[LITTLE MATH]

As promised, here's a sneak peek at our upcoming software - Little Math and Little Musician.

LITTLE MATH

There are 2 main sections to this - Learning Numbers, and Learning Math.

For Learning Numbers, the program will help you teach your child the concept of numbers.  This will help the child link together the concepts of QUANTITY (eg. showing numbers of dots), NUMERALS (ie., 1, 2, 3, 68, 92, etc) etc.

Like Little Reader, it will be highly customizable, eg., the icons used, and you can import stuff created by others.

For Learning Math, this is basically teaching arithmetic concepts - addition, subtracting, multiplication, and division.  It will be so easy to use. No more spending ages just trying to pre-arrange your math dot cards in order to show equations!

We hope to get the first beta out by October.


LITTLE MUSICIAN

Little Musician will teach a child:

Notes & Pitch - ie., the relationship between a note (in terms of pitch), and the representations of the note (eg., the musical staff notation, the letter of the note (eg., G#)).

Rhythm - This aims to enhance the child's sense of rhythm.

Sing Along - This is essentially a baby karaoke, letting them sing along to nursery rhymes.  The best part is, this will also really help a child learn to read too!

And this is Felicity's favorite! You can see her singing Head Shoulders Knees and Toes here:

<a href="http://www.youtube.com/v/jBDsyhX-slE&rel=1" target="_blank">http://www.youtube.com/v/jBDsyhX-slE&rel=1</a>

(If it says "This video no longer exists", just refresh the page and try again.)

We hope to get the first beta of Little Musician out before the end of this year.

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Hope that gives you some info on what's coming up next!  Stay tuned for more!

If you have any suggestions as to what we can include, please let us know!

KL

1. How do you prevent them from mixing the two languages together, as in saying for example spanish and english words in the same sentence? What if you want them to speak both fluently but separately?

I think it is usually quite obvious to a child that one language is different from the other.  The key to ensure this is to stick to one language at a time.  For example, you could declare Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays to be English time, and you speak just in English, and the rest in Spanish.  Or at least keep the same language in short sessions throughout the day.
However, if I know my daughter understands a word in English, then I would quickly say the English word after the foreign word, and then the foreign word again, to link the 2 words.  The way I say it is quite obvious that I'm using English to explain the meaning of other words to her.  But apart from that, by and large, try to stick to one language at a time, and definitely don't mix up different languages within the same sentence! eg., "Look, this is a perro!".

2. When is a good time to start teaching a third language? Schools usually start at Grade 1 here (around 6 years old)...is that the optimum? How much time generally should you leave between each new language?

The reason I am so concerned with this is taht multiple languages are such a great benefot to children and they are so much easier to learn and perfect while you are young, aren't they?

Personally, I stick with 2 languages.  However, what I DO do is to EXPOSE my daughter to hearing the sounds of multiple languages, and this has been since birth.  Sometimes, I would get her to repeat some phrases from those other languages, just to try to get her used to not just hearing the sounds, but also pronouncing them.

KL

Excellent points being made by everyone.

Grading system - yes, definitely will get to it soon.

Short stories - yes, definitely intend to do that also.  Right now we are starting at the simplest level, and the higher level stuff will follow soon.
Actually, we are hoping that users will contribute sets using Little Reader to give us a hand in expanding the library.  From these Little Reader sets, they can also be turned into flash card downloads.  We are also happy to try to help you complete such sets you upload - eg., adding voice recordings, sound effects, pictures, etc if we can.

Numbers above 10 - yes, also definitely in the pipeline. It's perhaps  slightly lower priority right now because we are hoping to get Little Math out asap.  Little Math will make things SO much easier. I will write up a sneak peek of Little Math and Little Musician in a while.

Sammy - glad to see you creating your own already! How about uploading them to the File Downloads section to share with everyone?

KL

That's great advice - I didn't even know that Windows came with a sound recorder!!  :ugly:

Actually, if you're going to be the one using Little Reader with your child all the time anyway, and you're happy with your own pronunciation , I would simply not use any pre-recorded pronunciations and read the words out myself most of (or even all) the time.  It's much more stimulating for the child to hear a 'live' voice, and it would encourage more parent/child interaction that way.

To turn off the pre-existing pronunciations, just make sure the "Pronunciation ON" box is UNCHECKED.

However, we would still encourage users to record themselves and add new words/categories/playlists to the File Download library!

KL

[1. FLEXIBLE CONTENT]

Hi Joanne,

I've been meaning to do a FAQ thread on Playlists vs Categories, so this will make me finally do it!

