Has anyone tried the Your Baby Can Read Program?

It has been often said, and I agree, that the best possible thing you can do to enhance the growth of your baby’s general intelligence is to get down on the floor with the baby and play with stuff.

@ArmyWife0112, why would you want to do that?

While not entirely on topic, you might find this article of interest.

@pdworkin Totally agreed. Add music, piano, singing, normal speaking, play, motion, bright colors, rolling on floor, music, piano, opening and taking things our of kitchen drawers(we emptied a lowest drawer and filled it with a variety of suprises,junk,stuff which he could explore and throw all over the floor) ; fun; great memories.

Nah. I taught my kids myself. When they were old enough. I mean, I started playing with letters as soon as they could draw circles, but didn’t actively try to teach them to read until they started kindergarten.

Funny story. When my daughter, Corrie, was about 3½ I saw C O R Y (which is how we spelled her name till we changed it) on the wall in crayon. “Cory!” I yelled
She comes scampering in, big brown eyes wide saying “What??”
“We don’t write on walls! We write on paper!”
In astonishment she looks at the wall then back to me and says, “How did chu know it wass me??”
LOL! All she knew was that those symbols pertained to her in some way! She couldn’t actually read them!

I personally wouldn’t pay for the program. I’ve heard it can get pricey (the dvds) I don’t see why regular flashcards wouldn’t be just as efficient. I’ve got lots of different kinds of flashcards for my son, and he’s great at recognizing animals and numbers…I wouldn’t say he could read. He’s only 28 months. He can count to 20, and knows his ABCs it’s got more personality to it than the normal ABCs lol So, I’m glad we never wasted money on a program like that.

I thought it got pulled off the market? I heard that kids who do this program have no advantage over kids who don’t. Sounds like a waste of money if you ask me.

I have always been highly skeptical of the “Your Baby Can Read” system. First, because I can’t think of a single good reason for a baby, or even a preschooler, to be able to read. There is no evidence to back up the claim that children who learn to read at an early age do better in school as they get older. There are simply too many variables. Children who find it easy to learn to read may just find school easier as well (in other words, they’re naturally smarter than average). They may have parents who have nurtured a love of reading and passed that on to their kids, or they may have a home environment that places a strong emphasis on learning. For the commercials to claim that teaching a 9 month old to read means the kid will later excel in school is, well, misleading. Their claim that children have a “window of opportunity” for learning language is only partly true. Reading is not language, and a child who learns to read at six won’t have any harder of a time than a child who learns at four. If you want to teach your child Spanish or French, by all means start as early as possible. With reading, there’s no rush!

Considering the system costs $200, it seems like a waste. I’d rather spend that $200 on an excellent library of children’s books to be read again and again. Spend it on art supplies, a membership to a local museum, or set some of it aside to use for future library fees (if you’re like me and always take the books back a day or two late!). If you want your child to have an easy time learning to read, there are many more enjoyable ways. The simplest is to spend time every day cuddled up on the couch with some fun books. Sing songs. Color and draw together, and talk to your child as much as possible. My daughter could sing the ABC’s by the time she was 18 months old, could write the ABC’s when she was three, and could read the “Dick and Jane” books by the time she was four. She’s ten now, and still loves to read. My six year old son, on the other hand, is slightly behind his peers in reading and writing. He just isn’t interested, even though he does love to be read to. All kids are different.

And anyway, why would you want to plunk your kid down to watch DVDs when interacting with them is so much better on many levels? Unless you’re the kind of parent who needs those bragging rights of “my toddler can read!” I would save the money.

I think this has some well thought out questions and criticisms about the program.

