Baby can read at 17 months

Elizabeth Barrett is now 17 months old. She looks and acts like most babies her age, but Elizabeth can read.

Her mother Katy, a speech pathologist who is married to Michael, another speech pathologist, said that most people don't believe their infant is a reader.

Aside from reading books every day, play-time means mom writes down a word on paper and Elizabeth figures it out. Katy explained that Elizabeth not only reads the word, but signs them as well.



Katy is convinced that sign language helped launch her daughter's reading skills, partly by watching shows like "Signing Times" on public television.

So what does her doctor think? Dr. Steve Stripling, Elizabeth's pediatrician, says at 14 months he saw her sight read the word avocado. "I was floored", he said.

The Barretts say they weren't trying to impress the doctor when they showed him what Elizabeth could do. It was more important for them to know that she didn't have some condition, like autism.