Your Baby Can Read - Saint Paul,MN

I bought the system about a year ago. I've used it more consistently the last 6 months and my 3 year old is reading. In fact she read a book to me this morning. I'm starting to use the system with my 8 month old as well.

i didnt use that exact program but i did follow along the same lines. I created flash cards for everything in our home. my son never seemed to be paying attention but he is 17 months old and he came recognize a few words from the flash cards. i do not go through them all everyday. i just have them around the house and when he asks for something i read the flash card to him and point at it. the idea is a good one and it has helped my sons communication greatly. but i have used it loosely and i didn't buy the program

My opinion (not as someone who has bought it, but as a mother of 3 and having worked in early childhood education for over 20 yrs) is that it is a scam to make money. You can educate your child with out any program. If you are really interested in helping your child learn to read early on, read to your child every day, even now, before your baby is born. Let your child see you and your husband reading. If there is a love of reading in the house, your child is likely to pick up on that and love reading, as well. Teaching your child basic signs is very helpful, too. Babies can start signing at a much younger age than they can speak, so it is a great way of communication early on. ECFE is wonderful, I highly recommend it.
S.

As a reading teacher, I would tell you that the best thing you can do is to read to your kids every day!! I just read somewhere that if you read to your children 30 minutes a day your child will be prepared to start learning how to read. Find books that are repetative (Brown Bear, Brown Bear; Chicka-Chicka Boom Boom; the Bisquit books; nursery rhymes, etc). Ask in the children's section at the library or at your local bookstore. They will have tons of recommendations.

When you read a book, you don't have to read straight through or even read every word. Take time to talk about the pictures, ask your child questions about the pictures or what they would do if they were one of the characters. If you see something at the grocery store, or the park, or somewhere else that is like something in a book you read, point it out. Read books over and over and over. You will get sick of them, but the more familiar your child is with the story, the easier it will be for your child to eventually pick out works. Keep it natural. The thing I don't like about products like Your Baby Can Read is that they seem so stilted and unnatural.

Singing, playing rhyming games, making up stories, attending story times at the library/bookstore/coffeeshop etc, are all things that are going to help your child with learning how to read. I wouldn't waste my money on a product like Your Baby Can Read. Especially when there are things that you can do that are free or almost free!

Hi R.! I wouldn't waste the money. Reading to your child is the best way to help them learn early on.
When your child is older, I recommend the book "Teach Your Child To Read in 100 Easy Lessons". My sister used it for her kids and they learned very young. The book recommends use for ages 3 to 100 :)
We read a few dozen books per day. By the time my daughter was 14 months, she had a better vocab than a 3 year old. She is 2 1/2 now and her speech abilities are remarkable. All from reading! My son is exactly the same!
I admire you for challenging yourself to be a better reader! It's a gift you can give your baby from the start!

Oh, at age 4 we started using "Sing, Spell, Read and Write" for our son. He loves it! We started at the preschool level and are now doing the first grade level. He is homeschooled but I know many people who have used this program as a supplement to public school.

Grandma got this for my daughter for her 2nd birthday. She doesn't pay a bit of attention to it. I think it may be made for younger children but I haven't really checked out the box it came in. It certainly is boring. However, I don't really think it is necessary for a 2 year old to be able to read so I haven't really been too diligent with it.

I thought this was a neat program when I first saw it too and my sister has actually purchased it, but I soon realized it was just one more thing they market to parents with no real purpose. TV is the worst possible medium for a child to learn...it doesn't care how "educational" the programing is. It will actually lower your child's IQ. The recommendation is that children do not watch any TV before age 3, and this includes videos like this. The best way to teach a child to read it to read to them. My daughter is 2 and has at least 50 books read to her per day. Her vocabulary is higher than most 3 year olds, and she is recognizing words and letters already. I work for a book company that prides itself in educating children and they actually used to carry this program, but discontinued it early. Nothing can substitute for reading time. Good luck!

A.
http://www.myubam.com/c3313

I think I heard you can watch the your baby can read videos on You Tube. I don't know for sure, but i thought someone told me that. I would guess ( I don't know, i haven't seen them) that they are teaching "sight reading" where you just learn a number of words by their appearance. In my opinion that is not the best wat to learn to read - you learn a finite number of words, and have to keep learning more as you get older, what happens when you come across one you don't know??? I think phonics is a much better way so kids learn to sound words out by their letters, so as they grow, whenever they encounter a word they don't know, they can sound any word out. Also helps when learning a foreign language in high school. I would say "Hooked on phonics" or something like that would be a better use of money...but not for a baby/...maybe for a toddler/pre-schooler??

