"Your baby can read", by robert Titzer: Opinions please!

[Cherrybaby]

I saw on advert for the first time on babytv for the "Your baby can read" scheme by robert titzer, and wondered how effective/true/useful/fun it really is?

Is there a UK/US issue regarding the accent and pronunciation of words? And sorry in advance to american MNers, but is it annoyingly American?

Would you try it?

It IS ridiculously overpriced at over £100 but second hand is available on Amazon.

Your baby can't read. Your child will learn to read in its own good time. Possibly it will recognise some words earlier than it otherwise would have if it watches this tv thing but there's no lasting benefit imo.

I haven't seen this personally by the way, but I've heard it described by people who have used it.

Why? What's wrong with letting your baby be a baby? Reading can come later...

Hmmm...now that I come to think of the ad, it did look like shape recognition more than actual reading. The babies reading it were tiny!

...but then again, can I hear from more people who actually liked the product, please? Or even reccomend it?

p.s: Thanks to everyone who posted so far!

CB, your baby is at such a fantastic age for you that can concentrate on what you want to be 'learning' (need a tongue-in-cheek emoticon here!).

Your baby probably isn't mobile, is only taking in milk and is wonderfully portable, so you can go ahead and do exactly what suits mummy! Put your baby in a sling and get out on a train, or get in the car and go and see what you want to see. Your baby will be making lots of demands on you soon enough, so ignore him as much as possible. Having an interesting/ interested mum is surely going to do your baby more good than watching a dvd.

You can teach your baby to read in a matter of weeks at the age of four years old in many cases. All you need is the Jolly phonics manual which is a fraction of the price.

Babies need experiences, to explore and to learn about the world. A child has to learn to use their eyes, control their hands and listen. They need to learn language before they can learn to read properly.

Why would anyone want a baby to read? Apart from some circus act to perform for friends and family. Just watched something akin to child abuse on Youtube. A baby sitting alone 2 feet from a screen watching some words flash up with a disembodied voice going 'eyes' 'eyes'. Scary. And Ridiculous.

One thing is for sure. This product may make a baby look like he is reading but nothing he learns in this format will give him any help whatsoever when it comes to learning proper reading and writing skills later on.

You baby would benefit far more from getting as wide and varied an experience of the world as you can give him. Let him find out how to take turns in conversation by making noises at each other. Let him learn that a dropped toy disappears and then reappears and eventually discover that it continues to exist. Let him touch and feel every different texture you can find and develop his writing muscles by moving his fingers, hands and arms as he plays.The list is endless.

Let him lead you on his voyage of discovery and enjoy seeing the world through his eyes.

Save DVDs for when it's time to snuggle up together and enjoy a Disney film together.

No I wouldn't try it! Have fun with your baby,he will read when he is ready. Go to the libary and read lots of books to him for fun. Relax and enjoy the stage he is at.

Its rubbish because it teaches them in the opposite way than they would probably learn in school, and whats recommended these days (phonics etc) it just teaches it by word recognition, so may confuse the child
I have got the whole set of it actually, for some reason thought it would be a good idea when I went to the baby show pregnant with ds1 but no its not worth it, and the dvds are not very engaging or anything, they look quite cheap and quite boring for the children to watch (cbeebies much better..)
and yes it is all in an american accent, and uses some american words like diaper

Wow, I didn't realise that my OP would provoke such a strong response...but mummies I hear you!
I DO play with my DD (13 months) all the time. I also read to her lots, and she always brings little books to me when I'm not playing with her, gives them to me to read to her, and then watches my mouth and expressions very intently, smiling and frowning and moving her hands from side to side! I just thought that because she loves words and books so much, she might enjoy this as well as it being educational.
But apparently not!

Firawla - Oh no! has donated all of DD's toys with american accents

your baby cannot read. Your baby might learn to recite sounds when faced with particular wordlike shapes on a specific piece of card, but will not actually learn to read.

Also, you are raising a person, not an information holding device. Buy a fucking sandpit.

This is terrifying

I work as a childminder/nanny and look after some children with ASD. The younger ones (2 years) can "read".

It's not reading - I think there is a technical term for it? Maybe sight reading? But basically it's seeing words as an image rather than as individual letters.

So if you should a child a flash card or a cat often enough they will soon learn cat. If you show a child the letters CAT often enough with the label, 'cat', they will 'read' cat.

The children I look after can do this as they like to repeat behaviours as part of their ASD. It's something that "experts" curtail as it causes havoc when they come to learn to read properly as you have to "retrain" them to see letters - not words.

HTH.

Colditz - o fucking k. I get the point.

Thanks navyeyelash, I didnt know that it actually might hinder reading progress later on
So Robert Titzer is aptly named then

youself! What did I say that you are skeptical of?

When I had just left work and was still a bit driven, I bought a book and flashcards called Teach Your Baby to Read" for my dd and we tried it for a while. You had to hold up the cards and say with loads of expression "THIS says DOG!!" and stuff like that.

At the age of about 15 months, dd batted the card out of my hand and said "Dis says Silly!"

I binned the lot. She learned to read in the normal course of events - and does not appear to have been scarred by her mother's PFBness.

Cherrybaby, what you're already doing is perfect. Your little one is learning that the written word links the pictures to speech. She's getting to know it progresses from right to left, she's finding out that the story progresses as you turn the pages and most important of all she's learning to love books. You can't do better than that .

'At the age of about 15 months, dd batted the card out of my hand and said "Dis says Silly!"'

An intelligent child! The only answer OP needs. Why would a baby need to read? When the DC is a fluent reader, no one can tell if they learned to read at 2 yrs or 8rs and no one cares! It isn't a race! A sure way to put them off IMO.

Baby signing is much more useful for this age group if you are wanting to do something to help short term communication and long term language skills. A sing & sign DVD is cheaper than the classes.