Can Your Baby Read?
Posted by Danielle Bean in News on Wednesday, November 03, 2010 7:25 PM
Having seen the “Your Baby Can Read” commercials, I was interested to read what some experts are saying about teach-your-baby-to-read programs like this one on the Today show earlier this week.
Basically, what they say is this: Babies memorize the look of words on the flashcards, but it’s not really reading. It’s memorizing.
Early reading is something that fascinates me. I really enjoy teaching kids to read and watching their eyes open to a whole new world of literature once it finally “takes.”
In my own family, we’ve had some early readers and some late readers. In fact, I was even worried about one of my son’s lateness with beginning to read a few years ago, and I figured he might struggle with school in general. But all it really took was a little patience. He now reads on grade level or above and handles his other course work with minimal problems as well.
A couple of my other kids who were early readers pretty much taught themselves to read. They were interested in letters and words early on. All on their own, I think used a system of memorization (sight reading) very similar to what is sold in the “Your Baby Can Read” program and learned to “read” many words before I finally got around to following it up with some phonics work.
What strikes me most about my kids’ different experiences with beginning to read is that the ones who read early and the ones who read later all kind of even out in the end. Of course, my kids who learned early on still demonstrate a greater interest in words, reading, and writing, but the later readers, once they are older, aren’t noticeably behind in their school skills at all.
Which makes me wonder ... what’s all the fuss about? Maybe we should just let babies be babies.
I especially appreciate the closing lines of the article linked above:
“The experts say the best way to teach your children reading skills is the time-honored one that doesn’t cost a dime. Read to them. Talk to them. Play with them. If a child is having fun, he or she will learn.”
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