Help - DS wants to learn to read - what shall I do?

[Bozza]

My DS is 2.8 and recently has shown a real interest in letters and words, asking what letters are etc. He can spell out his own name (OK its 3 letters and spelt phonetically so couldn't be easier). He can also put magnets together to form his name. Tonight he spotted a beckham autobiog. Oops looks like his name is coming out here. Anyway he recognised the first two letter as the first two in his name and then proceded to the 'm' which he could tell was like the 'n' but not the same. He's spotted the letters in other contexts too.

To what extent should I be encouraging this? If he asks what a letter is should I say eg b rather than bee? I don't want to confuse him but also I don't want to dismiss a genuine interest. I had thought about getting him some phonetic flash cards for Christmas since his shape/colour ones are now far too easy. Any other suitable Christmas pressies? eg CD-roms, Leappad - not sure about this because of the different ones.

Hi Bozza

If he is interested encourage him. The only thing is when he gets to school they do say "bu (sound)" as opposed to bee. As long as its fun and hes enjoying it theres no harm, although dont be surprised if one day he doesnt seem interested in that but is more interested in playing. Its sometimes novelty but can wear off. x

My son was the same.Just read to him regularly and play games where you put out the magnetic letters and ask him to find the letters saying both phonetic and otherwise so that he understands that there are diff ways of saying the letter.If you pick out say cat and then tell him that this is how the word cat looks and the letters he picked out make that word it will give him a good start in spelling also.One thing I will say is don't be put off by teachers or others now or in the future saying he's to young.My sons nursery teacher told him to stop reading as children shouldn't read till they are 6.I hope she was an exception to the rule as I now home ed and it took me till he was 6 to get him reading again.
With the game if he gets tired of it then you can just put it away until he wants to play again without spending a tremendous amount of money.Making your own flashcards on some cardboard is also much cheaper than buying ready made.
Good luck

I would leave off flash cards and just focus on play. i.e eye spy and listening to letter sounds and stuff.
If you really want to formalise it I would recommend the Jolly Phonics books (to read only, not write) as they are a fun ways of recognidising letter sounds.

we also spelled out every sreet sign around here!

I wouldnt push him to write though as new research seems to suggest that just developing cocordination at a young age will make them better wrtiters than childern encouraged too early.

Hi, my DD is the same age and has been similarly intrigued by letters, words etc. for a while. She has a 3 letter name (phonetic in Italian)and knows when it's her name and when it's another word. We got her foam bath letters (lower case and capital) and have taught her the sounds, corresponding letter names and her own version of letter-land. Initially she used her own letter-land terms most, but now she tends to go for phonic sounds, letter names come last.

She also loves an Alphabet lotto game we have based on Usborne's farmyard tales. Initially we just matched letters to letters but now she will put a C down on the picture of a cat because it's Cuh for cat and so on.

DD was given a Vtech alphabet/phonics desk by a friend and it's been a 5 minute wonder so we've stuck to the trditional fridge magnet and board games. She also likes some of the activity books that you can get, try your local bookshop.

She started school nursery in september (they have 2 years pre-reception class) and her teacher is fine with the way we've done things, although we have moved over to the official version of letter-land now! The main problem is that she also wants to write but lacks the fine-motor control (like her mum!) so she gets frustrated.

Sorry, hope i don't sound too pushy, but she's been obsessed with letters and symbols for ages and we've sort of gone along with it.

Hi, my DD is the same age and has been similarly intrigued by letters, words etc. for a while. She has a 3 letter name (phonetic in Italian)and knows when it's her name and when it's another word. We got her foam bath letters (lower case and capital) and have taught her the sounds, corresponding letter names and her own version of letter-land. Initially she used her own letter-land terms most, but now she tends to go for phonic sounds, letter names come last.

She also loves an Alphabet lotto game we have based on Usborne's farmyard tales. Initially we just matched letters to letters but now she will put a C down on the picture of a cat because it's Cuh for cat and so on.

DD was given a Vtech alphabet/phonics desk by a friend and it's been a 5 minute wonder so we've stuck to the trditional fridge magnet and board games. She also likes some of the activity books that you can get, try your local bookshop.

She started school nursery in september (they have 2 years pre-reception class) and her teacher is fine with the way we've done things, although we have moved over to the official version of letter-land now! The main problem is that she also wants to write but lacks the fine-motor control (like her mum!) so she gets frustrated.

Sorry, hope i don't sound too pushy, but she's been obsessed with letters and symbols for ages and we've sort of gone along with it.

