Product Details

• Actors: Dr. Robert Titzer
• Format: Color, NTSC
• Language: English
• Rated: Unrated
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Infant Learning Co.
• VHS Release Date: December 31, 2000
• Run Time: 30 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (25 customer reviews)
• ASIN: 6304925700
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #199,621 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

24 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great video when used as part of a broader program!, June 27, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Your Baby Can Read 1 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

My toddler loves this video (as well as Vol 2.). I had my doubts when I bought this video, but my son absolutely loves both volumes. He started recognizing words very quickly, and performing the actions to match before he was able to actually say the words (clap, jump, arms up, etc..). We call this his Hooray! video, and he has a lot of fun as well as a lot of fun learning every time he watches it! Other videos that help to broaden beginning reading skills are: So Smart: All about Letters (great for teaching letter sounds - names of the letters can come later, after the sounds are learned), So Smart: All about Shapes. Also very good after your child knows letter sounds and is recognizing words is Dr. Suess's ABC (great for teaching/reinforcing preschool phonics and lots of fun in the bargain!). I definitely recommend "Your Baby Can Read!", but keep in mind it will be most effective when part of a broader program including phonics, and that it should always be kept fun! (Yes, I'm an elementary teacher!) I'm always with my child when he watches this, and we jump and run and do a lot of the word actions together! Fun! ***HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!**

31 of 33 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars good concept , bad execution, June 18, 2002

By 

Sajil Unni (Indianapolis, IN) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Your Baby Can Read 1 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

Unlike a lot of parents, I have never been comfortable with the concept of sitting a baby/toddler in front of a tv to watch even "educational" shows. I really don't need my baby to be an "Einstein" or a "genius". But I was absolutely stunned one day when he was 16 months old and I doodled his name on the Magna-Doodle (as I had done a hundred times when I was bored) and he pointed to it and said his name! My husband said to write a bunch of words on the Magna-Doodle and see if he could accurately point to his. He did this 7 times in a row (on videotape!). A month later I saw a segment on Good Morning America about this series. I was intrigued and thought it could enhance a skill he was already working toward. Because I had my doubts though I checked it out of the library instead of buying it.
The video features Dr. Titzer's daughters and a couple of other children. It shows words followed by some video footage of the word in action. It also features the songs "If You're Happy" and "Head and Shoulders". My son loves watching other children and animals, so in that respect it was very good. However great the concept is is kind of overshadowed by the poor execution. The words seem thrown on the screen in a somewhat haphazard fashion. For example the word "climbing" could be followed by the followed by the word "antelope" or "yes". I would have preferred there to be some kind of categories that the video could have consistantly stuck to, like animals or actions or objects. Another problem I had with the video is that some of the words seem beyond the reach of a 5th grader, much less an infant, such as "orangatan" and "hippopotamus". Also some words are not adequately conveyed by the video footage. For example, the word "smiling" shows a 4 month old with an ambiguous smile.
After watching it a few times I realized that the problems I had with the tape were getting on my nerves. So what I decided to do was make a home video personalized to my son. I printed out often used words like "milk" and "daddy", focused my camcorder on them for a few seconds and then showed a few seconds of the the word in action. I did record the two songs of my tv as well.
It's about a 15 minute video and my son adores it. He has memorized the sequence of the video and always shouts out the words, I don't know if it's necessarily because he's reading them however. What I've realized is that this kind of reading is just a recognition skill just like being able to name animals or objects. It's not really reading with phonics where they would be able to discover new words using the skills they already have. I consider this more along the lines of a "party trick" like being able to make animal sounds than an indication of academic intellect. I've found that I like active learning where he gains an understanding of a concept through repetitive real world experiences rather than the passive learning that comes from sitting in front of a screen for entertainment. At 21 months our son knows fourteen animal noises, ten colors, can recognize the numbers 0 - 9, and is potty trained. But even more importantly, he is a loving, affectionate child who is (mostly) well behaved.
I believe that a child is genetically preprogrammed to be as smart as they can possibly be. There's not a lot you can do to make them a genius if they just do not have the ability to be one. But you can skew the parameters of their innate intellect by providing an environment of loving positive reinforcement. A video can never be a substitute for your attention.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars My baby CAN read!, December 28, 2003

By 

Leslie A. Dannelly "lilylydsmom" (Italy) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Your Baby Can Read 1 [VHS] (VHS Tape)

My daughter started watching this video at 5 months. At 13 months she started saying the words on the screen before the narrator did. At 15 months she could read all the words in the book that I got to go with Volume one. She is in first grade now and reads at a fifth grade level. I attribute her early reading to this video! I would put it on once a day, but never forced her to watch. Some days she would just play and listen while it was on. I think the video helped her make the connection of letters and reading earlier than normal. My younger daughter watches the videos now and loves them, too! Worth every nickel and then some!