Has Anyone Ever Tried the "Your Baby Can Read" Program?

I'm an Educational Consultant with Usborne Books, and until last year when the makers of Your Baby Can Read went Hollywood - LOL - I was selling this product. (They ended their relationship with Usborne, which was not the preference of Dr. Titzer, who created it. It was just a marketing decision, and I guess you can't fault them for wanting to make as much money as they can from it.)

Anyway, it really works with many kids! My caution to you is that it MUST be done informally! No matter what the parent suggestions say, I do NOT suggest putting the children in front of it for a certain amount of time each day. If I were using it, I'd just run it once a day and see who's interested in in. The children who are drawn to it will be the ones who are open to learn what it's teaching.

And don't use the flashcards for drill. That's just not an effective way that young children learn. This has to stay fun or it's not worth it. In fact, it can turn off a little child from wanting to learn to read at all! Keep it exciting, and make sure they're having a ball doing it.

The only other thing is to examine our motives. Some people want their children to read early so they can brag about them. But this isn't about US; it's about the little ones! Children learn at MUCH different paces, and although some pick up on things quickly, others may just not be ready. I would not even start showing the videos to a child until they were two. Babies may be able to learn to read, but they certainly don't have to! They can learn just as much by waiting, and that's the truth!

By the way, I am a teacher with an extensive background in Early Childhood Education. So I'm rather passionate about this topic, hence all the exclamation marks! :)

The fact that you took the time and effort to ask about this is a good sign that you want what's right for the children!

Your Baby Can Read is a good product. It has a long history of helping a lot of children, including many with special needs, to unlock the mystery of reading. As long as it's not misused, it can work wonders.

One last thing: experts have found that children need to hear 1,000 stories before they learn to read on their own. So the best thing any of us can do is to read to them, read to them, and read to them! One story a day will add up to 1,000 in just 3 years. And as they hear those stories, they start noticing common words and letters, and pretty soon it just happens - they're reading!

Good luck with your adventure. I very much admire you for having a home day care and being concerned about the education of the children you care for!

1 mom found this helpful

Hi there! I am an early literacy trainer and Children's Librarian and will respectfully disagree with most of the other posters! Reading, singing and talking with your children are the best activities to build early literacy skills. If your 3-4 year olds are pre-reading, you are clearly doing all of those things already. You would be hard-pressed to find many, if any, early childhood specialist who would recommend this program. My daughter just turned two and talks up a storm and has been talking in sentences since about 16 months. We have just created a positive, language-rich environment for her, as have you. The choice, obviously, is up to you but for me, the argument is not whether or not it works as much as whether or not it is developmentally appropriate. (I have seen the infomercials, by the way. I also have a 6-week-old and am up a lot in the middle of the night when they are on. :) )

Love the Bob Books, too, by the way, as well as the Sunshine series! For more information google "Every Child Ready to Read." The site has some great research as well as games you can play with the older children in your care.

1 mom found this helpful

N., I have not done the Titzer program, but use the Teach your baby to read program by Glenn Doman. It works! My brain injured 7 year old learned to read. My 6 year was a fluent reader by 4 1/2 and my almost 5 year old is a fluent reader. I also have a 3 year old and 2 year old with whom I am doing flashcards this summer. My 3 yo was speaking in complete sentences when he was two, thanks to the program and my current 2 yo is speaking in complete sentences. It's a wonderful program, as are the math and encyclopedic knowledge programs by Doman!
R.

I have the Your Baby Can Read Program. My mother got it for my 18month old at christmas. My daughter loves the DVD's she ask to watch them all the time. I think the program has helped her with learning how to say words and what things are. Like her nose and what an elephant is. We have not been as good about going over the flash cards with her. But I have a friend who is and her daughter does recongize some of the words. Some of the words on the DVD are big words and I think kind odd they start out with those but that is my only complaint. Hope this helps! I think it is wonderful you are trying to teach them to read! My daughter goes to a in home childcare 1 day a week and there is no education at all. Are you in the Dayton area?

Hi N.,
We bought the program and started it in December when my daughter was 20 months old. She now reads about 70 words out of the 164 words in the program. It took 3 days for her to learn her first two words. Meaning the word would come up on the screen and she would respond to it...either verbally or by touching that body part or whatever. I do the flashcards with her daily for about 15 minutes. It has exceeded our expectations. It comes with different sets of flashcards - some have pictures and some don't. We bought little plastic animals of the cards that don't have pictures and right now she matches all 20 of the animals we have to the correct cards. We do them once a day. Everyone who comes over is amazed at what she's doing and she's not an overly verbal kid. I just bought more animals to do the rest of them with her. I also have a 9 month old who sometimes pays attention to the screen, but isn't doing anything yet with it.

I think it's great you are thinking of doing this with your daycare kids. My oldest asks to watch the DVDs. It's our routine to watch them right before bed. I thought it was (and is) well worth the money.

Best of luck!
L.

I think it really depends on your children and you said that they are already pre-reading. Like with any other prgrms it works for some and not for others. But I think that you can also teach your kids to read yourself w/other material (if you want to save a little money).

My only concern with "Your Baby Can Read" is that from what I have seen, it teaches the children how to sight read, to know a word by the way it looks. To really know how to read, in my opinion, is that a person or child does not know how to read unless they know the phonics. Once they know the sound the letter makes, they are not bound by the words that they see but by sounding out the word.
My son was in sixth grade reading first grade level by sight words. I taught him phonics and his reading level raised 3 grade levels in 15 months. My youngest daughter was reading 1st grade level by the age of 4 because she could sound out the words herself. The program I used is Fast Track Reading.

I bought this program about a month ago. I think that it is something that would definetly not harm any learning. It comes with dvd's, flash cards, books. my 18 month old occasionally looks at the dvd when its on. her attention isnt in to it, but I make my 4 yr. old watch it and work with it more and she knows about ten words now. I would recommend it. B.

Hello N.,

I taught all of my children to read by using the "Bob Book" series. (Available at any book store in the children's section) They are in a color-coded boxed set and you move to a different color as they advance. They were all interested around age 4 and we were through the series in no-time with daily practice. Its amazing how fast they pick it up. I'm not familiar with the "Your Baby Can Read" program, but if it incorporates simple words and repeating word patterns, you will most likely have success. We found the Bob Books easy and inexpensive. Our library also carries them.

We bought the Your Baby Can Read DVD's from an authorized reseller from Ebay. It didn't include the flashcards but was a little less expensive. My son loves the DVD's and learned very quickly. It is really worth the money in my opinion. I'm very happy to see all the positive reviews.

M.