Comments on: Common Criticisms of Teaching Babies To Read http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70 Updates, comments, and musings from the BrillKids Team Sat, 29 Oct 2011 22:01:20 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 By: Updates to “Common Criticisms” and “TV=Bad?” Blogs http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-49 Updates to “Common Criticisms” and “TV=Bad?” Blogs Fri, 27 May 2011 09:47:40 +0000 http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-49 [...] “Common Criticisms Of Teaching Babies To Read” [...] [...] “Common Criticisms Of Teaching Babies To Read” [...]

]]> By: Bri http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-33 Bri Tue, 26 Apr 2011 03:14:31 +0000 http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-33 I just would like to add a little food for thought to "I wasn’t taught to read as a baby and I turned out okay!" and "Teaching children to read should be left to teachers." Considering illiteracy is STILL a concern in the US, should we not ask "What could make this easier for all children? Perhaps even those that are in school systems without adequate funding?" It seems that all teachers and educational systems are not created equal and NOT teaching your children to read is an unneccesary gamble. I have met many adults that can't read in my lifetime. They went to school. What happened to them? We may never know for sure. But we do know that they never learned to read from any source, parent or teacher. Wouldn't taking action as a parent make more sense for the welfare of our children? I mean, teachers don't exactly have a 100% success rate. I just would like to add a little food for thought to “I wasn’t taught to read as a baby and I turned out okay!” and “Teaching children to read should be left to teachers.”

Considering illiteracy is STILL a concern in the US, should we not ask “What could make this easier for all children? Perhaps even those that are in school systems without adequate funding?”

It seems that all teachers and educational systems are not created equal and NOT teaching your children to read is an unneccesary gamble.

I have met many adults that can’t read in my lifetime. They went to school. What happened to them? We may never know for sure. But we do know that they never learned to read from any source, parent or teacher. Wouldn’t taking action as a parent make more sense for the welfare of our children? I mean, teachers don’t exactly have a 100% success rate.

]]> By: Thanks Mom and Dad http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-13 Thanks Mom and Dad Mon, 21 Feb 2011 20:47:11 +0000 http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-13 I learned to read as a baby and I turned out okay! I second that, Teachingmytoddlers! I'm 33 years old and teaching me to read as a baby was one of the best things my parents did for me. I was on a second grade reading level when I went into kindergarten. We were very poor growing up and my mom said the main reason she wanted me to learn to read so early was so that I would have better self confidence going into school - and I did! I also gained a love for learning at an early age, and because of that, I was more attentive, had a better work ethic and was actually able to enjoy the fun activities they had at school. Instead of saying there is no scientific evidence that babies can learn to read and that it's "bad" for you to learn to read as a child, the "experts" should just admit that they really don't know if babies can learn to read or not and thank those people who have developed these programs! KL, maybe we should start a blog for those people who learned to read as babies! I learned to read as a baby and I turned out okay!

I second that, Teachingmytoddlers! I’m 33 years old and teaching me to read as a baby was one of the best things my parents did for me. I was on a second grade reading level when I went into kindergarten. We were very poor growing up and my mom said the main reason she wanted me to learn to read so early was so that I would have better self confidence going into school – and I did! I also gained a love for learning at an early age, and because of that, I was more attentive, had a better work ethic and was actually able to enjoy the fun activities they had at school.

Instead of saying there is no scientific evidence that babies can learn to read and that it’s “bad” for you to learn to read as a child, the “experts” should just admit that they really don’t know if babies can learn to read or not and thank those people who have developed these programs!

KL, maybe we should start a blog for those people who learned to read as babies!

]]> By: Shen-Li http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-9 Shen-Li Fri, 28 Jan 2011 16:46:59 +0000 http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-9 Excellent post, KL! You are absolutely right about distractions for older kids! I only found about about Doman and BrillKids when my older son was 2 years plus and even then it was difficult to shift him away from his obsession with Thomas and Friends. Anything that wasn't about trains simply wasn't interesting to him. With my second son, I started Little Reader and Little Math with him early. Now whenever he sees the program loading on my computer, he drops whatever he's doing, comes to my side and tries to climb into my lap so he can start his lessons! Excellent post, KL!

