Era of the Amazing Kids

Came across this article on AsiaOne today:

Reading at 10 months old

VANESSA CHUA is only 10 months old, but she can recognise words and act them out.

It is no mean feat, as infants normally do that only when they turn three, according to Ms Jolleen, a teacher at Keeplaygroup.

Vanessa's achievement comes from a television diet of learning DVDs created by Dr Robert Titzer, an infant learning expert from the United States.

The infant researcher and teacher of over 15 years has appeared on more than one thousand television shows including CNN and MSNBC.

Dr Titzer is in town this week for a workshop.

Speaking to my paper yesterday, the 47-year-old said that infants should be exposed to words as early as in their second and third month - at the time when they get visual tracking.

"There is a window of opportunity for learning languages - written and spoken - for babies, which begins to close by age four," he said.

"Infants have tens of thousands of new brain connectors forming every single second. I don't think it's a good idea to wait until they're older."...

...His videos feature children performing an action while the word is shown and read. Over 100,000 copies have been sold since its debut in Singapore six years ago - in the VCD format...

...For Vanessa's parents, the videos were merely a source of entertainment to keep her occupied initially.

"She's normally a very active baby, but when she watches the video, she'll be quiet and concentrate for the full 20 minutes," said her homemaker mother Mrs Joyce Chua, 32.

Then, two months ago, Mrs Chua noticed her firstborn shaking her hands in response to the word "shake". Now, Vanessa reacts accordingly when she sees the words "clap", "tongue" and "mouth", among others.

Babies who learn two languages, as is common here, may take at least six months longer to master a language, said Dr Titzer.

However, this delay can be overcome if parents keep talking to their babies from the baby's perspective - describing what he or she is hearing, smelling, touching or tasting.

Oh my, an era of amazing kids has indeed arrived! In forums, among friends, you hear of amazing kids who knows the entire alphabet @ 18 months, can read before 3 years old, attend Shicida, Glenn Doman, Julia Gabriel's classes, etc.

It's really scary, and honestly, being a KS Singaporean, sometimes I really worry if my girl will lag behind these amazing kids? After all, the curriculum in Primary Schools seems to have gotten tougher. Mathematics, for instance, had left parents crying for help and kids fretful. Over the forum, I've even heard of a parent telling others that a Primary One student cried during a test because he/she was not able to read as fast as his/her peers.

While I believe that babies and toddlers have an alpha mind that has great potential for learning. I really wonder if it's really a good thing to get kids so advanced intellectually at such a young age. Will they feel bored when they already know what is being taught in schools? Will they be able to fit in with their friends? How will all this present to them psychologically?

Well, all I can say is, the next generation is indeed an amazing but stressful one.