Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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185 of 198 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
Disappointed..wish it lived up to online demo, December 30, 2008
Wow, I'm disappointed. I really should have known better.
I've been working in the field of early childhood for over a decade. Most of my graduate-level work focused on infant and toddler development. Why wouldn't someone like me know that flashcards and monotonous repetition are unhealthy and boring for toddlers and total unproductive? Because, like most parents I was wooed by the thought of super-babies.
You see I have 2 year old twins and every time I saw those darned infomercials I thought "if they can do it.., well shucks, so can I".
I tried that online demo and my boys just loved it. They picked up on it the very first time they tried it. I was so excited I bought the whole kit for them for Christmas.
Well, what arrived was a boring video that my boys were expected to watch 2x a day (added to a daily regimen of flashcards and a book featuring the same 10 or so words) that went something like this:
TIGER. This is a tiger.
Mouth. Can you touch your mouth?
BABY. Are you a baby?
At one point during the first screening I heard my boys having the following conversation, "Tiger? We just did tiger."
"We have to do it again."
"Oh, man!"
They had that exact conversation each time they watched the DVD. As repetition seemed a theme they wanted to contribute.
We were all bored. And irritated.
The boys wanted nothing to do with the flashcards or their book. They like plots and they're way beyond, "Baby Lauren is waving!" They love the Leapfrog videos and know all of their letters and letter sounds. I'd rather develop their word attack skills with that series than use this sight word approach. Today I mail back "box-o-genius" and look for some of those cool word puzzles.
For those of you who are chronic optimists, I can see how this program MIGHT work with babies ages 9 months to 24 months, but the videos need to have several versions which change the way they present the words. The same pictures, silly costumes children make learning time more like baby torture. How about reading to your child and pointing out the words instead of propping them up in front of the TV? As much as children enjoy reading the same books over and over this is sure to have the same effect with the added bonus of parent-child interaction.
DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT buy this for a child over the age of 2 1/2. And, as a former Kindergarten teacher who has taught children to read, don't waste your time buying this for a kindergartener. The Leapfrog videos, games and toys are way better.
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27 of 30 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Sensible idea, shoddy execution, June 13, 2009
I've now been using the starter DVD for a month with my daughter and my overall impression is that while this is a fine idea with a sound foundation (learning to read ultimately begins with memorization), the production quality does not jive with the cost-- $200 new.
I have experience with video and audio production, and these are unquestionably the two greatest weaknesses in an otherwise decent product. In fact, if I had to guess, I would say that the author tried to produce the work himself, or found a friend or relative who fancied themselves a "video professional", as I can't imagine a bona fide video production company still being in business if this is the level of work they produce.
I write this not because I'm a video purist or style nazi but because the production quality, in my view, has a noticeable and measurable negative impact on the intended purpose of the product--ie: To train the eyes to see actions and recognize words, to train the ear to listen to the sounds of words and to hear them spoken, and to combine these in a way that creates understanding in the child's mind.
Consider:
1. The video itself looks like it was shot by an amateur; the subjects themselves are lackluster (A partly cloudy day at the zoo? With the neighbors' kids at the park? This is the best they can do?), the lighting often makes the subject difficult to discern, the camera work is shaky and inconsistent, many scenes are far too rushed, and often the action being described is only secondary or incidental. It's much as if the video was shot first and that the addition of words was an afterthought.
2. It's commendable that the director chose to use children's voices in both the spoken and sung portions of the DVD, but didn't it occur to them that having young children speaking words is probably not the clearest way to have them understood? I would have preferred a soft, intelligible, well-enunciated woman's voice--or variety of more mature voices--forming the bulk of the spoken portions. As it stands, many syllables are slurred, rushed, or misspoken ("Hippopotamuses"?? Hippopotami! Good grief.).
3. While I applaud the editor for using the breadth and depth of every video transition available to them in the "amateur video effects bin", these are way too overused and also distract from the action being described--to the point of being downright confounding to the little one trying to decipher all these whizzing shots. On top of this, the production quality is flat, boring, and doesn't feel professional or even very well conceptualized (yes, I absolutely think I could have done it better myself).
4. The children's songs are a nice touch, but suffer from such poor visual execution that I'm led to wonder why they included them at all. And if you want the child to be able to read along, then the lyrics have to be displayed accordingly; as it stands this poor imitation of karaoke is utterly insufficient (no bouncing ball, and the timing is apparently a crap shoot).
Like I said, a fine idea, particularly the sliding card idea, but the DVDs make this not at all worth $200. Not even close. I haven't used any of the competing products out there but I'd guess they're of superior quality.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Better than learning to read using the traditional phonics method, November 13, 2008
I started showing these DVDs to my daughter when she was 7 months. She was reading from flashcards at 1, sounding out words at 18 months and reading books at 2. My 8 month old is watching them now and she really enjoys them. She smiles and waves her arms.
My older child is now 3. One thing that amazes me is that she has better reading skills than 2nd, 3rd and 4th graders I have heard reading. I'm not sure if learning earlier improves reading ability or if there is something about this method.
When children learn phonics at school they go through drills to learn the sounds of each letter. Sounding out letters is slow and definitely not a fun way to learn to read. It could be enough to kill a child's love of reading. A child who watches these DVDs figures out letter sounds on their own. As Titzer's website says, if a child knows bat, cat, house and hippo they can figure out the word hat.
When my daughter comes across new one syllable words she can quickly figure them out. When she comes across a word with multiple syllables she pronounces each syllable. She never has to sound out the individual letters. I think this is why she reads much better than older kids who have learned using the traditional phonics method. She can figure out unfamilar words much more quickly. As a result, she reads more quickly and can focus on the story instead of focusing on the individual words. This makes reading more enjoyable.
Anyway, I'm very impressed with these DVDs and glad that my children won't have to learn to read using the traditional phonics method.
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by Glenn Doman
DVD ~ Robert C. Ph.D Titzer
