He's a nine-month-old baby prodigy.

Unfortunate that it was presented in this way.

The beautiful baby outshines this racial identification.

God Bless this 'little sparrow', His creation.

That being they would not be impressed with ANY nine month old baby reading. Reading is not even that important anyways. Nine months... Nine years makes no difference.

But if an uppity black kid does it, why that's just plain wrong. Their world crumbles a little more.

The Bell Curve?

African American Group.

The reality is - in a few years he may very well enter the public school systrm.

A white classmate will punch him in the mouth.

He will retaliate by sticking out his tongue.

He will be expelled and treated as a 30 year old violent offender.

This video (if it's true) will be evidence that his expulsion is not justified.

And - if I have to explain the "reason" behind this scenario, then you are probably in the wrong group.

We allow the highlight of race in the African American group.

One of them teaches college now.

So I'm not sure this video would be evidence of anything if a couple boys got in an argument and the black boy was threatened with expulsion.

I'm surprised you aren't aware of the statistics and realities of this???

https://www.theedadvocate.org/black-boys-in-crisis-is-punishment-too-harsh/

Black kids are way more likely to be punished in school than white kids, study finds
https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/4/5/17199810/school-discipline-race-racism-gao



https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/black-students-punishment-betsy-devos_us_5ac539b6e4b056a8f597f2a0
In Both Rich And Poor Schools, Black Students Face Harsher Punishments

The Education Department data analyzed in this report is from the 2013-2014 school year, and reveals deep discipline disparities across student groups ― the very problem the guidance is intended to address. Independent of school poverty level, type of public school or type of disciplinary action, boys, students with disabilities, and black students are being punished at far higher rates than other students.

For black students, these inequities start as early as preschool.






So I guess I don't understand what your one or two mean white boys in your grade school have to do with the reality that black children face in America. It's not just black boys - it's black girls.

You CERTAIN you want to go down this path with me in this group?

The fact that you didn't automatically know this as a common known natural fact tells me you have a lot to learn.


I guess - why can't white folks just let black folks have 'moments'?

Why must they ALWAYS insist that race isn't important - when black folks pull ahead.

Why doesn't it always go to - well this white boy in school blah blah blah.

It's not news to me, it's not debatable, and it's a terrible problem. Full stop.

But I don't think RACISTS will be moved by a video showing that an African American baby could correctly repeat words on flash cards. If anything, RACISTS might be even more resentful of a black child they considered to be gifted. How would that help in a school discipline situation, if they were determined to go after the black child? Being smart doesn't make you well behaved in school.

I think the idea that if black people can just do all the right things, white people will stop mistreating them, is wrong. Wouldn't you agree with that?

If anything the Obama administration taught me the opposite of that -- that black people will be targeted by racists no matter how much they achieve. The more Obama excelled, as a man and as a President, the more some white people attacked him. That does NOT mean Obama shouldn't be all that he is, and can be. But it won't insulate him from attacks by racists.

One of my friends is a black physician, and I have heard his stories of being stopped by the police for driving while black. None of the police would have cared about a video purporting to show he could read as a baby (though if anyone could have, it would have been he.)

Thanks for sharing.

with this, I'd be more enthusiastic.

The most important thing isn't how early a child learns to read, but how enthusiastic they become about reading. My son who didn't read as early as the others is also the only one who really fell in love with reading.

There is a difference between teaching a baby to make certain sounds (words) when they see certain combinations of printed shapes (letters) versus teaching them to really understand what those sounds mean. I think most babies are better off if they spend a lot of time on a parent's lap, helping to turn the pages while picture books are read to them. Once they have heard the book a number of times, the parent can pause and let the child complete a sentence. Learning words in context, and in sentences, is more meaningful than learning to repeat the words on flash cards.

https://www.popsci.com/blog-network/kinderlab/no-you-can%E2%80%99t-teach-your-baby-read

Susan Neuman, a professor of early childhood and literacy education at New York University, says she was contacted a few years ago to be expert witness for an industry group proposing benefits of baby media. She told them that the question of babies reading hadn’t actually been answered by scientific data – and then she set out to study it herself. Her research up to then had focused on high-poverty kids. “If it were true [that infants could be taught to read] then given these kinds of these materials to poor kids would give them a leg up before they go to school,” says Neuman.

