"Your Baby Can Read"? Feedback from those who have tried it

[Koalamom]

I have found alot of threads about this program, but almost no one has ever actually tried it. My MIL got this for my kids for a gift and I don't know what to think. I would never have spent the money myself, but now that I have it, I wonder if it is worth it.

Any feedback is fine, but I especially am looking for info from those who have tried it. Did it work for you? Was it a waste of time? How old were your kids?

[TiredX2]

Moved to Books, Music & Other Media

[Tjej]

Well, my friend had it. Her mom actually bought it (the grandma) and used it during the weeks she did daycare for my friend. I visited with them one afternoon and saw the little girl watching it. She was definitely familiar with the words, and they seemed to think she was reading them, although it could easily also have been that she had memorized the order of the video. There are flash cards you're supposed to do to make sure they get the words in another context, and my friend didn't really have the time/energy to make that happen.

It's pretty time intensive if you do it as they say. It did seem to be working, but on a 1yo the results are a bit questionable/hard to read.

Tjej

[aprilsnow]

My daughter's daytime caregiver has this and shows the video twice a day (which I am not at all happy about, but that's a different topic...). With the caveat that I haven't actually watched an entire video, my opinion is that it does not teach reading, just word recognition. My 18-month-old daughter can recognize a few words, but not based on sounding out letters, you know what I mean? It is just memorizing what word goes with what sound, and she sometimes gets it wrong and points to a word that has NOTHING at all in common with the actual word that makes the sound. I don't really see the purpose of teaching word recognition rather than actual reading. I think it involves a lot of TV watching with no demonstrated benefit. Just my 2 cents!

[JessicaS]

I haven't tried it.


Babies are like sponges, they will learn what you teach them. If having them recognize a handful of words is important to you then you can use it but I don't see any value in spending that time on trying to teach a baby to read.

A child that age will learn what they are taught whether that is their ABCs, knowing the different types of cheese or to recognize Beethoven when they hear it.