Has Annyone Used "Your Baby Can Read" Learning System?

L.,

I had to laugh when I read this. You state that you "want to help them learn and grow without being too pushy or demanding." But you're considering some program called Your Baby Can Read???

Your son may just be a late talker. My daughter only said three words at the age of two. Mama, Dada, and Bup (up). She's almost six now, and we can't get her to stop talking. Check with your pediatrician if you're concerned about the speech delay.

And as far as the reading - let them just play and be children. They don't need to read. You want them to be physically, emotionally, and mentally happy. Learning to read at such a young age will not necessarily enhance that. In fact, it might be detrimental. As long as you read to them every day, and talk about the pictures (or whatever they seem interested in) they will be GREAT readers by the time they are seven. And even better, they will LOVE to read.

J.

As a reading specialist, I do not know this program. I do think these programs are a waste of time and money. Children do not need to learn to read before age five; the world is their classroom. Putting your child down in front of a DVD to teach them to read is not natural learning and, I am guessing, does not really work. In fact, thinking of your young twins, it has been found that puttig your child in front of the TV before age 2 HINDERS vocabulary developement. Spend time with your son, read to him a lot, discuss what he sees and hears, give him oppurtunities to learn through investigation and interest. He will learn to read when he is ready..

Aloha, My son learned to read using this program and was able to read by the time he was one. He is now six years old. He created a blog recently www.edelostrico.blogspot.com to talk about his personal experience with early reading.

If you are worried about your child's language development, you can contact First Steps yourself and get an evaluationf or your child. Or you can wait and go through your Peds. First Step is only good until your child ages out at age 3. then they go into the school system. I have heard that it is easier to get them services though your school when they are 3-5 if they have been in First Steps. Both of my boys were late talkers. You could tell they wanted to say something, knew they should say something in social situations, and by age 4 you coudn't get them to stop talkiing! I had them involved in First Steps on my Peds advice and because I didn't want to miss something. I think the thing that helped them the most was being around other children their own age when they got to preschool. BUt early intervention is the best for kids so I didn't want to wait. As for reading, two of my children learned at or before kindergarten, two between k-first greade. (3of my 4 kids are teens so this was before YBCR but Hooked on Phonics was the rage.) Kids will learn on their own time, and don't need to watch DVD's or tv to learn. When they are interested, they will learn. My older two used to ask me about the stop sign. That naturally led to a discussion on phonics, and they learned easily from there. My youngest son learned from some computer games he played. BUt it was his decision to play them, not ours to make him do it. Kids are only kids for a short period. Let them develop at their own level.

Hello L.,
I am an Usborne Books Representative and can tell you that I have seen Dr. Titzer at our last convention.
He developed the program and used and documented the program with his children. He was truly amazing and had alot of research to back the program. I also have a friend who adopted a child from China and has been amazed with the progress she has made with language. You can visit my web site to view the program at www.usborne-booksforyou.com or if you have questions. ____@____.com
Thanks, hope that helps a little.
M.

We ordered "Your baby can read" off ebay from a "registered re-seller". It contained the DVD's and lots of extra's from the seller's website. My son LOVES the videos. He gets upset and throws a fit if he doesn't get to watch them everyday. Will is 23 months and has been able to read the words on the video for quite awhile. I think it took about a month before he showed recognition. Since he knows a little sign language as well we have been able to teach him other words that are not on the video. We don't use the flash cards very much. We just write the words on his doodle pad. We were totally amazed that the DVD's worked. Now - he doesn't sit down and "read" any books yet but he does know words and does recognize them in books. We feel it is well worth the money.

I'm not at all familar with the DVD your talking about, but I do have another suggestion. We taught my 16 month old daughter sign language starting at 9 monts. She was a late talker and wouldn't/couldn't tell us what she wanted or needed. We bought My First Signs (it's a baby einstein video) and we'd watch it with her a few time a week. Honestly, she didn't care about the video, it was more for my husband and I. She started picking up the basic signs in about a month. She still uses them (along with her words) and picks up new signs super quick. I think it's cut down on a lot of tantrums because she could sign to us and let us know what she wanted. If you are looking for a way to get your kids to communicate, that's the route I would go. There are also several Baby Einstein DVD's that offer advanced sign language.

From my perspective, you should forget about the dvd learning system. Your kids will learn from you, not from a tv. Talk to them, talk to them, talk to them -- all day long. Point new things out to them, explain things you see. And then, read to them, read to them, read to them. Do this for your son and your infant daughters -- they will pick up more than you think.

I have two children, one who is 15 today and the other turned 5 three weeks ago. The 15 year old learned to read by herself at age 4 and always scores very high on the standardized reading tests and she loves to read. I attribute this to being read to and talked to when she was young. The 5 year old also loves to read (he tries memorizing books as he is not reading by himself yet) and be read to and seems to have a large vocabulary for his age. I have no doubt he will quickly learn to read on his own once kindergarten starts.

I truly believe this is the best thing you can be doing for your children. Personally, I don't buy into the forced learning for preschool kids -- I think they need to be given ample opportunities to play in multiple settings and have adults who will read to them and talk to them and just love them.