A Playlist is a powerful and flexible tool which gives you many more options when you want to play back a set of words.  Here are the key differences:

1. FLEXIBLE CONTENT

a. You can create multiple playlists for the same set of words, each playlist with its own saved playback settings. So, like you see in your favorites, we created an Animals playlist which shows word + picture, with a pointer, and then another Animals playlist which is in flashcard mode, with just words, and no pointer.

b. You could also cherry-pick words from different categories, like what we did with the "B Words" Playlist, which takes words starting with B from different categories.

c. Playlists can be made up of the same word file more than once, and can even be made up of an entire category or playlist, or even multiple categories and playlists combined. So, for example, you could create a Creatures Playlist, which comprises the Domestic Animals, Wild Animals, and Sea Creatures Categories.  You can even go on and create a Master Playlist which combines this Creatures Playlist with other Playlists or Categories, and individual words.


2. SAVE PLAYBACK SETTINGS

You can save playback settings (eg., word display mode, font, colors, pointer, etc) to each individual Playlist so that you don't have to keep changing it each time if you like to have different playback settings for different sets of words.

On the other hand, if you playback from a Category, the playback settings that you previously used for your previous Category playback will be what is shown on the playback panel, and you would have to change it again if it does not suit your requirements.



Regarding your case, if you want to play back those newly-downloaded categories (say "Musical") quickly, simply go to your Playback screen, display Categories, select "Musical" and hit the PLAY button. 

If you want to create a playlist for it so you can take advantage of the benefits listed above, then in the Word Library, switch to Playlists display, press NEW under the Playlist display window, and then choose the Musical category, and press the ALL--> button to move the entire Musical category into your playlist. Press SAVE, then you can now go back to the Playback screen and play back the Musical category as a Playlist!

Hope that helps!

KL

If there's one thing you could change about Little Reader to make it better, what would that be?
eg., changing how a certain thing works, or adding an extra feature, etc. etc.

OK, you don't have to restrict yourself to just one!

KL

We've noticed in rare cases that on some computers, the Little Reader user interface design/display gets messed up, and items are not displayed where it should be.  The attached picture is an example. In another case, the main buttons (HOME, PLAYBACK etc) are not even in their 'button bracket' and go out past the edge of the app, so much so that you can't even see them anymore.

We've encountered 2 cases of this display problem, both of them on Sony computers running Vista.  Still not sure what the problem is, and we need to have more examples of this problem in order to try to nail down the common cause.

If you happen to have similar problems, please let us know!

Or if you are running Little Reader on a Sony computer using Vista and DON'T have this problem, please also let us know!

Thanks.

KL

You'll be pleased to know that we fast-tracked this modification, and fingers crossed, should have this included in the next beta build, which we're trying to release sometime later this week!

Sorry about that, but glad you managed to figure it out in the end!

As I mentioned, this problem should disappear in the later beta builds.

Hello, everyone!! 

I'm KL, the founder of BrillBaby/BrillKids, and also father of Felicity, the baby/toddler featured in the reading videos on the sites.

Firstly, I'd like to give everyone here a very warm welcome, and to thank you all for being here.

Ever since my wife became pregnant with Felicity, I've wanted to make sure that I do all that I can to maximize her potential, so I vigorously read up on all topics relating to baby intelligence, including prenatal stimulation and early learning.  I found the topics immensely fascinating, and soon found myself wanting to spread the word about what I had learnt. Hence the creation of the BrillBaby website.

Teaching Felicity was really fun, but I felt it could have been done in a much more efficient manner, and hence the creation of the BrillKids Little Learner series of software products.  I hope you all like them/will like them as much as I enjoyed creating them! We strive for perfection, so we look forward to receiving comments from everyone, whether good or bad, on everything we do here.

Hope everyone enjoys their time here and that your kid(s) will benefit and have lots of fun from our efforts!

Lastly, please feel free to ask me any questions, whether on the boards or via Private Message.

Best regards,

KL

You're welcome, Anyta! Yes, translating our current sets into foreign languages is a great way to start.  We look forward to your contributions!

Stef - That's a great book by Susan Ludington-Hoe. As for your question, the most important thing to remember is to take your cue from your baby. Try it and see if she responds to it. Compare with her response to the B&W cards.  Etc.  In any case, keep the sessions short. Spend more time talking and singing to your baby at this stage rather than teaching reading. And make sure you don't neglect the physical aspect - maximize tummy time!  Those things would be my bigger focus at this age.

Let us know how she responds!

KL

Hi Blaichie, welcome!  Glad to see such an experienced mother here!