@MissAusten I agree. As long as they’re read to, and books are on hand, if they have an aptitude for it, they’ll pick it up on their own. I was reading for this very reason before I entered kindergarten. And believe me, it would have never crossed my mom’s mind to put me into any kind of formal program! She just loved to read, and passed it on. I figured out the rest. I remember one book, Prince Bertrand the Bad. When mom wasn’t around I’d “read” it by myself. Actually, I just had it memorized. But I remember clearly, when I was four, sitting in the hall “reading” the book, only I was “reading” it backwards, starting on the last page! So I had to be a bit beyond memorizing. I had to have been recognizing words at that point. I remember Mom sitting down next to me asking me to show her what I was doing. Since Mom never really paid too much attention to us, didn’t spend a lot of time just “with” us, I remember that incident very well.

@kheredia No, that was Baby Einstein videos. They made claims that just weren’t true.

@casheroo Oh I see! I guess I don’t keep up with that stuff cause I don’t have any kids yet. But I knew I heard something about that ;-)

The system is DVDs? Don’t do it. Pediatricians generally agree that infants should not watch television (including educational DVDs). My son had absolutely no interest in anything on the TV until he was close to 3. You could put on anything you wanted and he would simply ignore it. I agree with everyone above, the best thing you can do is read with your child and play with your child.

@Val123 I’ve heard that memorizing books is a first step to reading. My son’s been doing that for a while. He really shocked his daycare teachers one day when he picked up a book they had never had in the room before and started reading it to the other kids. Turns out it was a book we had at home that he knew by heart.

The only flashcards I used were Mommy, It’s a Renoir! and the Classical Kids CDs and DVDs.

Having gone to the website to see just what this system is, let me also add that any product that tries to have a “live associate chat” give you a 10% discount when you leave their webpage is probably a scam. Nobody with a decent product pushes sales that hard with a crappy website.

@Snarp :)

Reading all of the replies, don’t do it! Spend a few bucks on some good books and read to them.

Not just read. Play. With anything colorful or jingly or entrancing as long as it can’t harm the baby in some fashion. Singing is nice, too. And if you play an instrument, all the better. Just keep the TV off. Every study ever done says that merely having a TV on in the house has adverse consequences for children if it isn’t strictly monitored and limited. (Except the studies sponsored by the industry, of course.)

It seems to serve its purpose, but doesn’t round the child. All the time spent on teaching your kid this one area of expertise could be used on more diverse skills. A child will learn to read in his own time and it won’t make any difference. I’m more about letting kids explore and be kids than giving them a curriculum at age 2 or whatever. In my opinion, there are more important areas of early childhood development to address than learning to read before preschool. There are so many tools that mommy and daddy can use to make great, smart, creative kids out of their babies. And many of them are free!

@pdworkin I wish my husband felt those studies had any merit when it came to our son :(

So do I. It’s quite problematic. Maybe you need to just put your foot down.

It’s not as simple as that. I can’t be around 24/7. I do my best when I watch my son, and can just hope it makes up for the lack of care he gets under my husbands watch sorry, this is super raw right now, it’s pretty much our number one issue :(

@casheroo What do you mean? LOL! Just like the Q I asked about why women want detail, I say, “What exactly do you mean?”

Ahh, I see the problem. I haven’t custody and I disapprove of some of my ex-wife’s practices, but there ain’t much to be done, except to provide a better model when they are with me and my girlfriend.

@Val123 We have different priorities when it comes to raising out son (or children, I should say, since we have one on the way)
@pdworkin The sad part is we are not divorced, so we share custody. (whoops, that came out poorly! I’m happy we’re together, just sad about this situation!) I do probably 90% of the parenting though. Possibly more. He does provide the financial aid so I have to give him credit for that.

@casheroo Oh…..how hard….

Don’t worry about your kids. 90% is more than enough protection.

My grandson was reading before he was two, but it was because I teach him words by showing pictures and reading to him. I cut out pictures and write the word for it, then attached magnets. He picks out the picture and matches it with the word by sticking them up on the refrigerator. I wouldn’t pay $200 for anything I can do by myself. What’s the point?

I taught myself to read by the age of three. My mother was surprised when I started reading things to her, since she wasn’t aware that I had been watching her so closely. She simply followed the words in the books with her finger, and I learned that way.

