you guys are a bunch of smart folks..... Has anyone here experienced or met someone who has used "yourbabycanread.tv" videos? I've read some positive reviews, but also some negative, mostly on the side of "memorization" rather than actual reading. Any parents, aunts/uncles out there that can comment? Any educator that can comment on pros/cons of using this product? lastly, this is a video based tool, means watching tv at an early age, what are the negative effects of this? thanks
I have no knowledge about that program, but I do know that the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends against exposing children under 2 to television. They claim it strengthens the possibility of the child developing ADHD. As an educator though, I can tell you that reading methods change practically every five minutes when a new HOT method shows up. I would just do it the old fashioned way using phonics. Plus reading to your child promotes their own interest in reading and drastically increases their vocabulary. -Matt
>> I'm with Matt, 86 the TV. The TV is passive learning no matter how you package it. Learning by watching is a different process than learning by doing and extremely different than the very best learning which is learning by seeking answers. (ex. a message board allows us here to learn by seeking- we have a question, we find the answer) I believe all children are born with the natural instinct to learn by seeking unless or until they are conditioned differently. If you are interested in enriching your baby's intellect you can go to your library and check out "How To Multiply Your Baby's Intelligence" by Glenn Doman or google "The Institutes for the Achievement of Human Potential." (that is the concept the program you mention is trying to copy- but there are some huge differences- I'd be happy to go through them) My husband and I actually attended The Institute's parent's course in Philly back around 1994 and enjoyed it a lot. We were enrolled in the off campus program until our oldest son was 2. (of course anything in extremes can get ridiculous and there are pros and cons to anything.) We used the program pretty hard-core with our first son, less so with #2, less with #3, and the least with #4 due to a lack of available time for me to teach as required. I will say this: 1) It works. 2) Babies love to learn. 3) It will turn you into a homeschooler. 4) Use it or lose it. They will forget what isn't part of their daily life.
40 years ago, when I was Research Director for Bell & Howell's Education division, we were offered the rights to Glenn Doman's "Teach Your Baby to Read" materials and program. Marina and I spent months looking into it, visiting well-known early childhood education experts (e.g., Jerome Kagan at Harvard) . . . and ultimately concluding with what the N. Y. Times says in a long article on the topic that, by chance, is in today's paper (http://tinyurl.com/5wclcl): "There's no good evidence, from Doman or any other advocate of very early reading, that a child who starts reading early has an advantage in subsequent school success, emotional adjustment or any other measure of happiness... And there are costs to pushing reading too early... [H]aving a child who reads early has, in some circles, become a badge of good parenting, much as early walking or early toilet training used to be. Unfortunately for the kids in these circles who are not destined to be early readers, the stress of asking them to read early may prove damaging..."
>> I'm not defending Doman, only pointing out a huge distinction in the manner in which the presentation of the material is important. As in the OP's video link, you will notice the parents quizzing the child "what does this say?" "hand me the yellow block" "what does that say?" etc. The style of teaching which continues to ask the child to prove what they know is stressful, harmful, and annoying. The parents do this only to feel their own sense of ego gratification and to show off their child to Grandma or anyone who will watch. After a short time, the child will choose to quit being tested and protest. This is not learning, this is quizzing- you'll find it in a lot of formal K-12 schools as well. In Doman's approach (or if you come to my house and watch us) you are simply sharing information. That's an entirely different thing. Telling the baby "this is called cookie" is not stressful, we all do that to children. (Or we say "here is a cookie") That's how kids learn what things are called. No one "taught" a baby what a shoe or cup was, yet they all learn it by being immersed in an environment that uses the word continuously. The difference you'll find in a parent using Doman's program, is that the are doing it deliberately and with more subjects than shoes, cups, and cookies. (I am referring to the entire program, not only the subject of reading).
