Creative people are constantly developing slickly produced media for our kids. Some of it is educationally outstanding and some isn’t. That is why this DVD, “Sounds Like a Smile” caught my eye. It doesn’t have the glitz of an expensively produced DVD, but you feel like you’ve stepped into the neighborhood preschool class and its teacher has a really wide smile and expressive face to encourage imitating her sounds, songs and rhymes. It is no surprise that the content is educationally sound since speech pathologists were consulted on the material. A nurse-mom with a child with language delay produced this DVD for children with special needs as well as those developing typically.
As I viewed the DVD with my 2 year-old friend, he was mesmerized by the patient kid-pace, engaging Miss Miley puppet, repetition of sounds, catchy sound-related songs, and directions to follow. Choosing to focus on just a few sounds that preschoolers are expected to master: P, B, M, T, D, K and G, the teacher links the letter to its corresponding sound and moves to songs reinforcing the sound.
After the DVD was over, my little viewing companion walked away saying, “ka ka ka ka” imitating the teacher and showing that the lesson made an impact!
For my complete review, visit the Parents’ Choice website.