Wow, this is all great feedback, but I don’t see anyone who has tried it… The two people I talked to aside from Fluther that had used it seem to say it had the same effect that YARNLADY’s method had. I do agree that it’s alot of money, but at the same time, I am unable to be home often, and frankly my husband has little to no interest in our daughter’s learning or even playing for that matter. He’d be happy if she was sleeping all the time.

Aside from him, my daughter is babysat mainly by her Gramma, and not to bash, but I have good reason not to fully approve of my mother’s parenting skills. For instance, and possibly the most relevant point in this case, she constantly has the TV on. My idea is that putting on something educational, which allows me to follow up with personal interaction when I am with my daughter, is a well spent investment.

Unfortunately, my reasons for starting this discussion wasn’t to deliberate the decision to buy the program, but more in hopes that some others out there that have already tried it could tell me how well their children learned in other areas. I’m not so much concerned with whether or not she reads as I am concerned with whether or not this can hinder her learning on other subjects.

Once again, I DO appreciate all the feedback, just still looking for someone that’s tried it and hear what they have to say :)

I would also like to add, in my defense, that I am in no way forcing my daughter to read. I feel that if she enjoys the videos, then so be it. If not, I have 30 days to get my refund. My primary objective is for my daughter to be stimulated by something meaningful. The sale came to me when I heard about the kids actually interacting with the TV she does with me.

@ArmyWife0112 No on is attacking you. I think the consensus here is that they can learn in other ways than spending the money on that program.

@casheroo I think the crux of the problem is that her daycare provider (her mother) tends to let the TV do the babysitting, so, since she can’t change that, she’s looking for something educational for Mom to put on the TV instead of the unceasing drivel. Is that right, @ArmyWife0112?

Maybe some sesame street DVD’s would do the trick?

Slightly off-topic: my mom read to me a lot when I was very young. However, I didn’t start reading myself until I was in kindergarten—but at that point, I could and did read chapter books (Nancy Drew books, as I recall). I have a love of reading which gives me a great vocabulary, an ease with spelling, great writing skills and focus.

So those DVDs might not be the best way to teach your child, but definitely read as much as possible to him/her.

@evegrimm X2. Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys…what about them Black Stallion series!!! I lost a whole summer inside a hidden valley that you could only get to through a cave system!

EXACTLY @casheroo I’m glad you understand my point! I read to my daughter and play with her whenever I can, and I figure that as long as this is something I can follow when I’m home, then why not give it a shot? I know every child develops differently, but I feel the science behind things is only making things worse for people. I think I have a new discussion, hope you all check it out :)

I’m sorry, that @casheroo was supposed to be @Val123!

Some baby physical therapists say that this program can make it difficult for children to spell later b/c they do not learn phonetics. However, accompanied with hooked on phonics later it might be good. I had considered this program myself but didn’t purchase it.

@serenity That could be true, I taught myself to read by following the words as my mother pointed them out in books, and learned by the “whole word” method. I have a lot of trouble with spelling.

Speaking of…in various classrooms I’ve been running into OLD Dr. Suess books and it’s so cool! I found the one that has that critter that has spots….I haven’t read that since I was a about 7, and I got all excited when I saw it! I thought, “I don’t even remember what all the book was about, so why am I so excited?” so I read it again. (A LOT faster than I did when I was 7!) “OH YEAH! He changes the colors of his spots, and he takes them off and puts them on buildings,and makes a few big ones and…..oh it’s SO COOL!!”

@Val123 Those books are great for kids learning to read. My mom got us a set of Dr. Seuss books, including Put Me In The Zoo, years ago. The kids enjoy being read to from those books, and now my six year old enjoys them because he can read many of them without help. Go Dogs Go and Are You My Mother are some other good ones!

Yeah! Put Me In The Zoo!!! Go Dogs Go….I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE the party in the tree top!!