I agree with the general consensus, that these programs can be expensive and stressful and not necessarily the "only" way a child will learn to read early. As a mother of a 4 year old and 1 year old, I too have played with the idea of the Baby Einstein DVDs ,the Muzzy learn a language dvds,Your Baby Can Read etc. but Im waiting a while. Besides you don't know the personalities of those bright kids in your friends class. They might be stressed out at home, even though they made great progress, they might not consider learning fun anymore. And that's important so that your children will learn not only early but continually through to adulthood. Currently I read to my children and talk to them, also when I'm doing something with them, like with my 1 year old I say, lets turn on the light, and I point to the light. etc.

I agree with what other moms have said. You probably won't teach your child to read by plopping them in front of the TV (and that watching a large amount of TV before 2 is probably not beneficial). Does your family read together everyday? If not, you should be. Start a family library and show that books are a priority. Does your son know his alphabet? Maybe you could use colorful blocks or books to learn the ABC’s together?

A cute quote I like: “TV -- if your kids love two letters, just think how much they’ll love all 26!”

L.,

I don't have personal experience with YBCR since my kids are older but I sell it through Usborne Books and our price is cheaper than other places you may have seen it. You might even get it free by hosting a home show.

Although I sell it, I don't tell many people about it only because it seems some parents stress out trying to make their kids the biggest, fastest, smartest, etc. so I wonder if these types of parents might misuse it. We've all heard that today's kids often watch too much TV but if used the way Dr. Titzer recommends (by strictly limiting the amount of TV that young children watch), YBCR looks very promising. Are you able to preview the set that your friend has and read the included info? If not, I may be able to let you watch some of it if you want. I am in Columbus, Ohio.

If there are some here who have personally used this with their kids, I'd like to know what your opinions are too. Please email me at ____@____.com if you are using it now.

D.

I have the system. My son will be 9 months next week but right now he has not desire to watch tv unless it's something real short and has music as in the opening credits to Reba he always stops what he's doing and looks up to watch but then goes back to playing. The system says to start around 3 months but my son doesn't care to watch the tv even for 5 to 10 min at a time, I will try again later when he's a little older. So i'm not really sure if it works or not. It might work for your child beings they are older but it is expensive so you might want to see if you known someone that has it that you can borrow it from first to see if your child will watch it before spending the money. Good luck

It is possible to teach babies and young children to read! I've done it. We didn't use YBCR videos, but we read a book by a person who developed this model before Titzer did. His name is Glenn Doman. He has written several books: How to teach your baby to read, How to teach your baby math, How to teach your baby encyclopedic knowledge, How to make your baby physically superb. It's all geared at stimulating babies brains, and it's amazing! We found it because we have a son with a severe brain injury. That's who Doman first started working with, people with brain injuries. Once he realized these techniques could help brain injured people get better, he tried it on average children and found that you could take an average brain, stimulate it and accelerate it development. My 6 yo brain injured boy reads. My 5 yo non-brain injured child can read just about anything: chapter books, newspaper, cookbooks, and he's doing math at about a 3rd grade level. My 4 yo is learning to read, too. We also noticed huge speech gains in our children when we did these programs with them when they were younger. You might check out the videos that go with Doman's books to get a quick overview of how and why his programs work, then read the books to get more details. The method is so quick that you won't take away any of their playtime, and the benefits are so great! My 1 yo sees us reading all of the time, and he sits and tries to read. Children want to do what they see adults doing, so teaching them how to read really is fulfilling something they want to do anyway! I don't know how you feel about home-schooling, but if you do these programs, you may have a hard time finding a school to put your child in. My 5 yo is eligible to go to kindergarten this year (his b-day is in Nov), but how can I send a child who's reading and doing math on at least a third grade level to kindergarten? He'd be sooooo bored! We were already planning on home schooling, and teaching our children this way has given them a great jump start on their learning! Good luck!

L.,

I don't know about this system, but it is worth a try. I would also suggest that you ask your pediatrician for a referral to a speech therapist. He should be talking by now, and when it comes to development, particularly language development, you are better off knowing if you should worry (via a trained professional) than waiting to see if he will catch up. Please ask for that appointment today, it may be several weeks before you get in; early intervention is always most sucessful.

M.

Hello L.,
I tried the system when my daughter was a little over 1 years old. I read the book, made my own (totally saved money) flashcards and she wouldnt give me the time of day. Shes super active anyway, so I should have known it would be a bad idea. We just thought that since she loved to read books so much she would love it. I made it as exciting as could be, and she still turned me down. I tried to introduce it a few times with no luck. Currently the cards are under the bed..... Perhaps I will bring it back out. The demanding schedule seems a bit unrealistic. I think at one point they want you to show the cards like each half hour all day.... I was concered about that schedule, but none the less, we never made it that far.
I did make her some books. I took a scrap book and printed out pages from our computer. She loves that book. ITs about her and Daddy. So...she reads that one almost word for word.
I also discovered that she LOVES flashcards! So thats how we have been doing things. Of course SHE has to be in control of the cards.... lol
Sorry for the bad news.
Good luck, and perhaps your luck will be better than mine!
~ D.