With her YouTube series “Songs for Littles,” Ms. Rachel has become a viral hit. But do her videos actually help with language development?
If you have a toddler, chances are you –– and definitely your child –– know who Ms. Rachel is.
Known as “Taylor Swift for toddlers,” Ms. Rachel, whose real name is Rachel Accurso, has amassed more than 13 million subscribers on YouTube with her educational songs designed to worm their way into the ears –– and brains –– of young children. Now, Ms. Rachel is making the jump to Netflix, the most popular streaming service in the world, where she will increase her reach even more.
With such a large audience, it’s worth asking: Are her videos actually good for children?
Ms. Rachel’s “Song’s for Littles” YouTube series is designed for language development in children 3 and under. While Accurso herself is a trained music educator, there are better ways to teach young children the building blocks of language than through YouTube videos, says Meryl Alper, an associate professor of communication studies at Northeastern University who specializes in the impact of technology on children.
“She’s had speech language pathologists who have advised her on the kinds of cues that she uses and the way that she designs the show, which is perfectly fine and good,” Alper says. “But when it comes to having children actually learn language and acquire a sense of what’s called the transfer of learning –– if you learn a word, use it in a different context –– nothing really beats real-life interactions, especially for this age range.”
There are inherent limits to how much children below the age of 3 can learn anything through videos, what researchers have termed the video deficit. That’s different from saying Ms. Rachel is bad for children. Alper notes: “There are way worse things for kids to be watching than Ms. Rachel,” but “any claims that she has made about the effectiveness of her programming isn’t backed up by evidence.”
That said, Alper recommends some ways that parents can get the most out of using Ms. Rachel’s videos. “As much as it annoys parents,” Alper says repetition –– watching the same Ms. Rachel videos over and over –– is key to learning for young children and helps offset the video deficit.
Through repetition and repeated exposure to Ms. Rachel, children also form a relationship with her, or at least her character, in a way that also helps overcome the video deficit. The social meaningfulness attached to a figure who children know helps them learn better, “but a child knows nobody better than a parent or maybe a close relative,” Alper notes.
Just as important is making sure that parents are watching Ms. Rachel, or any kind of video content, with their children.
“That sometimes is contrary to what parents are using Ms. Rachel for, which sometimes is to have their child spend time sitting in one place while the parent gets other stuff done,” Alper acknowledges. “But ideally for very young children, because children learn so much from parent modeling, they would learn from parents asking questions about what children see on Ms. Rachel, talking about what they see on the screen, pointing, having a back-and-forth conversation with their child about Ms. Rachel and after the show is over, continue to repeat those lessons.”
Similar to another incredibly popular piece of modern children’s entertainment, “Bluey,” the benefit of Ms. Rachel extends to parents as well. In fact, Alper theorizes the appeal of Ms. Rachel has to do with how she models real techniques and skills that “you would encourage parents of very young children to do to support their child’s language learning.”
Her high-pitched sing-songy voice is not just an effect; it’s something that babies and very young children are attuned to pick up on in order to comprehend meaning, Alper says. Her constant gesturing and hand movements also help illustrate concepts more clearly to children.
“And she does a lot of pausing to allow for pseudo-interaction,” Alper says. “With a parent, it would be actual interaction, but she pauses … to leave that opportunity for the learning to be kind of interactive. With a parent guiding a child to have a conversation, you first want to give them the opportunity to respond.”
Alper adds that Ms. Rachel’s videos might have added appeal for a parent whose child might need speech therapy. Accurso was inspired to create her YouTube channel by the lack of educational content for her own child who was speech delayed. While Ms. Rachel’s videos could be used in tandem with actual speech therapy, Alper cautions that it is “definitely not a replacement for a child actually receiving high-quality speech language therapy or being assessed by an early intervention therapist.”