Teaching your baby to read -@ P & C Show

And with the whole learning thing, same with me, I loved school and my partner hated it, he thinks homework is a complete waste of time and that if our boy brings it home he is going to put it in the bin.

Flissty wrote: The July mums have heard my rant so I'll get off my high horse ... One issue that I have with it is that parents who would buy the DVD are likely to be fairly middle class families who are likely to be doing all the pro-literacy stuff that you have all mentioned - reading together, looking at letters and shapes, talking together, singing together .... Another issue is that I would hate to see it used with putting the child in front of the DVD and then mum/dad doing other things while it's on (probably cos they desperately need time and space to get household tasks done ) - it's so important to have human face-to-face interaction in the context of developing language.   Research has also demonstrated that oral language skills are the fundamental building block for developing written language skills (including reading) so it's incredibly important that these have the same attention/input as reading, if not more while at the preschool age.

I agree on both points - it is definitely the middle class families who are more likely to use this system due to the cost if nothing else, and as you say they also have the resources to promote literacy. I did find it interesting that with all of the research that Dr Titzer quotes he makes it clear that it encompasses children from comparable socio economic situations. I wonder if his data would be so favourable if it was non-socio economic specific?

And yes, the DVD does encourage parents to dump their kids in front of the TV, what I found refreshing is that Dr Titzer doesn't try and deny that, in fact he promotes the DVD as a tool for keeping baby/toddler entertained while mum/dad does other things. His premise is that they are going to put the child in front of the TV anyway, they might as well have something educational to watch in order to extend the experience for them. But he also makes it very clear that the DVDs are designed to be used in conjunction with the books, that the books are the most important part of the program and that it is crucial for parents to spend some time each day with their children going over the books.

Maya wrote: But he also makes it very clear that the DVDs are designed to be used in conjunction with the books

Ka-ching. Why couldn't I invent a product - I mean educational tool - like this?!

Edited by Flissty

From a teachers perspective also, I don't see the need for it. Most of us didn't have things like this (in fact I was brought up in a low socio-economic environment but my parents still read to/with me a lot and education was valued) and turned out fine. In fact, at school I was always well above the norm and all I had of training before school was kindy.

The best way to teach a child is to follow their lead, encourage but not pressure, learn through living not through DVD's etc at such a young age.

While I think its great that some kids read at such a young age, I do wonder what the benefits are? Noone will care that they could read at 2 if they have no social skills etc. And while I agree it doesn't disadvantage children to be ahead, it can if they are a few years ahead - slightly different from a few levels. And yes, a good teacher will work to all levels in the classroom.

As you can probably tell, I'm not a fan of prescribed programmes for the young ones, especially when the cost so much. I think money is better spent on family outings or a range of books for the child to 'read' to and with the family, rather than a programme. Off my high horse now

totally right whitewave :)

I thought of a better and shorter analogy today - the kids who are first to start walking when younger, are not necessarily faster at running when older.

Yep I agree too! That's like people getting worked up about when the babies are crawling, getting teeth etc. We all end up moving, getting teeth and learning to wipe our own asses - doesn't matter when we do it lol