Anyone have any info on the fate of YourBabyCanRead.com? The site has posted this message:
From all of us at Your Baby Can Read,
thank you for being such great customers.
We are sorry our site is no longer active. If you wish to buy our products, you may find them on Amazon.com.
I haven’t talked to Robert Titzer about it. I think he’s more closely associated with InfantLearning.com, which I believe is the company with U.S. rights to the program; but that website is completely down (as of this writing).
I do hope this website shutting down has nothing to do with his court case. Which I have not heard anything about. Well lets hope Amazon keeps selling his product.
I tried to contact their customer service phone number a week or two ago to inquire about their Russian versions that were supposed to be coming out, but when I was finally able to find a number, the recording said that customer service is now only available via email. Coincidence? Unlikely.
Also, I used to see regular comments on the YBCR Facebook page from their staff, but lately it just appears as though no one is responding. They are getting tons of positive feedback though, so I hope everything will be ok. We love all of their products at our house.
I can’t express how disappointed I was to just read this on the YBCR facebook page.
Your Baby Can Read
4 hours ago.FROM ALL OF US AT YOUR BABY CAN READ!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR LOYAL SUPPORT AND BEING SUCH GREAT CUSTOMERS!
For more than 6 years, Your Baby Can Read! has been enjoyed and appreciated by families world-wide as an innovative reading concept for babies and young children.
Regretfully, the cost of fighting recent legal issues has left us with no option but to cease business operations. While we veheme…ntly deny any wrongdoing, and strongly believe in our products, the fight has drained our resources to the point where we can no longer continue operating.
To our thousands of loyal customers who have provided overwhelmingly positive feedback, and particularly to those who took the time to send written and video testimonials about the success stories of their children, we sincerely thank you for being such great champions of our products.
If you have questions regarding an existing order, please contact us at ybcservice@yourbabycan.com. Until August 15, a customer service representative will be available to respond to your emails during business hours.
If you would like to purchase our products, you may be able to find them at www.Amazon.com.
This is really sad news indeed. I had hoped they would triumph against the naysayers and those agencies which are oh-so anti-baby/toddler reading.
To quote Dr. Gentry in a response to a CCFC official to one of his articles:
"Here’s my prediction for the future: a few years from now, the research will prove that these parents are right; that baby/toddlers can read; that baby/toddlers can intuit phonics patterns and decode novel words. I predict that research will prove that there are positive long-term effects but I hope today’s parents won’t wait ten years to see the ten-year report…
…The baby/toddler reading world is eager to learn, and eager to share information. The baby/toddler reading world is eager for research to be conducted. This is important work. We need a kinder, gentler forum for moving forward."
What I find sad is a headhunt to compensate for parents inadequacies. Plopping your kid in front of any devise is not going to make the completely literate. Many programs help to break the ice. But nearly all kids still need instruction.
This is unbelievable! (or rather, extremely sad, unfortunate, heartbreaking, yet not suprising…)
The worst part is he untold numbers of amazing kids/parents that would have benefitted…Soooooo glad I recently purchased extras of all the products in both English and Spanish. Now I will be making sure I have back ups on the computer as well!
I would imagine that Amazon will continue to sell the product that they have ( at most-likely steadily increasing prices as supply dwindles!)
I would imagine that if they have shut down their company, they will not be making further product…and even if they continue to do so for a while, the lawyers gunning for settlements will quickly put an abrupt end to that >:(
Sooo many successes, and because some parents (and defensive ‘experts’) don’t take the time to use/evaluate a product properly? EL and the myriad of amazing accomplishments that are a daily product of our lives, took not only a huge step backwards, but a belly flop into ignorance and insolent insistence that all is already known about childhood learning!
Oh, so frustrating!
What was the name of the facebook site that was against YBCR.
The people that went against YBCR to protect the children just deprived MANY children of the gift of reading early. I want to send those people a message, “Do me a favor and stop “trying” to protect my children. You’ve done enough harm…”
Tragic, really. A blow to early learning everywhere. How I wish that there was large group of pro-early learning companies and parents organized to help fund this legal battle and further the movement, to represent the “success stories” and rally with strong numbers like the CFCC. Perhaps it could have ended differently.
