31 for 21 Day 3: Love and Learning Check-In

We got the Love and Learning program after hearing about it in our Literacy Launch Pad group.  It's been about a month so I thought I'd update on how it's going and if we've noticed any progress in Anthony's reading and speech since starting it.

We haven't been at all consistent in using the program.  Ideally, we would show Anthony one of the videos every day (we have videos 1 and 2).  In reality, he probably watches one about 3 times a week.  The main problem is finding the time.  We try to limit his screen time to 1-2 hours per day.  He gets to watch Sesame Street in the morning, and he LOVES to watch Signing Time.  So finding the time to get a Love and Learning video in can be challenging, especially on school days.  He likes the videos but not as much as Signing Time, so when it's time for a video, he gets mad if I put on Love and Learning instead of Rachel.

The competition is tough.

You're also supposed to read the little books each day.  This only takes a few minutes, but Anthony is not one to sit quietly and be read to.  He likes to choose the book and there's a lot of competition from his well-stocked bookshelf.  But I try to show him one of the books every night at bedtime.

Then there are the audio CDs. We hardly ever put them on- again too many competing interests. When Anthony wants to listen to music, he wants Music Together songs or Johnny and Jason, not a lady saying "Apple. Ap-PLE." But we occasionally put it on as background when he's playing.

So has Love and Learning made a difference so far?  Who knows?  If we used it like you're supposed to, maybe he'd be speaking more and learning the sight words.  He is definitely becoming more vocal and using more words lately.  His teachers at school and speech therapist have remarked on it too.  But there's no way to know if it's just him developing naturally with time, being around the older kids at school, or the effect of the reading programs we do.  It would be nice to know what makes a difference or doesn't, but we can't determine that from our little N of 1 experiment!