Here’s a guest post by Gabriella Musacchia, Ph.D. Not only is she an Assistant Professor at Montclair State and Research Scientist at the Rutgers University Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, but she’s also the mother to an active 4-year-old son. Dr. Musacchia is also the President of BabyRhythms®, Music for Infant and Toddler Development.
Baby’s Brilliant shines bright in the line-up of family apps
Gabriella Musacchia, Ph.D.Gabriella Musacchia, Ph.D.
I am a busy mom, and am often described as living “full-throttle” life, complete with my husband and energetic 4-year old son. I am also a Ph.D. in the field of Auditory Neuroscience with a focus on language and music development. So when Benedict Coulter explained the premise of his new app, Baby’s Brilliant, I knew I was on to something exciting.The goal of Baby’s Brilliant is to bring infant- and child-friendly educational vignettes into the home – and importantly – onto the mobile platform. The app lets me be the director, arranging a set of short videos for my son, or letting him pick from a controlled set of videos. I can limit how much “screen time” my child has and I don’t have to worry about him clicking on inappropriate YouTube search results when I’m not looking!
The videos are fun, colorful, and quite frankly, pretty hilarious even for adults. I admit to watching LA GALINA TURULECA more than a few times for a laugh. The natural scenes that accompany the educational videos are gorgeous, like a French fountain piazza ringed with colorful tulips that accompanies the lesson for “Red”. This brings up language and sound, which is my specialty.
What sets Baby’s Brilliant above other video apps for children is the richness, texture and rhythm of the sounds and speech they use. The speech in the Educational section is rhymed and thoughtful, which engages more of the linguistic centers in the baby brain. All of their songs are from live recordings including symphonies and child vocals. This makes the Baby’s Brilliant app more valuable than others with synthesized music because from a neuroscience perspective songs with rhythmic and acoustic complexity can enhance brain processing, especially for infants and children as they are listening to the world with new ears (and minds!).
The other valuable – I probably should say “priceless” – aspect of Baby’s Brilliant is the nighttime program, which gives me the option to put on rich, soothing music accompanied by engaging, but not too exciting visuals. I used the SNOWFLAKES NIGHT LIGHT With LULLABIES last night with my son and I didn’t hear a peep out of him after the last kiss. I have no idea if he actually fell asleep faster, but if Baby’s Brilliant helps my bedtime routine in any way, this is truly a miraculous app.
In conclusion, I highly recommend this program, both from an artistic and developmental perspective. Install it now!
Sincerely,
Gabriella Musacchia, Ph.D.
Assistant Professor
Montclair State University – Communication Sciences and Disorders, Bloomfield, NJ
Research Scientist – Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience, Rutgers University, Newark, NJ
President – BabyRhythms®, Music for Infant and Toddler Development
