It’s personal preference, but being the opinionated parent that I am, everyone around me knows I don’t like kids watching tv. I don’t have as much of an issue with movies as with broadcast tv (read: commercials) but I still prefer that kids be playing and entertaining themselves. Or reading.

I’m also not a big fan of early learning scams & schemes for babies that try to sell well-intentioned parents a plethora of crap under the guise that it will make their kid smarter when they were really designed to occupy and entertain (read: entrance) babies.(Crap? Rhymes with Shmaby Shmeinstein.)

However, with all that said, when I was sent the Your Baby Can Read DVD set to review, I was surprisingly impressed. I don’t think for a moment that babies need to read. Nor do I think they should be drilled on anything other than free play. Thankfully, neither does Your Baby Can Read founder Dr. Robert Titzer. Based on his research, the DVD’s and flash cards have been developed to allow a child to see common words, hear the words, see images representing the meaning of the words, and often perform some physical activity related to the words. Dr. Titzer claims that babies can learn written words as easily as they learn spoken words, often at the same time, by using a multi-sensory approach.

As an early literacy teacher (in my “real life”) I know that language acquisition is strongly based in exposure in the early years. As a parent, I know that anything that enhances a child’s communication is a big bonus. Your Baby Can Read does both of those things. The Your Baby Can Read DVD’s are interactive and teach important language skills during the child’s natural window of opportunity for learning language. See it in use here.

The first day I tried DVD #1 with my 10 month old son, he was interested (but not entranced - bonus!) and loved the animals and children on the screen. To my surprise, the next day when I put it on again, the word CAT appeared on the screen for the eleventy bazillionth time (repetition is key) and he pointed at it and said “Cah!” So yeah, it totally works. Is it rote learning? You bet. So is all early reading. It was only a couple of days before he was pointing at our own cat and equating the two.

So, while many people will roll their eyes at the very thought of babies learning to read, this program is fabulous for those of us who want to enhance our children’s communication abilities and capitalize on the early learning research. The whole program would be a great pair with baby sign and lots (and LOTS) of reading aloud to your child. (Which you all do anyway, right? Every single day without fail? I thought so.)

Get yourself a free demo and check it out!

Oh, and they have a blog!

Enter to win a Starter Kit including 5 double-sided sliding word & picture cards from Your Baby Can Read. Simply email theopinionatedparent@gmail.com with Read in the subject header and tell us which distinguished award YBCR has received. Contest closes at midnight MST on Monday, April 16/07. Congratulations Heather!