My daughter is 2.5 nad has known her ABCs since 19 months (just from playing with toys and singing the song), also has known all the letters and the sounds they make (from leapfrog fridge phonics toy) - the basis for learning to sound-out words and learn to read. She is starting to ask "what does ____ word start with?" and we say it slowly and then repeat the beginning sound (she is tarting to sound the beginning out herself too), and she will 95% of the time get it right...of course th, ch, sh, ph and f , c and k and g and j are confusing. She can also name all her colors, shapes (from the basic triangle square and circle, to octagon, pentagon, parallelagram), and count to 20, but this is all with just us reading, and talking about things as we go through our day, and her leap frog fridge phonics toy, and placemats with the letters, colors, numbers and shapes on them.

That said, my daughter does enjoy PBS especially Sesame Street and Word World. But we watch, read, talk and explore all these ocncepts in the real world, not just on TV.

Your child will learn much more from interacting with you than some video series.

Best luck with what you decide to do!

Jessie

My daughter was reading in full sentences when she was 3. Her dad and I started reading to her before she was born and we continued reading to her nearly every night. When she was about 2, we started reading together, where she would be looking at the words and pictures too. At 3, she started reading along. I figured she had just memorized the words because she was recite them word for word before I even spoke. I handed her a book that she wasn't familiar with and asked her to read it to me and she did! It was a total shock. Don't waste your money on this program. Start reading out loud right now, even before your child is born and then read consistently to help give her a love for reading. We used the Dr. Seuss series of books and I truly believe his use of rhymes and they way these books captured my daughters attention is what taught her to read. She is nearly 8 now, going into 2nd grade. At the beginning of 1st grade, she was reading at nearly 3rd grade level. She was the only one in her class reading chapter books. We continue to encourage reading and I believe this has set the groundwork for her excelling in other areas as well.

We purchased a used copy and thought it was still a waste of money! Reading is best. Our little has never sat in front of the tv and this is encouraging tv time. Just read to them and it will be better for both of you. TV is not they way to educate in my opinion.

R.,

I had a friend who did this with her first baby. At 18 months, she could sight read about a dozen words. After a while, she stopped working at it and her daughter forgot everything and was too stubborn to work with anymore, so she walked into Kindergarten not even being able to recognize or write every letter of the alphabet. She did just fine in Kindergarten and is an avid reader now at age 8. In fact, her mom has to drag her outside during the day and take away the books by 10 pm or she would never stop.

I didn't use this method, but always read to my babies and continued to read with them as they got older on a daily basis. I also set a good example by reading myself and having lots of books in the house and made library story time a regular part of our week. I taught them letters on my own about age 2-3 and numbers by 3-4. They have all been able to read by the time they entered kindergarten and read well above grade level through school without any kind of a formal program. I am trying "Hooked on Phonics" for my 2, 4, and 6 year old now for some variety. I have my complaints about the program, but it's effective, fun and doesn't require a lot of time. I just don't have the time with 4 kids that I did with my first. (If you do this, look for internet discounts. I picked them up for $10 per program.)

To be honest, I really don't think it matters what program you use or if you use one at all. I think children are bright and advanced because...

1. They have a genetic disposition that makes learning easier for them
2. They have a personality that loves learning
3. They have parents that take an active role in their education
4. They are taught to problem solve, be curious, explore, etc.

I think all the museum tours, trips to the library and the park, cooking projects, books on CD in the car, bike riding and nightly story times played just as big of a role in my children's educational success as the foam letters in the bathtub and the magnet letters on the fridge did. I never enrolled my children in sports, classes, lessons, formal preschool, etc. but just let them play in the yard and be kids.

I know the big push in this country is to drill them as young as possible for as long as possible to make them smart. It is backfiring terribly. Our first school did all day kindergarten and the kids were constantly filling out worksheets. 3 of the 20 kids in the class were repeating kindergarten from the year before and 4 of the 20 had to repeat the next year. My daughter was ridiculously ahead of the rest of the class and came home burned out every day from filling in bubble sheets.

We moved to Minnesota where Kindergarten for my son was only half day and they sing, play, do nursery rhymes, raise baby chicks, etc. Yet the kids knew more by the end of the year and no one had to repeat. My daughter had several kids in her Minnesota 1st and 2nd grade class on the same level as she was, so she was no longer "playing dumb" to fit in.

