When my son was born I was really excited to share my love of books with him. However, it seemed like every time I would try to read to him, he would quickly lose interest and resort to chewing on the book instead. Discovering the "mechanics" of the book was much more entertaining to him than actually looking at what was on the pages. I figured there wasn't much I could do, other than to keep trying in hopes that one day he would be interested in the words and the pictures.Luckily, I found out about the Your Baby Can Read early language development system. Created by Dr.Robert Titzer, the program consists of DVDs and word cards designed to help babies and toddlers learn to read. According to Titzer, there is a natural window of opportunity for learning language that begins at age three months. At this age, it is easier for children to understand and learn a language at a high level. By four years, this window begins to close.
There are five DVDs in the program. My 16 month old son just started Volume one after watching the starter DVD for a month. I'd never been able to get him to watch an educational video before because he gets bored and tires easily. I was amazed, then, when he sat through the entire 20 minute video and really seemed like he was interested. Basically, how the DVDs work is that they show a simple written word such as "Clap" as somebody says it aloud. Then, through other children, animals, songs, and poems, the word is demonstrated and your child is encouraged to interact (such as clapping himself.) Simple, yet effective. My son loves watching the DVD and now when I read him a book, I notice that he's much more attentive. He points to the words and the pictures on the pages and then babbles. So far, I'm impressed and I'm looking forward to seeing his progress as he works his way through the rest of the DVDs in the set.
Check out the Your Baby Can Read website for more info and also to watch videos of babies reading - amazing!
That is awesome, Marissa! I really liked it and want to buy it soon! ;-) Since Sophia likes to read books and talk, it might improve her vocabulary and she might read before she goes to school, haha! Very cool! Very interesting! Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteFor a differnt pov:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.youandyourchildshealth.org/articles/teaching%20our%20children.html
Well done, Marissa. That youandyourchildshealth.org article is misleading. It assumes that early readers will not figure out phonetic rules and learn by phonics. Our son also used YBCR (and other tools) and is now reading simple books at 2 yrs. Maybe a more interesting article would be a retrospective of longitudinal study data... www.gifted.uconn.edu/nrcgt/newsletter/june91/june9112.html
ReplyDeleteAgreed - let's see some longitudinal data, rather than an ad-hoc opinion of an MD with no lit to back his opinion presented. If a child is "pushed" to read too early what happens? Exactly - NO-ONE knows. There's reason to be skeptical of all people's opinions, irrespective of the letters behind their names. For what it's worth here's my experience. I was reading as as a two year old after being taught with a similar system as this (albeit a far older less tech heavy way of doing it) and my literacy was able to be accelerated as a result. I was elevated through grades at school and my confident blossomed. I achieved highly in University and graduate school. Additionally I devoured books and literature of all types allowing me to be very broadly read, even as a child. I don't care what a pediatrician says, I will be buying my child this set.
ReplyDeleteYes this program really is awesome we started our 1 year old on it and we were amazed at the results. Shes now way ahead at school and loves reading so we are very happy!
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