Neuman and her colleagues took 117 babies aged 10 to 18 months. Half the group use flashcards, DVDs and books from the Your Baby Can Read system, while half did not. In 13 of 14 assessments, which included the ability to recognize letter names, letter sounds and vocabulary, the researchers found no difference between the groups. The lack of difference between the groups surprised even Neuman. “We did not think that their claims that babies can read was going to be justified -- but we did expect some precursors to literacy (like phoneme awareness) to be affected,” she says.

SNIP

Later in life, some exposure to flash cards and media can actually help kids. The trick is that it has to come when kids learn to link symbolic representation with sounds or concepts. Neuman urges caution to parents who are eager to get their kids learning and reading. “Much of what is out is put together for children’s excitement and motivation, and lacks a lot of intentional good use, so be wary.”

Instead of plopping down with baby in front of a screen, the study authors suggest other activities – adult-child language interaction, reading books, play, and joint activity – which have been shown to have an impact on cognitive development, early reading skills, and in the long run, reading performance.

For all of the parental coaching going on, clearly the baby is engaged in the game ... he grabbed one of the cards he had already read, and re-read it (fascinated with that particular word or sound?) I tend to think being read to, he may point to each word and demand to be able to read and say that word. He is obviously curious and his parents may have a lifetime of work to make sure he is challenged. Doesn’t mean the child will not be wrapped in storytelling and hugs.

And I'm looking at him as he's making the sounds associated with the cards. That doesn't mean he's absorbed the meaning of what he is saying; only that he has learned to repeat certain sounds when he sees those cards.

I didn't see him engaged in any effort to talk to his mother, other than repeating those sounds. Also, I didn't see any smiles.

more like sounds....first couple letters of a word...if the Mom hadn't said them aloud, I wouldn't have known ....

And even the little sounds he makes are extraordinary for a baby.

Hence, many words will posses neither the precision nor the quality of enunciation adults expect from language.

Last edited Thu Dec 27, 2018, 09:32 AM - Edit history (1)

How he pulled a card from the stack that he had already read (he was fascinated by that particular word?)

order, on the one hand, and contemplation ... he is thinking about what he is reading

I think this is more than just precociousness

A W E S O M E

It shows the babies bright colorful videos along with the words on repeat so the baby or toddler learns to recognize those same words on site.


The company that makes "Your Baby Can Read" was sued a few years back because of false advertising, scam, etc. Basically because the program was about memorization, not actually reading.

In 2012, the Obama administration took action against it, saying there was no scientific evidence to support its claims. Reading includes reading comprehension, and there was no evidence the babies were understanding the sounds they'd learned to repeat.

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/my-baby-cant-read-company-penalized-for-reading-claims/

For years, consumers were peppered with infomercials and Internet ads claiming that parents and caregivers who used the system could have kids reading such books as the Harry Potter series by the time they were 3 or 4.

The company claimed that through the "Your Baby Can Read" flash cards, lift-a-flap books and videos that as early children as young as nine-months-old could start to read. The program cost about $200.

SNIP

Not so, the federal government has decreed. In a settlement announced Friday by the Federal Trade Commission, the founder of "Your Baby Can Read," Dr. Robert Titzer, along with his company, Infant Learning, agreed to judgments of more than $185 million to resolve charges filed by the agency alleging the program had no scientific evidence to make the claims.

The FTC settled on that figure because $185 million was amounted to Infant Learning's gross sales from Baby Can Read. The company that marketed the program went out of business in 2012 when the agency first took action against it. However, the FTC said it was still selling copies of the program online after that time. Infant Learn and Titzer are still selling child education programs online.