Babies reading before the age of one

November 1, 2009 by Shawn Douglas
Filed under: Baby Health, News

Babies are reading as early as seven months claim some parents using a program based out of the US.

In the hunt to keep their children a step ahead in learning, some parents have tried a reading program called “Your Baby Can Read”, a program that claims that reading instruction can start at a very early age.

The creator of the program, Dr. Bob Titzer, claims that the program is enjoyable for infants, and the infants that use it tend to do better when they enter school. However, some experts say that the concept is “absurd” and even potentially harmful to a child’s development.

“It’s like ripping open a rosebud to try to get it to blossom,” said childhood expert and author Steve Biddulph.

“There are many studies that indicate that structured approaches to early learning such as early phonics, structured play—which is a contradiction in terms—are attempts to assess or to audit childhood.”

Education consultant Kathy Walker agrees that the assessment and auditing of children too early is a developing trend.

“They don’t need to read and write before school,” she said. “That’s the whole problem. Everyone (is) feeling as if their child needs to have a head start by being able to do everything before school.”

“If a child begins to show an interest in words when reading to them, such as asking what that word says, then of course it is OK to help facilitate that, but it should be because the child is showing a genuine interest and not because the parent is trying to create some kind of genius or competing with other parents,” she added.

However, Dr. Titzer said that the ability is inherent, and learning to read at an early age is possible, especially with 90 percent of the brain being developed by the age of five.

“Children who know how to read before entering school have higher self esteem, and they are more likely to do well in school compared with children who have not,” he said.

Viktoria Andreeva of Melbourne, Australia has tried the program with her son Artem, starting when he was nearly three months old. She showed him videos from the program in five-minute intervals. Now at the age of seven months, Viktoria says that Artem can recognize words like “bellybutton” and “blanket”.