Unless you’ve been living under a rock, odds are you’ve, at one time or another, heard of the program, “Your Baby Can Read” – particularly if you’re up for those 3 a.m. feedings. However, if you’re in the dark on what it is, here is a brief overview:
“Your Baby Can Read” is based on the premise that there is a “natural window of opportunity from about birth to age four [where children] read better and are more likely to enjoy it.” –Official website for YBCR
Scroll down for a list of what is included when purchasing this product.
On November 1, 2010 NBC News (the Today show) reported findings they collected via “child development experts from the nation’s most prestigious institutions of learning…as part of their investigation of the “Your Baby Can Read” program.”
This article immediately caught my attention, as I have seen advertisements for this program on numerous occasions. I can’t deny that I haven’t been intrigued – particularly since home pre-schooling attempts often result in my child pretending to fall asleep. No, I’m not making that up.
We’ll take a look at the findings of these child development experts, as well as providing you with feedback from parents who have used this product.
The Experts' Perspective on “Your Baby Can Read”
From the ten experts that the Today Show contacted, all of them basically agreed that:
“Young children can be made to recognize or memorize words, but the brains of infants and toddlers are just not developed enough to actually learn to read at the level the way the enticing television ads claim they can.”
However, the creator of this program, Dr. Robert Titzer, is quoted in the article as saying in response to this feedback, “They’re all wrong.” While Dr. Titzer acknowledges that the program begins with memorization, “he insisted that it leads to reading.”
To view both the experts’ responses and Dr. Titzer’s defense of his program, in their entirety, click here.
The Parent Perspective
Admittedly, as I began searching for parental reviews and feedback regarding usage of this product, it took some digging to find the positives, but once I found them, I found an abundance of them. Following are the results of my searching:
The Positive
- An honest review of “Your Baby Can Read” by Angelle Farrell Houston Baby & Toddler Gear Examiner
- Review of “Your Baby Can Read” DVD Early Language Development System by D. Matt, Associated Content
- Your Baby Can Read! – DVD Set Review – by Carey Bryson, via About.com
- Positive Review (condensed version and considered to be the most helpful favorable review) – It works, but it’s kind of boring… She knows how to read many words from the DVD by sight, and is the talk of the town, but of course she cannot sound words out. The theory behind "Your Baby Can Read" is that your baby will eventually figure out how to sound out words if she learns enough words. She confuses similar words pretty often, like yes and eyes. She also forgets a lot of the words if I don't review them with her for a couple of days. –Amazon.com Product Reviews
The Negative
- “Your Baby Can Read” – A VERY BAD WAY TO TEACH READING!! As posted on Epinions.com
- Amazon.com reviews are mixed going back and forth between the positive and the negative.
- Your baby is illiterate: A review of the “Your Baby Can Read” program – by Jeff, via Jeff’s ADD Mind
- Negative Review (condensed version and considered to be the most helpful critical review) – Don’t get your hopes up. Honestly, I'm embarrassed to say I thought he'd learn to read from this program. It mainly just shows a handful of odd words and throws in some nursery rhymes for good filler. Absolutely no ABC's and their sounds on this anywhere. It definitely WILL NOT teach your child to read from the average child's book...just maybe the provided flap books and flash cards. Those are the ONLY words this set will teach. –Amazon.com Product Reviews
Ultimately, only you can decide if it’s worth it to you to spend the money* on this product. While I’m quite certain I did not start reading any earlier than my peers with the aid of any programs like this; I still became a voracious reader early on who soon became addicted to the written word. But, I would be remiss not to point out that times; they are a-changing; what kids need to know now going into kindergarten is far more than when I started school.
What are your thoughts? Would you buy this product? Have you, what did you think? Leave a comment below.
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What you get:
- “Your Baby Can Read!” 5-level DVD reading system, 5 sets of sliding word cards (to be used to reinforce the information from the DVDs), and 5 lift-a-flap books (word and picture books). For the parents: Parent’s guide, learning workshop DVD, and teaching cards. –Official website for YBCR
*Be aware, the product appears to cost $14.95 (that’s the 30-day risk free trial), but in reality it can cost anywhere up to and over $200. The cost seems to depend on where you purchase the product from, but be sure if you’re ordering it online or via phone to find out exactly what you’ll be charged and when.
