Your Baby Can Read....Research?

Mon Mar 1 15:22:57 UTC 2010

Right on, Kathy!
(I thought right away of your "Einstein/ flashcards" book.)
Thanks for the references.

Best,
Barbara

And thanks for including Susan Linn on your message.  I just read her  
book, Consuming Kids, and it was chilling (although the advertising  
about baby cognition was not the worst of it).

Quoting Kathy Hirsh-Pasek <khirshpa at temple.edu>:

> Liz and others:
>
> I could not agree more with Joan and have been troubled by the  
> claims Dr. Robert Titzer makes for some time. HIs blog self  
> identifies Titzer as a "Recognized expert and infant researcher."    
> He goes on to say, " His research on reading during infant and  
> toddler years captured the interest of educators, researchers,  
> parents, government agencies, and the media worldwide. Dr. Titzer  
> has been published in scientific journals, including the prestigious  
> Psychological Review." ( http://www.infantlearning.com/DrTitzer/).   
> As a researcher in the field of language and literacy, I have yet to  
> come across any research that he has done. In fact, the prestigious  
> Psychology Review paper that Titzer mentions was by Linda Smith,  
> Esther Thelen, Robert Titzer and Dewey McLin entitled, "Knowing in  
> the context of acting: The Task dynamics of the A-not-B error"  
> published in 1999 with no reference at all to reading. Titzer's PhD  
> according to his own report is from the Department of Human  
> Performance at the University of Indiana, which on their lab site is  
> a school of "health, physical education and recreation."  It would  
> be interesting to see what he studied for his dissertation.
>
> Early reading and language development are areas where we really do  
> have a lot of data.  In fact the recent review of early reading  
> research by the National Early Literacy Panel (September 2009) along  
> with responses to that report ( see Dickinson, D., Golinkoff, R. M.,  
> Hirsh-Pasek, K., Neuman, S., & Burchinal, P. (2009). The language of  
> emergent literacy: A response to the National Institute for Literacy  
> Report on Early Literacy. National Institute for Early Education  
> Research website: http://nieer.org/docs/index.php?DocID=252)) can  
> give you a real sense of where the literature is right now.   We  
> have for many years known that children can memorize written symbols  
> and associate them with meaning (very young children know the double  
> arches are associated with McDonalds).  But becoming a real reader  
> requires much more.  And for young children, building a strong base  
> in language and a love for books is probably a better use of time  
> than investing in unproven programs that are more commercially than  
> data-driven.
>
> Kathy
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> On Mar 1, 2010, at 8:24 AM, Luckhurst, Joan wrote:
>
>> Dear Liz & others,
>> Chris is exactly on target with her advice. In relation to the  
>> evidence base for these kinds of programs, I have yet to find any  
>> that is supportive. The only "evidence" appears to be from the  
>> anecdotal information provided by the author/publisher.  I have yet  
>> to see any independent, unbiased evidence. As Chris so aptly  
>> pointed out, early development, including linguistic development  
>> involves hands-on, functional and concrete experiences.  The  
>> foundation for later literacy, whether it occur early or a bit  
>> later is dependent upon these early learning experiences.  
>> Unfortunately, there are many opportunists out there who take  
>> advantage of parents' eagerness and concern over their children's  
>> welfare.
>> Joan
>> Joan A. Luckhurst, Ph.D., CCC-SLP
>> Assistant Professor
>> La Salle University
>> Benilde 2216
>> 1900 W. Olney Ave.
>> Philadelphia, Pa  19141
>> (215) 951-1609
>>
>> The information contained in this electronic transmission and any  
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>> ________________________________________
>> From: info-childes at googlegroups.com [info-childes at googlegroups.com]  
>> On Behalf Of wing0050 at umn.edu [wing0050 at umn.edu]
>> Sent: Sunday, February 28, 2010 6:21 PM
>> To: info-childes at googlegroups.com
>> Subject: Re: Your Baby Can Read....Research?
>>
>> Hi, Liz:
>>
>> I am guessing that you are the wonderful type of parent who will provide a
>> stimulating environment for your child in a myriad of ways, and so my sense
