"Your Baby Can Read" Does it Work? - Page 2

[Youngfrankenstein]

Originally Posted by gcgirl

I'd skip it. However, I did start my 16-month old on Starfall.com, just as a fun diversion for us to do together, not expecting him to learn anything...but he learned his letters in a few months. I actually stopped doing it because I was worried about pushing him too hard.

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I always tell people that the internet taught dd to read. Starfall was a fun sight for her and it taught her how to read. She was 4.

[bnhmama]

You'd be MUCH better off plunking the money down on a batch of great books.

Yes, children memorize words and even remember them by sight. However, there's a HUGE component missing-comprehension. You can show a child ANY Picture/word/whatever a million times and say the word and they are likely going to memorize it. That's basic brain development. The more times something is repeated, the more likely the baby is to remember it.


FYI: I work with parents and children from Birth-five.

[velochic]

I think that more than learning to read, babies need interaction. There's a reason that it's not recommended to have babies watch ANY TV at all. Babies learn best from people, not screens. I think it's great to have the tools available and interact with your child, but if they'd rather play with trucks than letter, let them. Those trucks are teaching a valuable lesson, too.

We had some magnetic letters for dd and she knew all of her letters at 19 months - she had never seen a video in her life at that time, but we read a lot. It was just interest and asking and interacting. Then she just stopped being interested in letters and moved on to something else (puzzles and building, I think). I didn't push it. I knew she'd do it when she was ready. She was 4 before she started showing any additional interest and we got her some early readers. Then, without any prompting, the summer before Kindergarten she just started reading without me even knowing. Before I knew it, she was reading proficiently. It CLICKED. She is now the best reader in her grade and reads anything from her level to several grades above her. I didn't do anything... at all... other than read to her a lot and provide the tools. (She does attend a private language immersion school, so they were teaching her pre-reading skills for the target language, not English. Practice for English was all at home until 1st grade, but we didn't use a "program".)

I think the synapses have to develop and until they do, there isn't any amount of forcing a child to do something before they are developmentally ready. It's a waste of money, time, and probably patience. I've seen the ads and it looks like a rather ridiculous program. JMHO.