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Tags:Education journalism psy145 reading Teaching

Here again is a news story about reading that ends with an advertisement in disguise. Compare this scien-fo-mercial to the poli-fo-mercial. See for yourself how the same tactics were used.

Researcher believes early exposure to the written word can help toddlers read

A U.S. infant researcher says your baby or toddler can learn to read by watching special videos from a very early age.
Robert Titzer believes hearing and seeing language as an infant can set your child on a path to reading success.
"About 90 per cent of the brain is developed by age five and then we try teaching the most important skill we’re going to teach and that’s reading," says Titzer.
Titzer has designed a series of interactive videos for babies and toddlers called Your Baby Can Read.
It’s a fun video that shows simple words in big letters, followed by the phonetic sounds and actions.
Titzer admits the video is pretty simple, but believes the key is when it should be shown — he advocates as early as six months. He says letting babies see words as they’re learning to say them can deliver suprising results.
"I’ve been in homes where people used the video, and there’s an 18-month-old reading the newspaper or a 15-month-old who can read every word in the video." says Titzer, who used the method on his own children. 

Rule #1 in journalism, present balanced views, or pretend to. In this case, the author asked a teacher.

But some teachers question the value of a video, and believe a good old-fashioned book still goes a long way. Pat Smith has been a teacher for 30 years and says it would be a shame for parents to believe plunking their child infront of the TV can teach them to read.
"It’s story, the key to being someone who has pleasure in reading is a sense of story, because that connects to so much of our lives, whether they’re children or adults," says Smith, an instructor at Kumon. 

An the final judgment comes from the parent

Mira’s parents say she never watched much TV as a child, and they simply tried to share their love of reading with her.
"I think what really helped is that we read to her every day," says Hallock.

And by now you know what you should expect: the phone number of the sales office. Here goes:

Titzer says they will struggle with reading for the rest of their academic and adult life.
The videos are sold at Self Connection Books in Calgary (284-1486).

This entry was posted on Monday, March 31st, 2008 at 3:15 pm and is filed under Teaching, Odds'n'Ends, Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site. Edit this entry.