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SoSmart.com

'So Smart is a line of multimedia products and toys that specialize in interactive activities for preschool viewers aged 6 years old and younger. Subjects music, art, language, science, and mathematics are prominently explored.).

History

The So Smart Company was founded in 1998 by Alexandera T. Sheand her husband, invested $18,000 of their savings to produce the initial product, a Video Board Book, a VHS entitled So Smart, later sold as Sights and Sounds.

The original video shows a variety of toys and visuals interspersed with music, stories, numbers, and words of many languages. Eventually, the video was marketed across the United States, Europe, Asia and Australia.

As a subsidiary of Disney, the production budgets were increased and the concept was expanded to include a wide range of themes. A line of educational toys were also developed. In 2006, Baby's 1st word stories came out.

The official 'So Smart website is available in English and en Español, with specific content for more than 30 different countries.

Current Status

Alexandra T. no longer owns or operates the company she founded. She has since been involved in several start ups, including The Safe Side and Baby Bytes. She is a notable speaker and has a web site that can be found at http://www.mommymade.com.

Controversy over effects on language development

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.

So Smart Videos

• Sights and Sounds (1998)
• Letters (1998-1999)
• Shapes (2000-2001)
• Music Sounds (2002)
• First Words (2002)
• Spanish (2003)
• Colors (2004)
• First Word Stories (2006)

External links

• so smart website
• Official Baby Einstein blog
• No Einstein in Your Crib? Get a Refund by Tamar Lewin, The New York Times, October 23, 2009

Category:Early childhood education Category:Early childhood education in the United States