"Teach Your Baby to Read"...

It's called my baby can read... I actually just got it & about to start using it with my 18 month old. It costs almost $300 for this program. They do offer a 30 day trial for $30. I can't tell you if it works since I haven't started yet but I think it will be worth it. You get several dvd's, books, flash cards, etc with the program. Good luck!

Babies should be babies and do what babies do. They already grow up way too fast. Why push it along further.

Just my opinion.

I am teaching my son phonics first. We have a big Sesame Street book with the alphabet that we read together, I also have hooked on phonics that I will use with him as he gains a little more interest in reading. He already knows his letters and most of the sounds.

Sight reading is memorization and does not teach a child how to sound out words. I subbed in a school that taught "sight" words and I was horrified by this approach. Most of the kids only recognized the words that they were taught to memorize but could not sound out simple words because they had not been taught phonics.

I would recommend to read to your child and teach phonics as your child gains interest.

I have to agree with Margaret. I don't think you "need" one of those programs for your child to learn early on. My now 4 year old knew all his letters by age 2, by sight and sound, his colors, his shapes, numbers through 20....all this came from our reading together and play. He recognizes many words that are important to him, like our names (as a former first grade teacher I can tell you that names are very valid as "words"). Again, this is from reading together and playing with things that involve letters, shapes, etc. He also knows how to count to 10 in Spanish, and I credit a fun song we sing and Dora! Dora gave him the interest in Spanish so she does get some credit.

All in all, I think something like that wouldn't necessarily be harmful, and probably does work to an extent, but why do you need your 18 month old reading Charlotte's Web? The most important part of reading really is comprehension and a small child who is actually able to read those words does not comprehend that level of book when he/she is doing the reading. It's "word calling," really. They can understand what is going on when Mommy is doing the reading, though, and it shows baby that reading is fun, interesting, and something you can do together.

As a former first grade teacher (and first grade is the big "learn to read" year) I wouldn't necessarily push word recognition/word call. The love of reading and comprehension are so much more important. Your child's greatest learning really will come from your play together and your reading to her/him. Good luck!!!

It's good if your child is interested in the videos. My friends and I have used the Your Child Can Read program and have mixed results depending on the child. At best, the child loves the videos and playing the word games. Some kids can recognize a few words and some know almost 50 words. It does teach them word recognition in a whole language approach but not much in ways of phonics. I taught K-3rd grade for over 10 years and even though this isn't a perfect system, it's a good tool to have kids realize that words have meaning. Depending on the child, each needs a certain amount of time and repetition for reading to click with them so any exposure to words and reading is helpful.

I find it similar to the baby signing programs and videos. They do not teach your child to communicate because they do that naturally but once they get the idea of signing, they start to take off.

You should borrow some of the dvds from a friend and see how engaged your child is before you buy the whole system.

Babies brains are designed to learn in their own natural rhythm. During the first two years, the brains of babies develop through interaction with their environment. Discovering new sights, tastes, sounds, smells and touches along with motion all activate the neural pathways in the brain. When you read to your child, your interaction helps develop the skills of identifying, comparing, classifying and categorizing, and as the same story is reread countless times, the repetition strengthens those pathways. If you skip over this step of reading to your child and all of the interaction it brings to trying to have your child read independently, parts of the brain the normally develop will be bypassed so the part of the brain needed for reading can develop prematurely. There is no reason for babies to read early. Playing with wooden blocks is far more valuable at this age. Trust in the natural development of your child. You will find your child starting to "read" to him/herself by making up the story while looking at the book, and eventually, eagerly, learn to read at the appropriate time.

Hi S.,
I have a few friends with new babies and they checked into this. It could be an ok program but for them it was not. It was bacially memorization- and their fear was that when their children started to school and the circuliam wssin phonics- it would confuse their children and make it difficult to learn to read again.
good luck and blessings

My two+ year old knows all her letters. ( by sight and verbal) She can count and know her shapes and colors. She can also identify and read some words.
Here is the secret weapon:

Sesame Street.

Its free and on PBS. You don't even have to have cable or satellite.

That compounded with me reading and "playing" with flashcards is all you need.

Think about it....if it were really true...wouldn't it be in every store, on every shelf?

Margaret

I use it and it works very well. My 2 year old recognizes dozens of words by site - can read them and understand their meaning. Word recognition is what it teaches - not really reading. Word recognition is a great head start in development.
J.

Until the age of 2, I think that videos do more harm than good. Kids are mesmerized by them, but that isn't education. I think being read to by mom, having their names written on things, opportunity to learn patterns (red,blue, red, square, circle, circle, square)help to build the skill set.
The next piece is wanting to know and the appreciation of language. Singing songs, rhyming,reading to him all build the skills necesary for reading. you have to be able to talk before you can read, so work on helping him to verbalize along with the above and you will be ahead of the pack. My son started Kindergarten reading on a second grade level and we didn't teach him at all. Just gave him the tools and he taught himself. We were shocked to find that he knew how to read, we had thought that he had memorized his books!
K.