Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Infomercial: Your Baby Can Read - your thoughts...

I'll be honest I haven't read all posts on this so sorry if this was said... but I think you could teach most kids to memorize shapes that are letters in an order that forms a word. The question is 5-6 years down the road are these kids reading at high levels and comprehending. Does memorizing sight words get any of these kids to be able to sound out words sooner so they can do what I would consider reading.

Or in with less words, what Shari said ;-)

I'm not really sure what I think of these things. My stepmom was trying to get us to do this with DD. I haven't seen the infomercial or anything but it just seems it makes more sense to spend that time reading with her instead.

She already loves it when we read together and I think that bonding time should be more of the emphasis than concentrating on a specific skill.

Could it work for a normal developing child? Probably. If you work enough on a skill the child will probably develop it. But I agree with PP that it might be at the price of another skill(s) that the child would prefer to be working on.

I guess, if the parents just use it as something as extra stimulus and the child enjoys it I don't see a problem with it. But I think in that case the parents shouldn't necessarily expect that the child will be reading early.

I'm a strong believer in going by the child's cues. If her/she wants to read, then go ahead and teach them but if they would rather play in the mud then I don't see any problem with doing the extra loads of laundry.

I would not do baby can read because it pushes the kids ahead too much. When they get to kindergarten and they are so far ahead of the others it is boring.

The other concern is when a child reads ahead the content is not always appropriate for them at their stage of development. My son is in 3rd grade and can read much older books but I watch out for content.

I don't think you mentioned the age of your child. I assume you are talking about under one.

There are so many fun things to do with children of this age. You may want to check out Montessori Play & learn book. Lots of great inspiration.

Many of the kids discussed here are far ahead of the curriculum anyway, even without "learn to read" programs, so I suspect that's not going to be a terribly persuasive argument. It's all-too-common a notion that our kids should fit the curriculum insted of the other way around.

I'm with you about parents not pushing, but not for that reason. Kids who are ahead of the curriculum should have the right to learn something new, too.

I was initially hesitant to weigh in on this but since I appear to be one of the few people having seen these tapes thought I would share my opinion.

DS was given this as a gift for his first bday, interestingly enough the gift giver thought we would be particularly appreciative of this present because of the work they perceived us to have done with GT DS4. We are not big fans of TV for kids, especially at that age but I did recently watch the first tape. Outside of the way these tapes are marketed I see no difference in this and say Baby Einstein.

While I don't doubt these tapes work if watched enough, i agree with others that it only helps children memorize sight words. The developers daughter could also be GT therefore accentuating her abilities.

I'm sure many very bright kids out there love flash cards and the concept of drills just because its fun to know things. My son likes memorizing things but he would abhor being sat down and quizzed so it would probably not work for him.

Just as an aside, in researching early reading one time I ran across a informal article on Down's syndrome kids that were taught to read using a flash card sight word method. They did gain a vocabulary, questionable whether at the age of 3 it was understood too or just a read-only vocabulary. But years later in later elementary school, the kids were at grade level or near it in reading when they lagged far behind in every other subject. At that later age they did have comprehension also. The possession of a vocabulary of sight words promoted their reading abilities later. Perhaps just gave them a way in to have memorized the word early on, link it with a meaning later?... not sure. Reading was a source of emotional pride for them, one single area where they were considered not very different from many other kids. The ones who did the early program were more likely to be in mainstream classes. It made it sound like a very good idea for any seriously delayed toddler, assuming it could be done without tears on the part of the kid.

Polly

Onthegomom - what do you suggest those of us with children who, without the use of learning programs, began spontaniously reading before kindergarten? My ds7 is reading Harry Potter and The Lightening Thief. I didn't push these books, he wants to read them. He comprehends what he reads and initiates wonderful discussion. He was bored to tears at his Montessori pre-school and public grade school. He was in the advance reader group in 1st grade which was a complete joke. He read the book in a few minutes and then had to wait all week for the other "advanced readers" to finish. Just curious - would you suggest I keep him reading 1st-2nd grade books? Who does that benefit?
The curriculum not the child needs to change. That's the reason many parents in this group end up homeschooling or paying private school tuition somewhere that acknowledges our kids need something different. Have you read the Davidson's book - Genious Denied?

NJ Mom,

That is SO frustrating. My DD had the same experience. She would finish the book day 1, not be able to participate meaningfully in discussion b/c she already knew that outcome, and have lost interest and moved on by the time the group finished the book. All the while, I'm being told that she was with appropriate academic peers....

BTW, if your DS is looking for something when he finishes Percy Jackson series, you might try Erin Hunter's Warriors books. They have been a huge hit with both DS7 and DD9 (although unlike the HP or the PJ books, I can't personally say that I've read them...).

This is fascinating. I wonder if any formal studies on that subject have been done. Anyway, just wanted to say thanks for sharing.

Taminy- thanks for the book tips. And yes it is frustrating. It is of comfort to know that we are not alone.
I did find another good resource for reading suggestions. James Patterson has a website called www.readkiddoread.com. He has a great list of books and even one specifically for boys.
Sorry for getting off topic.