Word Learning From Baby Videos

Objective: To examine whether children between 12 and 25 months of age learn words from an infant-directed DVD designed for that purpose. Design: Half of the children received a DVD to watch in their home over the course of 6 weeks. Setting: All participants returned to a laboratory for testing on vocabulary acquisition every 2 weeks. Participants: Ninety-six 12- to 24-month-old children. Main Exposure: Baby videos. Main Outcome Measures: Parent report and observational measures of vocabulary acquisition related to words highlighted in the DVD; parent report of general language development; and parent report of children's media use. Results: The age at first viewing of baby DVDs was related to children's general language development. There was no evidence of learning words highlighted in the infant-directed DVD independent of parental intervention. Conclusions: Researchers should continue to examine whether infant-directed media are effective in teaching infants and toddlers content and consider the cognitive factors related to whether very young viewers should be expected to learn from a DVD.