Baby Einstein - Controversy Over Effects On Language Development

Controversy Over Effects On Language Development

In 1993, a study was published which showed listening to Mozart produced an increase in spatial reasoning skills for approximately ten minutes in college students. The authors of the paper on the so-called Mozart effect later complained that their research had been misunderstood in popular culture to imply a permanent increase in general intelligence.

In August 2007, the Journal of Pediatrics published a preprint version of the results of a study by researchers at the University of Washington on the effects of television and DVD/video viewing on language development in children under two years of age. The study, the second conducted by the same researchers as part of a larger project, was a correlational study based on telephone interviews with parents of children aged 2 to 24 months. The parents were asked about time spent interacting with adults, how much time was spent watching television and DVDs/videos, and what kind of media the children watched.

The study's authors, Drs. Frederick Zimmerman, Dimitri Christakis, and Andrew Meltzoff, concluded that, among infants aged 8 to 16 months, exposure to "baby DVDs/videos" — such as Baby Einstein and Brainy Baby — was strongly associated with lower scores on a Communicative Development Inventory - a standard language development test. This result was specific to baby-oriented educational videos and did not hold for other types of media, and was not related to shared parental viewing. Among toddlers aged 17 to 24 months, the study found no significant effects, either negative or positive, for any of the forms of media that were viewed. Daily reading and storytelling, however, were found to be associated with somewhat higher language scores, especially for toddlers. Listening to music, on the other hand, had no significant effect.

The University of Washington press release announcing the study explained that for each hour-per-day spent watching baby DVDs/videos, infants understood on average six to eight fewer words than infants who did not watch them, and recommended that parents limit their use. "There is no clear evidence of a benefit coming from baby DVDs and videos and there is some suggestion of harm," said lead author Frederick Zimmerman. "We don't know for sure that baby DVDs and videos are harmful, but the best policy is safety first. Parents should limit their exposure as much as possible." In his study, though, Zimmerman did admit that the association between television-watching was only observed in the younger children, and that this could disappear by the time the children become toddlers.

Christakis, a pediatrician, said that he is "frequently asked by parents what the value of these products is," and stated, "The evidence is mounting that they are of no value and may in fact be harmful. Given what we now know, I believe the onus is on the manufacturers to prove their claims that watching these programs can positively impact children's cognitive development."

In response to the negative media reports generated by the study and the press release, the Baby Einstein Company issued the following statement:

Baby Einstein is committed to maintaining the highest standards in the development of all of our products. After thoroughly analyzing the University of Washington study, we have serious concerns about the many contradictions between the study's conclusions and the content of its press release that created publicity which incorrectly suggests that this study focused on Baby Einstein products. In fact, the report concludes by stating “The analysis presented here is not a direct test of the developmental impact of viewing baby DVDs/videos. We did not test through experimental manipulation whether viewing baby DVDs/videos has a positive or negative impact on vocabulary acquisition.”

On August 13, 2007, Robert Iger, president and CEO of the Walt Disney Company, the owner of Baby Einstein, demanded that the University of Washington retract the press release, asserting that the study itself doesn’t support the claims made by the University’s public relations department. On August 16, University of Washington President Mark A. Emmert rejected Disney's complaints, saying that the university stands behind the research and that the press release accurately reflected the paper's conclusions and the scientists' commentary.

In March 2008, The Journal of Pediatrics released a study by the researchers at the Center on Media and Child Health at Children’s Hospital in Boston, and Harvard University, showing that television viewing is, “neither beneficial nor deleterious to child cognitive and language abilities” for children under 2.

On September 4, 2009, the Walt Disney Company announced that it would offer a refund for all Baby Einstein DVDs/videos purchased between June 5, 2004 and September 4, 2009, extending a refund policy already in place. The Campaign for a Commercial-Free Childhood, which had been pushing for a recall of the videos, sees the refund offer as "an acknowledgement by the leading baby video company that baby videos are not educational". A recent piece of research published in Child Development Perspectives, Volume 3, Number 1, 2009 has called into question the University of Washington study. “The study by Christakis et al. (2004) is widely cited and has attracted media attention. However, most reports have overlooked other research that failed to support (albeit with 3.5- to 5-year-olds) the Christakis et al. interpretation of the data. For example, two studies that used more stringent measures to identify a childhood attention problem reported a positive association between television viewing and later attention problems but concluded that the effect size was too small to be meaningful (Miller et al., 2007; Stevens & Muslow, 2006). A third found no relation between television viewing and later attention problems (Obel et al., 2004)."

In January 2010, William and Julie Clark asked a judge to order the University of Washington to release records from the 2007 effects of television viewing study, citing, “Given that other research studies have not shown the same outcomes, we would like the raw data and analytical methods from the Washington studies so we can audit their methodology, and perhaps duplicate the studies, to see if the outcomes are the same." The University of Washington has refused to give anyone their raw data for their study and in one instance was quoted as having "lost the information requested".

Baby Einstein Titles

• Language Nursery: Voices from Many Lands(1997) Centipede
• Baby Mozart: Music Festival(1998) Bear (New Version: Koala)
• Baby Bach: Musical Adventure (1999) Rabbit
• Baby Shakespeare: World of Poetry(1999) Lizard
• Baby Van Gogh: World of Colors(2000) Goat
• Baby Santa's Music Box (2000) Reindeer
• Neighborhood Animals: Discovering Familiar Animals(2001) Dog,Cat,Frog
• World Animals: A Musical Safari(2001) Monkey
• Baby Newton: Discovering Shapes(2002) Lion
• Baby Beethoven: Symphony of Fun(2002) Giraffe
• Baby Neptune: Discovering Water(2002) Sea Turtle
• Baby Galileo: Discovering the Sky (2003) Kangaroos
• Numbers Nursery (2003) Tiger
• Baby MacDonald: A Day on the Farm (2004) Cow,Pig
• Baby Da Vinci: From Head to Toe (2004) Monkeys
• Baby Noah: Animal Expedition (2004) Elephant,Flamingo,Koalas
• Baby Monet: Discovering the Seasons (2005) Zebra
• Baby Wordsworth: First Words-Around the House (2005) Cat
• On the Go: Riding, Sailing and Soaring (2005) Horse
• Meet the Orchestra: First Instruments (2006) Hippo,Duck
• Baby's Favorite Places: First Words-Around Town (2006) Dog,Squirrel
• Baby's First Moves (2006) Babies
• My First Signs: See and Sign with Baby (2007) Otter,Ducks
• Discovering Shapes: Circles, Squares and More! (2007) Rhino
• Lullaby Time: Soothing Sounds for Baby (2007) Sheep
• Baby's First Sounds: Discovering for Little Ears (2008) Bee
• World Music (2009) Monkey
• World Animal Adventure (2009) Monkeys

Discovery Kits

• Baby Mozart (2010) Bear
• Baby Beethoven (2010) Giraffe
• Animals Around Me (2010) Cow,Dog
• Wild Animal Safari (2010) Lion,Monkey
• World of Words (2010) Dragon,Tiger,Bird
• World of Colors (2010) Goat,Duck,Frog
• Baby Lullaby (2011) Sheep
• Neptune's Oceans (2011) Sea Turtle,Clownfish
• World of Rhythm (2011) Woodpecker,Cockatoo,Parrot