of this website shows real life activities taht she does with her child that makes it fun.
Your child will have plenty of time for learning...18 years of school...they will get it.
I think flashcards would work just as well and they're a lot cheaper. It's all about how much time you as a parent are willing to spend on this. Also, it seems to me a bit pointless for a 1-year old to read. Sure it's a cute trick at parties, but if he's lost is he going to see a sign for security and go there? What is the point of focusing so much energy on it when they'll have more fun doing it when they are developmentally ready. I just read to my daughter and let her "read" too. She memorizes the books and that's a funny enough party trick for me, lol. Once my husband came in running, "OMG she can read!" He didn't know that was the book I was reading with her every night, lol. (It was a short one of course, just a few words per page).
As for the gifted thing, I don't think that teaching your child to read early can actually make him gifted. Gifted is a way of learning, of seeing the world, it's hard to teach that. It seems too many parents are focused on labeling their kid without caring about how it affects him. I wouldn't waste the money on YBCR, in any case. It's funner just letting her play rather than sitting her in front of the tv to memorize stuff. Just MHO LOL.