Thanks for promoting our site to others - we hope to see them here soon.

btw, we obviously both have great taste, since we are using the same avatar...

KL

Hi Anyta, glad you like the program!

Generally, most people starting babies on on a reading program (flashcards, dvd's, etc.) start no earlier than 3-4 months.  Many start much later than that too, and still get good results.

I would recommend that since your baby is 2 months old, perhaps you could start with the infant stimulation cards in our File Download section. (These black & white cards can be shown anytime after birth).

The most important thing, whatever it is you are doing, is to make sure the process remains fun and interesting for your baby.  Always let your baby be the guide, and there are no hard and fast rules.

As for dual language, simultaneously exposing a child to 2 languages is not uncommon, and many bilingual families do that as a natural course.  Typically, it would be more in terms of exposure to the SOUND of the language, rather than the written word, but I don't see a problem with exposing your baby to more than one language for reading, though you may wish to focus more on the main language you want your child to be the most familiar with.

As you speak Spanish, perhaps you could help contribute some Spanish word sets to the community by creating and uploading them to the File Downloads section!

KL

[EDITED to avoid confusion about when can we start using infant stimulation cards generally.]

["I added a new word to one of the categories in the Word Library, but when I play back the files, the word is not there!"]

"I added a new word to one of the categories in the Word Library, but when I play back the files, the word is not there!"
(An example is this: In the Word Library screen, you add the word "brother" to the Family category. Then you go to the Playback screen, and play back "Family," and the word "brother" does not appear in the playback!)

I think the above has good potential of becoming a Frequently Asked Question, so let me address it here.

If you encountered the above, the probable reason is that you added the word to a CATEGORY, but what you played back was a PLAY LIST.

One thing that encourages this confusion is that after a fresh installation, the Word Library is set to display Categories, and the Playback screen is set to display Playlists.

There are changes we are making that hopefully will help users avoid this confusion in the future, but for now, these are some of the things you can do, and things to note:


1. The simplest thing to do is to go to the Playback screen, and in the "Play from:" drop-down menu, make sure you select CATEGORIES (not Playlists!), and play back the relevant category.  The new word you added will be there when you play back.
Problem with this solution is that you can't save playback settings specifically for each category, so if you change your playback settings a lot, this is not the most efficient way of doing things.

2. Another quick fix is to go to the existing Playlist that you expected the word to be in (in the above example, that would be the "Family" Playlist), and then Edit the Playlist to include the new word also, so that the Playlist now also matches the Category.
Problem with this is that if you add many new words, you have double the work you do by having to make sure the Playlist also includes the new words each time you add some.

3. The best solution is this. Taking the above example, Edit the "Family" Playlist.  Click on the <--ALL button to remove all the words from the right window.  Now, click on the ALL--> button, and you will see one item on the right window, saying "Family (Category)".
Now, you can edit the Family category all you like, and the Family playlist will match it automatically at all times because it just plays back the category with all the words existing in it at that time.


We didn't create the current default Playlists this way, but rather, we added each word separately.  The reason we did this was so that when you click on a Playlist (in the Playback screen or Word Library screen), you would see all the words that were in the playlist, instead of just a one liner like "Family (Category)".  I think that in doing this (which was to make it look 'prettier'), we have inadvertantly caused all this confusion.

One of the changes we are making is to have the best of both worlds: When you click on "Family" playlist on the left window, you will see something like "{+} Family (Category)" on the right (with the extra "{+}" box).  If you click on this box, it will expand to show all the words within the Family category.

A related issue to this is the difference between Playlists and Categories and why we have these 2 concepts in the first place.  We'll be doing more to explain this clearly in the Quick Tour and the Manual, but in the meantime, we will do a dedicated post on this topic separately.

Hi Katie Jo, I'm glad to hear you are enjoying the software as much as we are!

You make a very good point.  I think one thing we can do to solve this problem is to wait for another mouse click before the voice comes on, in the case where the pointer is turned on.  So:

- mouse click - next slide showing word
- you move the pointer to the beginning of the word
- mouse click - voice starts to play (and you would move the pointer simultaneously)
- mouse click - next slide

We will have to include an additional setting in the pointer settings to enable/disable this 'extra-click' function, because if you don't have a voice file for that word, you wouldn't want to have to do an extra click to proceed.

Would the above change enable you to embrace your poor abandoned pointer again?

By the way, one of the upcoming new features is to have a 'repeat slide' function by clicking on the mouse-wheel, or pressing ENTER, so that we can repeat the voice file.
(In case anyone has not realized, you can go back a slide by pressing the right mouse button or the left arrow key.)

KL