You are absolutely right about distractions for older kids! I only found about about Doman and BrillKids when my older son was 2 years plus and even then it was difficult to shift him away from his obsession with Thomas and Friends. Anything that wasn’t about trains simply wasn’t interesting to him.

With my second son, I started Little Reader and Little Math with him early. Now whenever he sees the program loading on my computer, he drops whatever he’s doing, comes to my side and tries to climb into my lap so he can start his lessons!

]]> By: TeachingMyToddlers http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-8 TeachingMyToddlers Thu, 27 Jan 2011 02:10:53 +0000 http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-8 I hear you loud and clear! And I am in total agreement. I recently met an adult who was taught to read in the first year or two of life and he wouldn't have had it any other way. He said to me "Any of these protesters I would bring to the library, gesture to the stacks, and ask "You see all this knowledge, all these stories, all this experience waiting to be found?" They would say yes-- to which I would say, "And you would deny your children this treasure?" " And here's another small study in support of early reading: http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ686923&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ686923 I hear you loud and clear! And I am in total agreement. I recently met an adult who was taught to read in the first year or two of life and he wouldn’t have had it any other way. He said to me “Any of these protesters I would bring to the library, gesture to the stacks, and ask “You see all this knowledge, all these stories, all this experience waiting to be found?” They would say yes– to which I would say, “And you would deny your children this treasure?” ”

And here’s another small study in support of early reading:
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/search/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ686923&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ686923

]]> By: Tweets that mention Common Criticisms of Teaching Babies To Read -- Topsy.com http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-7 Tweets that mention Common Criticisms of Teaching Babies To Read -- Topsy.com Wed, 26 Jan 2011 23:24:19 +0000 http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-7 [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kimberley Szuster, Lappy Capistrano. Lappy Capistrano said: Common Criticisms of Teaching Babies To Read http://t.co/mV2Ovob [...] [...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by Kimberley Szuster, Lappy Capistrano. Lappy Capistrano said: Common Criticisms of Teaching Babies To Read http://t.co/mV2Ovob [...]

]]> By: Jami W. http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-6 Jami W. Wed, 26 Jan 2011 22:52:22 +0000 http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-6 To Matt Lauer on Today and his story about how babies are not really reading - tell that to my 18 month old daughter who was reading my dishwasher last week! Or my shirt the other day! My daughter actually reads words she's never seen before! And my son is 3 and he's reading at a second grade level! What poor journalism! They site to one lady and unnamed "experts" in child development! What a very thorough investigation! To Matt Lauer on Today and his story about how babies are not really reading – tell that to my 18 month old daughter who was reading my dishwasher last week! Or my shirt the other day! My daughter actually reads words she’s never seen before! And my son is 3 and he’s reading at a second grade level! What poor journalism! They site to one lady and unnamed “experts” in child development! What a very thorough investigation!

]]> By: Sarah http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-5 Sarah Wed, 26 Jan 2011 17:31:03 +0000 http://blog.brillkids.com/?p=70#comment-5 Great timing for this post, KL! I, just moments ago, finished ranting on my blog about someone criticizing my attempts at early learning with my children. I couldn't agree more with what you have to say and I definitely think that it applies not only to early reading, but early learning in general. It's a shame that so many people ignore the potential that their children have and assume that they can't learn things. In fact, it's quite the opposite - they LOVE to learn and they will absorb virtually anything you show them. My youngest daughter could identify every species of North American owl when she was only 6 months old and I didn't even attempt to teach it to her - she just picked it up while I was teaching her older sister (19m, at the time). I'm so glad to see that your blogging and encouraging parents the world over to tap into all of the potential in those tiny little brains! Keep up the great work! Great timing for this post, KL! I, just moments ago, finished ranting on my blog about someone criticizing my attempts at early learning with my children.

I couldn’t agree more with what you have to say and I definitely think that it applies not only to early reading, but early learning in general.

It’s a shame that so many people ignore the potential that their children have and assume that they can’t learn things. In fact, it’s quite the opposite – they LOVE to learn and they will absorb virtually anything you show them.

My youngest daughter could identify every species of North American owl when she was only 6 months old and I didn’t even attempt to teach it to her – she just picked it up while I was teaching her older sister (19m, at the time).

I’m so glad to see that your blogging and encouraging parents the world over to tap into all of the potential in those tiny little brains!

Keep up the great work!

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