Your Baby Can Read...anyone Trying This?

Is there any research to show that that the earlier a child learns to read the better they do in school or more successful they are in life? I don't know, but I tend to doubt it. My daughter pretty much taught herself to read at an early 3 years old after learning some letter sounds in daycare. My son could care less about reading and letter sounds until kindergarten. They are both well above grade level for reading now, and actually my son is more advanced for his age than my daughter. What I am trying to say is I don't think the age at which they learn to read will affect their innate ability to read very much, if at all. However playing and socializing at an early age will help them with socialization skills in the long run. Learning through tactile play will help them develop connections of words to their past experiences when they do learn to read.

Sighhh . . . .
Your first "judgments" were correct.
Reading comes later.
imo.
Really.

Do you want a toddler (in a year or two)
sitting in a rocker reading a book?

Or do you want her playing with her peers,
pedaling her tricycle, climbing on the playground equipment,
running up and down the block with the neighbor kids?

Flashcards are separate little chunks of data.
They have no integration with books or real life.
imo.

One of the most exciting moments in my life
was at the public library with my son,
who was somewhere between 2 and 2-1/2 at the time.
He had been watching Sesame Street regularly.

There was an EXIT sign over the door.
He said, "Yook Mommy. ESKIT!"
Ahhhhh . . . .

Somehow that seems far more exciting and rewarding to me
than training your child to react to and respond to flashcards.

No offense whatsoever intended, but I just don't understand why so many people seem to want their babies to learn to read?

I get that reading is an important skill, but for babies? Why?

There are SO many other wonderful things to teach and share with your baby that are developmentally appropriate and meaningful.

They all learn to read at some point, don't they?

I'm sorry, I know that didn't answer your question, and I hate when I ask for a specific kind of response, and I get what I just posted! ugh...

I don't have experience with the program itself so I can't speak to that. But I have to respectfully disagree with Shira P. I learned to read at 2.5 y.o (as in reading books - not just words). I had an older sibling who thought it was fun to teach me what she was learning in school and voila. I did read quite a bit - but I also spent PLENTY of time climbing trees, playing on swingsets, biking around the neighborhood (when I was older), playing at friends' houses, playing dolls, etc etc etc. One could also argue that letting a 2 year old watch Sesame Street regularly would prevent playtime - but of course that's not the case.

Now, as an adult, I LOVE reading. Always have. I read very quickly and it has served me well in all walks of life. It made school much easier, homework quicker, college not as stressful and law school not as "rough" as many feel it can be.

Again - no specific kudos for the program itself, but in my opinion nothing but good can come from learning to read early.

When my son was about 18 months I seriously thought about purchasing the program but then I saw the price! YIKES! I didn't have to spend all that money to teach him. He learned to read through fun, books, pointing at words when we were out, going to the library, finger painting and sidewalk chalk. etc. He is now 5 and is above reading level in his class AND I didn't have to spend all that money! I've always been super involved with his learning.

Best of luck!

I did not use this particular program, but I did teach my toddler to read at around 18 mos. old. And, I'm lazy. HE wanted to learn the names of everything, including letters, which then became words. I also taught him a lot of sign language, which I believe helped reinforce the pictures and letters/words on the flashcards.

Honestly, you already mentioned the developmentally appropriate aspect. Unless your little one is super interested, I say forget about it and enjoy being a messy, muddy, happy, toddler. Read lots and lots of books.

I recommend teaching sign language instead. That skill is very useful. My son and I can still communicate across noisy, crowded rooms and stores with sign language. I remember when he was about 14 mos. old we were outside on a porch, it was cold and he turned around and signaled me for his hat. And I got it for him.

Don't contemplate it anymore. A good friend of mine bought into it. It actually encourages you to sit your baby in front of a TV to memorize sight words. So they aren't really reading. AND they're sitting in front of a TV when they could be sitting with you. There are so many more fun things you can do with your baby instead of sitting him/her in front of a TV. Your baby will learn to read in time. We all do. For now just enjoy babyhood. It goes by too fast.