And I agree with Dr. Gentry, I hope one day people will look back and see the truth.
The repercussions have already begun here…I was at the local library last week, along with many other moms that take their young children to story hour…a young boy, maybe four, read a couple of words from a sign and one mom started a conversation about how this little boy was so very precocious. The poor mother of the child said, oh yes, we have been doing YBCR for about six months…
Silence in the peanut gallery, then another woman actually gasped, you know, that company got closed down by the government because it hurts children! They memorize words and then when it comes time for them to learn to ‘really’ read, their brains are ‘broken’ and they might never learn properly! Murmurs, ‘yes, I saw they were shut down but didn’t know why, oh, how horrible, greedy companies like that’…absolute game of children’s ‘telephone’, all about misinformation and fear. I know for a fact that there are a few others there that used or are using YBCR, yet not a single one of them said a word! I felt like they planned to go home and destroy their own disks out of fear or insecurities.
Alex was with me, and I don’t think it is fair to her to discuss our success in that setting. All I could do was inform them that they completely had their facts incorrect, that YBCR has absolutely changed the lives of countless numbers of children and their families, including ours, and to please, please take the time to discern the facts. I even said I would be happy to discuss at a later time our positive experience.
In return? A lot of silence and sideways glances, as in, “oh, that poor, deluded woman!”. I truly hope that people who have had such great success don’t just give up and keep quiet
Thanks for the link to your article. I might have to keep it written in my purse for just such occasions.
My son learned how to read words by memorization at first but I quickly followed up with teaching him phonic sounds and now he is reading proposals and contracts from my Father’s Biotechnology Company. So many parents rely on the school system to teach their children and by that time their priority is not learning. If I go a day without showing Cayden his lessons he will not sleep he will scream do lessons. He evens yells out the password to his laptop. He has learned sooooo much by the age of 2 and it has been so easy to teach him. I wonder how many parents are breathing a sigh of relief because they felt that it would be too hard to teach a baby how to read.
Everyone who has witnessed my son’s achievements have been very impressed and genuinely happy for us. But once I start telling them how we did it they politely listen and then tell me that Cayden is gifted or that they do not have the time. I then take a deep breath and give them my speech on how every child is capable of learning…once they start developing and strengthing their brain…only need 10-20 mins a day etc…
My son loves and has learned so much with the YBCR and YBCD products.
This is not the news I was expecting. I was hoping to find out that they added more dvds to their Your Baby Can Discover program.
So, so sad. I was about to post the sale of my set of YBCR as my child has outgrown them, but maybe I’ll keep them now and put them in my “treasure box”…because, that’s truly what they are…allowing only those who believed in the product to put their fingers on them!
I am so happy that my son was able to experience YBCR, YCCR and now YCCD! Everyone of them - an excellent product! No regrets from me…other than not buying a set for every baby I know!
Kerileanne, that is UNBELIEVABLE! Where do they GET that stuff from?
My husband and I met Dr Titzer when he came to Belfast for a baby show. It was a brilliant presentation, but I was almost embarrassed for him because there were only 2 couples listening, including ourselves. The next presentation, on how to get your baby to sleep though the night, was packed full with people standing.
My theory is that 1. people can’t be bothered to learn how to teach their kids, 2. they then get jealous of the parents who have bothered and 3. they latch on to anything that seems to justify their non-action.
Fortunately my mum is in the US at the moment and can take delivery of the YCCR and YCCD that I’ve ordered from Amazon. They were never available over here. So glad to be able to get them before they don’t exist any more.
My daughter has benefited so much from YBCR, perhaps more than anything else I’ve done with her. My heart goes out to Dr Titzer. He should be getting awards and accolades, not this.
I had hoped they would triumph against the naysayers and those agencies which are oh-so anti-baby/toddler reading.