Comments
Great piece on Your Baby Can Read. It seems that whether or not it works depends on the parents expectations.
I'd definitely agree with that. And who knows, as the experts said, if they truly are learning to read, but I'd say just letter recognition (memorization or not) is a plus, regardless how it's come by.
Philosophies on this subject do back and forth every decade.
I started reading at two -- no fancy flashcards or DVDs, just a beloved copy of the Poky Little Puppy that I loved so much I wanted to read it to myself continually. Kids can do almost anything as long as they're interested in it!
Thank you for this short, but informative summary of the different points of view about the program. It seems that few subjects related to child upbringing stirs people’s passions like early childhood education, except maybe the Ferber versus attachment parenting discussion, and the breastfeeding versus formula discussion. I am not a child development expert, but I am a foreign-born scientist who got her doctorate in this country, therefore in a language that was not my native tongue, and which I learned during my early teens. My mother taught me to read before school, using her own method, which as I vaguely recall was a combination of phonics, constant exposure to books, and no TV. Is this why I was able to pursue advanced studies in a foreign country? I don’t know, but I do recall getting straight as through school. I am accomplished, but I know many people who are a lot more accomplished than I am, economically and otherwise.
When I had my baby (a boy, now 10 month old), it was a no-brainer (no pun intended) for me to teach him to read early, i.e. before school. After all, isn’t reading the key to learning anything down the line? And maybe some children can just pick it up by osmosis, but for most, you have to teach them. Your Baby Can Read was just a tool, which was more convenient than making my own word cards, such as described in the Doman method (Teach your baby to read), which was first published in the 70s, I believe. There are many other great methods out there (Brillkids, Monkee See, etc, ), and all of them will work if you actually put in the effort, which needs to be substantial and consistent, but the rate of success will also depend on your child’s natural abilities (that’s right, not everyone is an Einstein), your child’s gender (studies shows that girls are more verbal, and that by 16 months they know about 50 words, versus 30 for boys), whether your child lives in a bilingual household and has to learn more than one language, and the general quality of the environment your child is in. None of these methods involve plopping the child in front of the video as a baby sitter but requires you to interact with your child during the video and to reinforce the video’s content with print material, and by other frequent exposures to words, letters, etc. The debate about children memorizing the words versus learning phonics is absurd in my opinion: Of course children are memorizing the words at first, like they might memorize letters, numbers, colors, and everything else that make up the basic fabric of life. You have to start somewhere and studies have shown that very young children (babies) learn through whole word recognition (right brain) and older toddlers start learning by phonics (left brain). All I know is that by constant exposure to something, you learn it and you start discerning the patterns (a famous Russian proverb states that “Repetition is the mother of learning”). I also know that children (younger than 4) in bilingual households learn both languages as their native language, and that they lose this ability as they get older, so without pandering to Dr. Titzer, it is pretty obvious that young children are particularly good at acquiring language skills in ways that is unparalleled in later years.
We have been doing Your Baby Can Read with my son since day 1, and at 7 months he could pick out the right cards from the first set maybe 85% of the time. Now at 10 months he recognizes more. He doesn’t do the movements on the video, so he is not as advanced as the little Aleka on Dr. Titzer’s video who was doing the movements at 9 months, but again, I think that there are fundamental differences between boys and girls at that age and in early toddlerhood. We also do phonics (we have the 3-letter word set from Leapfrog on the fridge), and even though he is supposed to be too young to grasp them, it must be working because he is much better with 3 letter words than with any others, so he is not strictly learning by whole word recognition. And of course we read to him and speak to him all the time in both languages, and he doesn’t watch any other programs. When he is 18 months, I will switch to the Brillkid program for variety, and also because it teaches math.