>> is that whether you include early reading in this stimulating environment
>> or not, your child will do well. I have been asked this and similar
>> questions (re electronic programs, Baby Einstein, signing, early reading,
>> etc.) by a significant number of parents, and my response is generally that
>> given the gestalt of supportive and stimulating parenting that will occur
>> under your tutelage, you child will do well with or without early reading.
>> However, having said that, my own bias is that there is not much to be
>> gained by this pursuit. Generally, research on preschool readers indicates
>> that they tend to join a well-educated cohort at the same reading level by
>> grade 3. My own bias, having reviewed the sensorimotor literature and
>> worked with a good number of sensorimotor therapists over the course of my
>> career as an SLP, is to prioritize for young children hands-on and
>> multi-sensory experiences, accompanied by the appropriate oral language, as
>> the best foundation for future learning. (I also read that one of the
>> causative factors in our immune deficiency-prone society is our lack of
>> exposure to good old dirt and other nasty substances at an early age.)
>> While I emphasize pre-literacy and literacy skills to my low SES (and
>> wonderful) cohort of prschool children and parents, my advice to
>> well-educated and middle income and beyond cohorts is to sit back, talk to
>> your child, and get dirty.
>> Chris Wing,
>> Doctoral Candidate
>> Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences
>> University of Minnesota
>> United States of America
>>
>>
>> On Feb 28 2010, Aliyah MORGENSTERN wrote:
>>
>>> Dear Liz,
>>> I don't know the program, so I can't judge but I'm a bit amazed. We
>>> want babies to baby-sign at 9 months (which isn't acquiring sign
>>> language in a signing environment) and now to read at 16 months...
>>> Maybe it is important that children be kept in a non literate world
>>> for a few years and use their ears (when they can) before entering
>>> language through reading skills. Reading is extremely important, but
>>> literacy does change our perspective on language and I'm personally
>>> glad we all spend a few years developing our oral language, our
>>> gestures, ou prosody, and all that comes with the vocal modality. I do
>>> think that literacy changes our whole perspective onclangauge. We gain
>>> a new world, we lose what cultures without a writing system did
>>> maintain. But I'm not a specialist in that field. It seems to me that
>>> reading too soon could get them focussed on different skills and they
>>> might not use their natural capacities and the specific cognitive and
>>> mostly interactional or social skills as much. But I might be wrong,
>>> we all code-switch between two languages, some of us from birth, maybe
>>> that is just the same. It might just bring more to them and be an
>>> enrichment. I was glad my kids learned to play music at four where
>>> some of my friends found that it was totally crazy...
>>> If you decide to go ahead, let me know what you think of it.
>>>
>>> Best,
>>> Aliyah MORGENSTERN
>>>
>>> Professeur de linguistique
>>> Université Sorbonne Nouvelle - Paris 3
>>> Institut du Monde Anglophone
>>> 5 rue de l'Ecole de Médecine
>>> 75006 Paris
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Le 28 févr. 10 à 22:53, Liz P. a écrit :
>>>
>>>> Hello Everybody,
>>>> I have a 16 month old baby girl, and i just recently acquired the Your
>>>> Baby Can Read Program, but when i started watching it, it seems too
>>>> good to be true, and i was asking my Language Acquisition professor
>>>> and she suggested that i inquire within to see if anyone knows the
>>>> research behind this program and if there are any down falls or
>>>> reasons why i shouldnt continue with the program with my daughter. I
>>>> can see the Pros (shell learn to read and expand her vocabulary) but
>>>> what would the Cons be. Thank you so much for your time. Any comments
>>>> will be appreciated
>>>>
>>>> Liz Pattison
>>>>
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>>>
>>>
>>
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****************************************
Barbara Zurer Pearson, Ph.D
Research Associate
Depts. of Linguistics and Communication
     Disorders

University of Massachusetts Amherst
Amherst MA 01003
413-545-5023
bpearson at research.umass.edu
http://www.umass.edu/aae/bp_indexold.htm

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