It’s no secret that the baby market is saturated with a variety of “help them get smarter” now aids. Everything from talking toys that speak French to DVDs that are sure to enhance every aspect of your 4 month old’s existence.

I can’t say I buy into any of that, not just because talking toys make me want to pull my hair out, but because I’ve always thought there was something to just playing with your kids. Or, in my case, letting them play alone while you attempt to get a load of laundry and four blog posts done.

But when it comes to reading, I’m not sure there’s anything wrong with wanting to get a headstart. Sure, I love to read and I want my children to love to read. And it’s not because I’m tired of reading the same darn story over and over again. It’s because I believe a good reader can go far.

So when our parent bloggers gave the Your Baby Can Read a whirl, I was curious to see the results. And honestly, after the mid-campaign round-up, I was ready to check it out (yes, our reviewers are that convincing). And now, I’m convinced. And I imagine you will be too.

While none of our bloggers reported that their babies and toddlers were reading after using the first dvd, they did notice a huge jump in vocabulary. “And although she won’t be quoting directly from Proust or Shakespeare any time soon, the Your Baby Can Read program did directly impact her vocabulary.” ”I held up the card.  He looked at it.  He said, VERY clearly, “TIGAH.”  And my husband and I both proceeded, as one would expect in such a circumstance, in a deliberate, calm fashion, to experience simultaneous cardiac arrest.”

Many commented on the quality of the dvd itself, including the catchy voiceovers and music. ” The music is catchy and the DVD’s are just long enough to keep your little ones entertained and keep them from tuning out and heading for the matchbox cars.” “Hayley was very into the DVDs. She sat and repeated the words, played the games, sang the songs, and enjoyed the whole process.”

Similar to the reviewers in the first half of the review schedule, the kids loved the flash cards and so did the parents, commenting on the use of different fonts as well as words that are common in many kids books (to provide continuity with what they are actually reading with their parents). “The cards are really nice.  The words, ones like “cats” and “clap” are written in a super-simple, large font, and when you pull on the sliding end, a picture of the word appears. ”

The reviewers noted some interesting positives about the program itself. “What I appreciate most about it is the language that is repeated throughout the set. Phrasing questions such as “Can you say dog” mimics the every day language we use around the house and asking things like “Are you waving too? How many different colors do you see?” These are all important building blocks of communication, and with a toddler, every little bit helps.” Former teacher and blogger Jason noted the sensical combination of whole language and phonics. ”

Dr. Titzer’s program seems to fuse ideas about language acquisition from both whole language- and phonics-based pedagogies and multiple intelligence theory, and you know what?  It makes sense.  The basic idea is repeated exposure to the written word and explicit connection to its sound and meaning.  Makes sense—a toddler can learn by repetition that, say, the written word “elephant” means that big funny animal that’s in so many of her picture books and that it sounds like, well, I’d do a phonetic spelling but I don’t know how to make the schwa symbol on the computer.  But anyway, the idea is that a kid can move from recognizing that whole written word and connecting it to both sound and meaning to being able to, down the line, read new and unfamiliar words based on an understanding of those building blocks (letters, syllables, phonemes, whatever).  Again, makes sense.  

And to all of our parent bloggers, at one level or another, Your Baby Can Read made sense.

“Baby Einstein- You’ve met your match!“