To the parents who clamor ‘let children be children and play’, well, being a child is about learning stuff, either good stuff or useless stuff. My son is very active, is almost walking, has tons of unstructured play time and toys, goes on hikes with us, and has traveled by plane several times, so it is not like we strap him to a chair, and torture him with this. Actually he loves the videos AND being quizzed with the cards. Learning is only work for those who don’t enjoy it, and so much of what a child grows to enjoy has to do with early exposure and the subtle messages that adults send. Another benefit of these programs is that they learn to sit still, focus, and exercise some self-control for 20-30 minutes and that is a skill that is very important for school readiness and for learning… anything. To those parents who are against the program out of principle that they think it is wrong somehow to teach a young child academic skills, I would like to point out that every statistic out there shows that U.S. public school education is not sufficient, not advanced enough, and not strict enough for our children to compete well in the global market place. A quick look at the world rankings in education will convince anyone of that.
Thank you so much for taking the time to respond to this article. I liked the point you made that this is something for the two of you to do together. As with any new skill, it requires patience and time. Regardless of the claims made, if a parent purchases this or any product like it expecting instant miracle results, of course they're going to be disappointed. Thanks again for your response!
Thank you for the overview of the pros and cons of the "Your Baby Can Read" program and thank you for including my review. My main concern aside from whether the program works or not, is that a parent's natural anxiety over their child's success is being used to manipulate them into purchasing a product that has questionable results. If parents want their child to learn how to read at an early age then the best thing they can do is sit with their child and read to her.
Jeff
Agreed!
Interesting article. I've been very curious about this program.
I never thought this program would actually work, but maybe it does. However, I'm not really that concerned about teaching babies to read and I would want to make learning fun as much as I could. This is probably not a program I would try, but I still enjoyed reading your article about it!
Thank you!
Thank you for your comment Jeff's ADD mind. You just saved me the trouble of making the decision of whether to purchase this program or not. You are right, us parents need to get back to basics: turn that TV off, spend time with our children and nurture their minds.
I personally know someone who is using the program on her 2 kids, and in a matter of weeks her 2.5 year old is reading phrases. It is an established FACT that 90% of the brain is already developed by the age of 5 in humans. I would imagine that any good reading program would work. Instead of spending $200+, I would use what I think is the best reading method, from Glenn Doman. I am very impressed with the work of IAHP (founded by Glenn Doman), because I know firsthand stories, that are basically miracles. One involves restoring sight & the other case is of restoring hearing. A very developmentally delayed child with Down's Syndrome was "transformed" into a physically active 4 year old who reads & runs miles daily. I'm real glad to say that these stories are 100% factual and true, since I've met the person who saw the kids from these stories, & I have seen major improvements on her child as well in the coarse of a year on a program set for him by IAHP. I would see him progressing over the weeks and at the end of the year his problem was almost gone.
I
I accidentally hit "add comment", so I’ll repost:
I personally know someone using the program on her 2 kids, & in a matter of weeks her 2.5 year old is reading phrases. It’s an established FACT that 90% of the human brain is already developed by the age of 5. Instead of spending $200+, I would use what I think is the best reading method, from IAHP, founded by Glenn Doman. I’m very impressed with the work of IAHP & I know firsthand stories of sight & hearing restoration & very developmentally delayed child with Down's Syndrome was "transformed" into a physically active 4 year old who reads & runs miles daily. I'm real glad to say that these stories are 100% true, since I know the person who saw the kids from these stories. I’ve seen major improvements on her child in the coarse of a year on a program set for him by IAHP.
In conclusion, teaching infants to read is a great & necessary move, & in another personal example, I’ve been showing flash cards for an infant since he’s a few weeks old & he adores it & that’s many times what gets him into a good mood when he's cranky & not in the mood of different things!
Dr. Titzer’s program was affective on his child & on many other kids, who read far superior than average kids in terms of speed, words, etc. But IAHP are the real experts on children, & they cover many different areas in education for babies & kids, including math, physical development, & having encyclopedic knowledge-all with simplicity, ease & extreme logic.
Another addition to my comment: when I typed the "and" signal, I saw it appears as &, instead of just the symbol.
Thank you for this information! Those are some pretty incredible examples.
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