Do You Think Babies Can Learn to Read?Dr. Robert Titzer, Ph.D., developed this reading program for babies after researching infant learning and development. His philosophy is based on the idea that we miss the optimal window to teach our children how to read by waiting until kindergarten. He believes the natural window to learn language is between birth and the child’s fifth birthday. Titzer also believes that early reading leads to a greater affinity for reading later in life. A broad range of products support his Your Baby Can Read: Early Language Development System
system.But, child development experts are of the collective opinion that while young children can be made to recognize or memorize words, the brains of most infants and toddlers are just not developed enough to actually learn to read at the level the way the enticing television ads claim they can.
In fact,The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood has filed a complaint to the Federal Trade Commission that infant-reading program's claims are false and misleading.
Still, many parents and nannies swear by this product. For example, Katie from FL says, "I started this program with my son when he was five-months old. He is now 16-months old and reads ALL 50 words, even when I write them on a sheet of paper. Also he reads 10 other words he has picked up from reading books with me!"
Melinda, a nanny from Fredericksburg, PA says, "I think this is an amazing product, regardless of what some experts may say. We started this when my charge was three-months old and he loves it. He just turned two-years old and he has learned all the songs and recognizes most of the words from the DVDs."
Cathy, a mother in FL explains, "This product is great for children who can sit in front of the TV and pay attention to what is going on. We purchased this for my oldest daughter when she was about a year old but she is very hyper and barely glances at the TV so it didn't work for her. She did like the songs and she learned body parts, directions, and colors from the DVDs, just not reading. My youngest one is five-months old and much calmer and she seems to be getting the hang of it. Overall it's a good product for the attentive child and dedicated parent."
Let us know what you think. Do you think this program helps babies learn to read?
A few years ago at the NAEYC conference I got to hear Susan Linn, executive director of the Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood do a presentation. She was great! She spoke about Baby Einstein, Disney marketing and all sorts of things out there that just ultimately limit children.
ReplyDeleteSo often sooner or later it comes out that many of these things are gimmicks. I mean really putting a baby in front of television when the American Pediatricians say no not before 2.
READ TO BABIES!!!! Let's discuss studies in 0 to 3 development on the importance of all of that for soooooo many reasons.
I believe they can be taught far more than reading even.
ReplyDeleteI think it's a waste of time. If the parents ask me to spend time doing this I will but otherwise it's probably not very effective. Reading books everyday is a good thing though so they learn to love books and will want to read when they are older.
ReplyDeleteLol....I am in the middle of packing and just packed my Your Baby Can Read Kit up...I think it depends on the child and dedication bc it's an intense system and requires you to follow the program exactly the way its design I have been successful using it and not successful (but this was do to parental error and not following the system) early learning should be child led and not parent led...Parents are always looking to sue someone when their child doesn't succeed or meet a products expectations, instead of realizing their child may not be ready for that concept yet or just learn differently...l feel like do parents want to sue the toy company when a child would rather play with the box then the toy bc the toy didn't meet the expectation of keeping the child's interest...It's like the Baby Einstein affect all over again....JMO :-)
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