KALAMAZOO, Mich– Camdyn Sterling is your typical 3-year-old, even if she can read at the same level as a child twice her age.
“Their whole concept is while your child is developing their language skills, you teach them the blob on the couch is called the cat,” Heidi Sterling, Camdyn mom said. “You teach them how to spell the word cat at the same time.”
It’s all due to a program called, Your Baby Can Read. Heidi Sterling is Camdyn mother. She said she started using that program with her daughter when she was only a couple months old. The program works by associating a picture with a word, and also teaching the child how to spell the word at the same time.
“You see a picture of a cat, and you say ‘cat’, you point to a picture of a dog and say ‘dog’,” Heidi said. “The video does that exact same thing, but it makes you a lot easier for you, because by the end of the program they have taught their child 280 words.”
The program is designed for children as young at 2 months. It takes a year to complete. Heidi says there are some people out there who say the program doesn’t work, but that’s usually because they start too late.
“Some parents rush their kids through the system and the kids don’t have time to really absorb the words,” Heidi said.
Heidi says it’s hard for people to believe that her 3-year-old daughter is reading at such a high level.
“When you first say it, someone who doesn’t know your child very well, they think you’re bragging,” Heidi said. “But when they actually see her reading, they realizing she’s not just memorizing the book.”
16 Comments to “3 Year Old Girl Reads At First Grade Level”
March 6, 2013 at 8:06 PM
Well, At least she is ahead of most of the people in Mi- Good for you honey!
March 6, 2013 at 8:17 PM
http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/baby-read-s…
March 6, 2013 at 9:16 PM
Did you check into this…I google "Your baby can read" and it says it is a scam and went bankrupt!!!
April 8, 2013 at 8:56 AM
I used this program and now my 3 year old can read like a fourth grader!!!!
March 6, 2013 at 9:59 PM
I use the program for my children. It is a great program. It is not a scam. It really works. My three yr old can read quite a few words. He is not at the level of this girl. I think some kids take to it better than others. My 18 month old baby girl is more interested in reading the words than he was. She is already reading more words than he did at that age and she has Down syndrome!
March 6, 2013 at 10:08 PM
Bravo! I also taught my child to read at that age. She is now in kindergarten and can read a whole book by herself even Dr. Suess ones.
March 6, 2013 at 10:22 PM
The program is not a scam. I also used it for my child, he is 2.5 years old and he can also read. He read "God's Playground, a History of Poland" from one of our grown up book covers on the bookshelf today. It is amazing ! Best thing I ever bought.
March 6, 2013 at 11:03 PM
My daughter is also 3 yrs old and reading at this level thanks to this program and our hard work with her. She reads the books to her classmates at preschool.
March 6, 2013 at 11:21 PM
We started YBCR at 2 months, and my son was able to point to words correctly – and be correct all the time – at only 4 months old. By 2.5 years, I had to take him out of preschool because he was so advanced in language and reading. His teacher was bringing in 3rd grade flash cards and he already knew ALL of them! He can read in chapter books and understand quite a bit of what he reads when you ask questions about the paragraphs he just read. He even likes reading from the Bible itself.
The program is not a scam – but it still requires effort and work from the parents, the program just makes it easier for the parents to teach the reading so young. I don't think my son learned to read just because of the program – but it gave us a good place to start. LeapFrog videos helped us teach alphabet and sounds, vowels and punctuations …. it's making only educational things available to your child until they master those basics rather than just entertainment that would make them less inclined to be interested in educational things. My son just happened to be a sponge. He's almost 3 and a half, and knows way more than most kindergarteners and first graders. It's all him.
March 7, 2013 at 9:48 AM
She is reading at that level…but what is her reading comprehension level?
March 7, 2013 at 11:09 AM
Why are parents rushing to have their young children learn so quickly and at such a young age? She will be so ahead of her classmates that they will think she thinks she's better than the rest of them and it will be hard for them to relate to her. I have heard of this happening multiple times. A child learns at such a higher pace than those she is the same age as and gets bored in class and gets moved to the level up and just never feels like she fits in because she's younger than the rest of her classmates and so much more intelligent.
March 7, 2013 at 4:00 PM
The rush is because the brain is wiring or developing to what the child is exposed to at a young age (between 0-3 1/2 years old. this is the best opportunity to help your child.
March 14, 2013 at 9:49 AM
Are you seriously arguing that you should delay your children from learning so they can "fit in" with kids who aren't as smart? What kind of example are you setting for your children? "Don't try to be smarter than anyone because then people won't like you"
March 7, 2013 at 3:33 PM
Nothing like teaching your baby to read using the television. Nice hands on parenting, mom.
March 14, 2013 at 9:48 AM
The program involves a 20 min video, flash cards, and books. It's not just sitting your kid infront of the televesion and walking away. You have no idea what you're talking about.
March 7, 2013 at 3:54 PM
We started our daughter on the YBCR program at 8 months old and all I can say is at 5 years old she can read ANYTHING you can read. We also used Leap Frog videos to learn alphabet sounds and phonics when we realized she was sight reading words. She can now sound out just about any word and be very close to the correct pronunciation. We bought her an electronic dictionary to help with understanding (she uses this all by herself. She is now learning math, addition, subtraction, fractions. Her memory is very, very good, TOP NOTCH. Her comprehension level I do not know, but she can answer a lot of questions concerning books she reads. She reads chapter books from beginning to end (no pictures). She has thousands of books and can recall things she read, and in which book and where in the book she read it. I believe after watching documentaries on the human mind that you have to start things like your YBCR at a young age when the brain is still developing to make the brain good at memorization. If you could remember all that you have been exposed to during your life YOU would be a genius.