Someone gave me this to see if i'd like it and i did not. Its very boring and repetitive. And you have to sit your child in front aof a tv for a long time. I don't care is my baby reads before the age of 4 anyways. I have a 7 yr old is above her reading level and in gifted classes and i just worked really hard with her. We read lots of books, practiced abc's, painting, and she developed a love for reading. I've also read that if parents read a lot then children are more likely to read too. My husband and i always have books and we all love going to the library as a family.

your baby CAN read this young! but i go along with your first instincts, which are the babies want to do exactly what they should do at each developmental phase, which only roughly corresponds with charts and expert opinions.
babies don't need flashcards and fancy curricula. they need lots of playtime and lots of lap time with mommy reading to them.
khairete
S.

I tried it. It is a lot of work for both the parent and child. not that I'm not willing to put the effort in but I have two toddlers and work full time. The program requires a great deal of effort - there are books to read and videos and flashcards. The videos were ok....my daughter liked them but she is a tv zombie - she will watch anything. My son, not so much. Eventually, they did however, memorize the dvds after watching them several times. I'm not sure that meant they were really learning to read though...
The only part of the program I like were the flashcards that have an end piece that pull out to expose the picture of the word on the card. My kids loved it, learned the words and then would be superexcited to see the "surprise picture" of the object when they got it right. Honestly, you could make those yourself at home.
I'm not knocking the system, just not really buying into it.

As a former reading tutor, I've checked into this program, which drills babies on the shapes of words, and if repeated often enough, babies can sometimes learn a word as a visual pattern. While the advertising is crafty, this is NOT reading, has nothing to do with letter sounds or how to recognize letter combinations.

Babies need play. Free play, exploratory play, pretend play, manipulative play, and more play. This is the baby's real "work." This is what allows the brain to develop properly. Early "reading" will take time away from real play.

Your baby will take up real reading just as soon as she's ready if you read to her, enjoy reading yourself, and talk to her about everything in clear sentences, avoiding baby talk. The single best predictor of a child's success in school is a big vocabulary and the ability to use language well.

I have heard several teachers comment that "My Baby Can Read" actually confuses kids when it's time to learn real reading. They can be resistant to giving up the simple "memorization" approach, and therefor have trouble learning letter sounds and applying phonics.

I hope you'll save your money!

I agree with Peg M. You kid will learn when he/she is ready. While becoming literate is invaluable, an early reader can present a problem in finding age-appropriate books.
I have an early reader, at not yet 4 1/2 she can read lexile 250-300 with ease, (starting Magic Tree House series) but her comprehension is way behind, as is her vocabulary. We have to discuss almost every paragraph to make sure she is getting the story (not that that is a bad thing). She loves reading and it is strange for me that she loves stories when she doesn't fully know what is going on. I think she loves the fact she can read, and she reads a tremendous amount on her own. There are good age-appropriate series (Van Leeuwan's Amanda and Oliver Pig Series) but finding them is work and when they can read a stack of books in a sitting it is a challenge to stay ahead! If she started earlier and was even more advanced that would make for even greater a challenge at this stage.
If you child knows all his/her letters and sounds by 3 and is highly self-motivated I would recommend "Teach Your baby to Read in 100 Easy Lessons"
Early readers are amazing! Have fun!

I haven't tried it. What I did, was purchased books of the tv shows my little girl showed interested in and read those to her. I also got magnet letters and used them to play word games. Bascially anything fun I could find or makeup a game to make reading fun, was what I did. (Ok bragging time), In fact, my parents (both of whom are teachers) are impressed with her reading skills and this past summer my dad gave her the kindergarden exit exam and she past (she was two at the time)

She is now 3 and loves to be on the computer, her favorite websites are sesamestreet.org and starfall.com. I think starfall.com is great learning to read website.