Hi, my DD is the same age and has been similarly intrigued by letters, words etc. for a while. She has a 3 letter name (phonetic in Italian)and knows when it's her name and when it's another word. We got her foam bath letters (lower case and capital) and have taught her the sounds, corresponding letter names and her own version of letter-land. Initially she used her own letter-land terms most, but now she tends to go for phonic sounds, letter names come last.

She also loves an Alphabet lotto game we have based on Usborne's farmyard tales. Initially we just matched letters to letters but now she will put a C down on the picture of a cat because it's Cuh for cat and so on.

DD was given a Vtech alphabet/phonics desk by a friend and it's been a 5 minute wonder so we've stuck to the trditional fridge magnet and board games. She also likes some of the activity books that you can get, try your local bookshop.

She started school nursery in september (they have 2 years pre-reception class) and her teacher is fine with the way we've done things, although we have moved over to the official version of letter-land now! The main problem is that she also wants to write but lacks the fine-motor control (like her mum!) so she gets frustrated.

Sorry, hope i don't sound too pushy, but she's been obsessed with letters and symbols for ages and we've sort of gone along with it.

sorry!!!

watch countdown? ds1 has loved it since he was about 22 months.

I wouldn't worry too much about teaching as such. just read lots to him, point out familiar signs- eg tesco, and play with things like magnetic letters. Even if the school do stick to phonics, there's nothing wrong with having been taught sight words anyway.

By all means encourage him while he is interested. Our ds was similarly keen about letters (could name them at 18-24 months) but that has not translated into him being an early reader, although of course each child is different. Make sure you read a variety of books to him - some with basic simple language so that he will learn to recognise some words and other more "read to" stories so that he learns about how a story goes, characters etc.

We had a really good Thomas the Tank Engine Word Book which had a "plot" through the illustrations and individual drawings/words alongside. Thinking about getting a Leappad Imagination Desk for dd (2) for Christmas so would be interested if anyone recommends that. You could try the Jolly Phonics range at ELC which is used increasingly in Preschools and Reception - if he loses interest then you could just put it away for a while. ds has been doing some of it and dd is definitely interested in the activities and actions which go with it. Also I think you need to decide whether to stick to name sounds or phonetic sounds as I fear you may confuse him if you try both together.

hth

Singingmum you have hit on my worry I suppose - what teachers will say. But as most of you have said I think I should encourage the interest. I have bought the foam bath letters already for Christmas as DS is pretty much bored with all his bath toys and we generally use the time for having a chat. I thought about the flash cards because he likes his others but they are a bit below his level now. I had no ideas of teaching him to write - we're working on circles, lines and crosses and his co-ordination on these is not great. Is any one scheme better than another eg jolly phonics, letterland etc? I think the countdown idea might be good for my mat. leave.

I think Letterland has been on the decline because of worries that kids associate with the characters rather than the sounds but then there are characters and songs in Jolly Phonics too. Letterland seems to have a had a bit of a revamp recently too. Probably more emphasis on writing in JP but you could be selective. Why not try the local library and see what your ds relates better to ? Is he down for a playgroup/pre school/nursery yet - if so perhaps they could tell you what they use, if anything. ds used to love Countdown too!

apparently jolly phomics is good for boys because its multisensory.

DS goes to a day nursery where I expect him to stay until he goes to school. I think they are quite educational with the older ones - lots of local kids go there on nursery grant scheme because of lack of state provision. Good idea to ask them. I know DS occasionally uses the computer as well although this is mainly reserved for over 3s so might ask about CD-Roms.

You might also consider making your own cards; ask him what words he'd like and then write them out, one word a day or less often if he's doesn't want a new one yet. That's how I learned to read, at about 3 -- my parents got the idea from a book by Sylvia Ashton-Warner. Of course, all of the kids she taught wanted words like "fire truck" and "mommy", and I started with "the"!

The pre-school I went to was perfectly happy that I could read. The next school was mostly not so thrilled, but it all got settled eventually.

LOL california girl. I can see DS being like that. We are going to move him to a new bedroom and asked him what his favourite colour was - white. Which is convenient because the room is already magnolia.

Bozza, just keep reading lots of books to your ds and encourage him to read the easy words when he wants to. He already has a head start because he's interested and he knows what books are. Don't worry about other people saying he's too young, it's your child! I'm sure my dd learnt to read one way at home and another at school, both at the same time - when he's older your ds will "correct" you himself if he's got a different method at school!