My advice would be to go with a natural, holistic approach to learning. Take your baby places, play and explore. Don’t sit baby in front of the TV. Give your baby age appropriate challenges and let you baby work through them and learn to problem solve and be creative. You don’t need to coddle and do everything for baby, but don’t push so hard that all enthusiasm for learning is crushed. If your child seems to be noticeably behind by age 3, then it would be appropriate to seek some outside help. Minnesota has mandatory preschool screening at this age to catch those who are struggling and give them additional services.

Congrats on becoming a mommy,
S.

i HAVE the your baby can read, and i have used it. my son was recognizing certain words, and he really liked it. he still asks to watch it, just as he would ask to watch cars :P

so i can assure you that kids DO like it, and it certainly cant hurt.

ECFE is important because it has a routine like school, the teacher, the other kids .. etc. the process i feel is important to getting a kid used to the school classroom. its hard for kids, especially boys, to deal with traditional learning because boys dont like to have to sit down and pay attention for long periods, and thats how school is traditionally set up.

SO, the your baby can read system is a great idea. i like it and it does work, but the idea is to use it every day, and you have to do it WITH your child. you cannot just plop them in front of it and leave them watching it, my son stopped learning things completely when i did that. when i did it with him, he seemed to learn a lot faster and a lot more. :D we havent used it in a while (its been a busy summer!) but i really want to get back into it again! :D its awesome!

I must agree with alot of the other moms. I think "Your Baby can Read" is kind of a scam in that it teaches recognition of a word/symbol, but doesn't teach any kind of phonics or real reading. I don't have personal experience with it though so I don't know for sure.

I do know that my son, who will be in 4 year old kindergarten this year, already knows all of his ABC's, both capital and lowercase, and can really READ 50-75 words. He can sound out alot of simple words and recognizes others. He's surprised me reading over my shoulder before and correctly identifying words I've never worked on with him.

All of this was accomplished with reading to him and getting him fun ABC activities that I could do with him. I never pushed ABC's on him, but let him choose what activity he wanted. For example: Do you want to play with your cars? Or take a bath? Or playing with your ABC cards? I only worked on ABC stuff if he wanted to, and he often did because I had some fun ABC activities, like an ABC dry erase marker board so he could practice writing his letters, or reading ABC books (He has 3 different ones), or playing with ABC flashcards that have pictures on them, or reading cards I made at home with common words and names on them for him to practice and make funny sentences with.

You can help your child be a great reader from home with activities like this. And honestly, I only spent 20-40 min a day or less with it. Although I do ALWAYS read a few books before bedtime and naptime. My son is even learning all the states now, just because I found a fun USA puzzle where he can take all the states out and see where they go. He knows almost 20 states now.

Just make learning fun and spend a short time daily on it. You don't need special programs to help your child learn to read.

Good luck!

S.

Hi R.,
We have Your baby Can Read. My son has Down syndrome so I've gone to lots of seminars on brain development, reading, etc. I 100% believe that young children can learn sight words. This is NOT phonics. Until they are able to process 6 or more sounds (usually not until 6 or 7 years old) they can not read phonically. BUT, they can read in the whole word approach - meaning they read the word as a whole and don't break down the words to individual letters. Remember, reading is simply another form of language and before 5 is the ideal time for learning a language.
My only issues with this program is it is time consuming - the videos are about 30 minutes that they watch a couple of times a day. The flashcards and accessories are great for all kinds of activities on language development.
We have not followed this program because of the length of time, but my kids do watch it on occasion.
We ended up using a different program call eReadingpro which is a flashcard program. I tried to put something like this together and just never got is very organized. This program comes with everything you need, including a manual on how to use it, all of the flashcards, etc., and a schedule of which words to do every day. After about a 2 hour set up of the program (writing out the cards, organizing it, etc.) we were ready to start. It only takes a couple of minutes a day. About a month after we started, we took a break (for several reasons). A month later I got it back out and started over. My son with DS took the flashcards onto the couch that day and started flipping through them and said some of the words all by himself, so obviously, he was learning these. I was amazed! By the way, his younger sister (3 at the time) who is "typically developing" knew all of the words we started. She learned the words right away!

If you are interested in more information about this program, please email me at ____@____.com.

Thanks,
K.

