My Baby Can Read Program

I just want to say...WHY? Why does one need to teach a baby to read? Shouldn't they just be a baby and play, smile, laugh, learn about the world around them?

Hi,
THere was a post on this same question within the last month. If you search this topic on the web-site you will find all of the responses, there were lots.

Hang onto that skepticism. Many babies can learn to identify shapes, even word shapes with enough repetition, but understanding the individual and group sounds of the abstractions we call "letters" comes much later, when certain areas of their brains develop.

If you want your child to enjoy reading, read to your child. Talk to your child about everything, in clear, simple sentences. A large vocabulary is the single greatest predictor of academic success. Parents who push their children to read too early will have kids who are bored in school while classmates catch up.

I've had friends that have done it and loved it till they had to go to scho and was taught how to phonetically read. It took twice as long because they had to reteach and train her . I as an outsider looking in, I don't like the sitting in front of the tv part. I do like educational tv, but some things should be done the old fashion way of sitting in your lap and reading.

The program encourages you to put your baby in front of a tv to "learn" how to read. And who really cares if they can read that young? Enjoy the baby stage and read to them and talk to them. (A friend bought the program a few years back and said it's a total scam. She lost a lot of money.)

This system does not teach reading it teaches memorization.
kids aren't sounding out words by their sounds they have memorized them. Letter sounds is the best way to teach reading. And that begins by simply reading to them.

Thes is a scam. Babies can't read, and if they could, it would not make them any smarter by the end of third grade any way. Early gains beyond developmental limits have zero impact on future achievement. The guy who is Making money off this has never written a book about reading, his ads are designed to mislead you into thinking that his publications support his product, but they are not even about babies or reading. The company has a very bad reputation with the BBB too, they are clearly about taking your money for nothing.

Just read to your baby. Cheap, effective, and has real benefits that are not outrageous pie in the sky claims.

M.

Do not waste your money. All I ever do is buy flash cards (abc's, numbers, shapes, house items etc.) Just spend time teaching your child with flash cards, singing songs, speaking clearly about an object ex: " cup...orange cup" etc. which I am sure you are already doing this. Read books, go exploring outside, have music instrument time etc. Its just letting your kid be a kid learning with fun. We all learn through repetition; just remember its like when your kids watches a lot of sesame street they learn the song. Bought all my flashcards online here is a website www.trendenterprises.com

My mother in law bought this for us, and honestly good old fashioed flash cards and repetition work just as good for less money! I like the baby einstein cards, but there are tons at Barnes and Noble to pick up!

We tried it for a few weeks (even if that long) and we found that our daughter did just as well from us reading to her. We got rid of the program because it was not worth the money to us since just getting simple reading books for a fraction of the cost worked just as well.

What this program dose is teach SIGHT/RECONGINTION WORDS not how to sound out words (so in the end you still need to teach your child to read by the sounds the letters make and the different rules). In the end your child will benefit MORE from being taught how to sound out words and the rules but most kids brain does not develop that understanding till end of age 3 or even 5-6 years old. Sight words are how they first start learning so the program is good for that BUT it does not teach your child to read by sounding out words & the word rules.

My daughter will be 4 in a week and she has a large sight word vocabulary AND knows how to sound out words (does not always get them right but is trying). The way we accomplished this is by reading to her daily, have simple flash cards that I made with a picture of an object on one side and the word on the other (we do not make/force her to do them she looks at them when she wants), we also have the leap frog magnetic letter sound thing (sorry do no know the name). Writing goes along with this and it does really help if you start teaching how to write the upper case letter and the sounds it makes (the program does not teach this either, they focus on sight words).

Now at 4 my daughter is ahead of the game reading because simply her brain works that way and it has been easy for her to pick up just by us reading with her and teaching her who to sound out words (for me I still struggle with it because my learning difficulties).

In the end NOT worth the money, not sure if the price has come down since I bought it but I would NEVER spend that amount. Also to mention that they use "smart kids" when showing you how to do it, those kids had months of learn how to recognize the sight words, they do not mention the success rate and never show a child struggling with it and to me there would be a huge number that will struggle with it.

In the end you can do the same by pointing out the objects, making own flash cards and maybe getting a simple toy or two that focus on the sounds of the letters. Why spend money on something you can do yourself for a fraction of the cost.

Here is the link to all the other discussion/questions asked about this program: http://www.mamapedia.com/search?query=my+baby+can+read

I got this for my son when he was almost 3. It was to late for him as these movies are boring, but that being said I liked them. I like that he did learn from them. I also got him the letter factory videos now these are AWESOME! He learned from both of these videos, but if I had to pic one it would be the Leap Frog Letter factory & all the other videos that they have. But the My baby can read program is not a scam, it can work for younger kids & if you do it just right you being the parent can get the child to learn the sounds at the same time they are learning to read. I love the books that come along with this set as well.

I come from an optical family and what many people do not know is that children's eyes are not ready for reading before pre-school age. Many times it will bring on near-sightedness unless the letters are very large. Just a thought.