P.S. We do still use both programs. We are of the mind that the more ways he (my son) is exposed to something (multisensory), the more quickly he will learn it. So, I do think it is a good program if you have the time to put into it. As for it being a scam, I think it is more a matter of how much time you have to do this on your own. I found that I needed a purchased program in order to put it all together and have some routine to follow otherwise it never got done. It was expensive, but it saved me TONS of time and effort, which was invaluable to me. Learning language is not just about reading, it is about so much more - concepts, colors, vocabulary, and most importantly - neurodevelopment. You don't need a program like this to work on these things, but it is a nice addition!

I agree with the other comments. I think reading to your child will be the best learning experience. There are many websites now that have games, flashcards, etc that go along with many popular books. PS. my son is almost 4 and he "reads" some of his favorite books to me. It is amazing what they can memorize when they are having fun.

I am using the Your Baby Can Read for my daughter who is now 26 months since she was eight months. At first, she learned a lot of vocabulary and now she can read over 20 words. We do not use the program at the frequency that it suggests and I find that there are times she wants to spend more time with it and times where she does not think about it. She loves watching the DVDs and it is the only thing she watches on TV. She also enjoys the books and likes playing games with the flashcards. I might have been able to get similar results if I had worked at it but this program has given her a way to learn that is fun.
I used Hooked On Phonics with my older son starting when he was almost four. He asked me to buy it for him and it worked very well. He is twelve now and continues to read well above grade level.

I just recently did some research into this after seeing it on tv. The reviews I found were a pretty equal mix of Loved it or Hated it.
From what I got out of it, the program is not teaching them to "read" words but memorize them as sight words. Which is something that would give them a jump start once they reach school. Their website did state does not work well if just starting the program as a toddler and it is better for them to learn phonically at that age. So, if you decide to purchase the product I'd start it when your child is young.
Good Luck :)

I also looked at getting Your Baby Can Read, but saw another option under the Preschool Prep series. I first purchased the "Meet the Colors" dvd, and my son LOVED it. The dvds are repetitive, and locked my son in from the beginning. He learned his colors in no time so I then purchased "Meet the Numbers" and then "Meet the Letters". He now knows his numbers up to 10 and most of his letters. I bought the first dvd when he was 1 year old, he is now two. But I also have a daughter that will be 1 the end of September and she also loves to watch the dvds. I guess the main reason why I went with the Preschool Prep Series instead of Your Baby Can Read was because it seemed like it had more options, like learning colors, numbers, shapes....ect. I love them and would recommend them to anyone. I also read to both my kids every night. Good Luck.
www.preschoolprepco.com

C.

Let your baby be a baby. He/She has no need to read until ready to do so. There are so many more important things you need to teach your child like how to solve problems and share with others. Read to your baby daily--the rest will come in time. That's what I did and my two oldest children taught themselves how to read at 4 & 5 years old.

J.

I have taught both preschool and kindergarten, and have two kids of my own. I can tell you from experience that reading to your child every day is the best thing you can do to help your child become a reader.

We read to our children daily starting when they were just a few months old, and they both learned how to read when they were only four. They have always been great readers, and they still (at 9 and 12) read 30-90 minutes a day for fun.

Here are some things you can do:
*get great board books to read to your baby
*don't waste time or money on poorly-written books
*read daily yourself (your child will copy you)
*go to the library every week for more books
*buy books from book clubs once your child is in school -- the prices are great (but avoid the marketing tie-ins; just get the quality children's literature that's available)
*give your child ABC games like magnets and puzzles
*when a toddler, let your child draw and "write" daily

If you love reading, and you convey that to your child, he or she will love it, too.

For more inspiration, read "The Read-Aloud Handbook" by Jim Trelease, and "How to get Your Child to Love Reading" by Esme Raji-Codell.

I was also interested in this product and did some research on the internet and found some reviews. Most were similar to what moms here have said, but something else stood out that I thought I'd pass along.

Most of the parents who were not happy with it tried to return it in the 30 days time and had A LOT of problems with the company that was handling it. They also said that the company shipped ALL of the materials at once making it more difficult to return it all. And some complained that they were charged the $100 plus dollars (or more...it's been a while since I read the reviews) even though they returned the items on time.

I would suggest finding the starter version of the program second hand and seeing if it works for your child, if you are still interested. Then you can add the next steps if it seems like it is working.

That's what I planned to do, but have been on the fence about it.

Good luck!