Does knowing the alphabet early translate into early reading?

[IsThisYourSanderling]

Just curious really. DS has been very interested in letters and numbers since he was a baby, and I'm curious to see whether he'll pick up reading early too, or just content himself with knowing the letters until he learns to read at school.

If your child took an interest in the alphabet at a young age, did they start to teach themselves to read (or ask to be taught), and at what age?

[mytinyfiredancers]

My DD knew all of her letters individually at around age 2 and once she could speak (at around 2y 4m, she was a late talker but understood everything that was said to her for long before that) she could recite the alphabet and sounds quickly.

At 3.5 she can recognise lots of words,
recite every word from her favourite stories from memory (I don't believe she's reading as such) and write simple familiar words (like her name). She can also count to sixty and do simple adding and subtracting.

She has ASD though, recently diagnosed. Her cognitive abilities are ahead but her social development is not. So we're letting her enjoy her learning but focusing on the social development far more.

[RedHelenB]

My friends son was a really able speaker when a baby and I was convinced hed do well with his English but it hasn't been that way.

You cant really be " behind" with reading as each child has their own curve. A lot of able ones at Reception age are "caught up" by end of ks1 and definitely by end of ks2 when other things come into play..

[justanothermother2]

My DD was knew her alphabet inside out (and backwards - literally would recite it!) at 2. She loved it. We got her foam letters for the bath and she started spelling words out at 3.5 ish. She was reading words at 3 and reading her Julia Donaldson books by 4. She’s just started yr 1 but already reading The Worst Witch/david Williams books. She’s still 5. She spells phenomenally well. She gets us to test her for fun (!) and the only word we stumped her on yesterday was ‘determined’!
So yeah I short I think if kids have a natural interest in the alphabet early I think with the right encouragement (following their lead and encouraging rather than pushing) they will probably self teach reading as a natural progression and also enjoy writing. She likes making books with her own stories and pictures. But I do think a lot of kids catch up fast in reception too.

[QueenBlueberries]

Bansku same here. DS could recognise letters (by letter sounds) well before 3 but didn't start speaking before 2.5, so he Couldn't say the letters. But I suspect he could 'read' before he could speak. For example, we had this book with the characters from Chuggington, and one of the characters was called 'Koko' and another one called 'Vee'. He would point at the written name in the text then at the image.

He was similar with numbers and shapes, had a very early ability to recognise numbers but couldn't say them.

Once he started speaking, everything came really fast and he was recognised as gifted from year 1, before that he was on the SEN list. So early recognition of letters isn't necessarily linked with being able to read early, but I am sure it can be on occasion.

[banskuwansku]

My boy didn't know any letters when he started reception. He couldn't even draw anything remotely sensible. By the end of year one he could read everything and as an avid reader his vocabulary is very wide. He is also talented. There was no signs of this when he was a baby/toddler. He started to speak at three years old.

[user789653241]

Ha ha, I never asked for your explanations, not interested. Just disagreed with you, that's all.

[thirdfiddle]

I think three attempts at explaining my point is about my limit, I don't want to bore poor OP.

[user789653241]

I am a bit lost about what you are on about tbh, no one thinks you are showing off on g&t board(if you are genuine poster), and no one is talking about average children.

[thirdfiddle]

Ha ha, and my main concern with using the phrase was that people would think I was literally getting DD to show off her decoding at parties. As I said in the same post, "if he wants to read he may well" - I wouldn't say that about your average preschooler.

[user789653241]

Really? If you call something impressive a child can do "a party trick", it usually doesn't mean in a good way, I think.

[thirdfiddle]

I don't think the phrase is usually meant meanly. It just means an impressive thing someone can do that doesn't particularly lead anywhere. I hope OP got that okay, as you see I use the same about how DD used decoding.

[user789653241]

That's the point. Every child is different, so, calling it a party trick is just a bit mean.

[thirdfiddle]

What's your point Irvine? Both letter naming and reading can be a symptom of giftedness, or of love of books and supportive parents, or of certain types of ASD I understand. Correlation doesn't mean the letter naming is actually helping in itself, it's a bit of a side track. I think a child who has the ability to learn letter names at a very young age and is determined to learn to read fairly likely has the ability to learn that too. Certainly to learn sounds, blending can be a hurdle for some but not at all for others.

Even fully decoding words, DD stuck with that as a party trick (not literally don't worry!) for a year before she even tried to read stories. You just have to follow their lead really.

[user789653241]

"Letter naming is just a bit more a party trick rather than directly applicable to reading"

It isn't, when it's to do with gifted children. Same for numbers. They need to know how to name numbers. And also knows 1 +2 = 3. Not just the name, but understand the concept of numbers as well.

[Kokapetl]

DS knew most of the alphabet and could read his name before he was 2. He learned to read easily and is in the top group in a pretty good class despite being one of the youngest.

[GregoryPeckingDuck]

Both of my children knew the whole alphabet before they could even talk properly. Neither of them are early readers. They also learned numbers, shapes, colours etc very early. Again before learning to talk. Not genius mathematicians either (so far at least). It was purely due to early exposure in the same way they both had a fascination with fire trucks.

[Mamaryllis]

(When I say knew her letters at 18 months, I mean could identify letters by sight, and go hunt for ‘something beginning with’ and retrieve it for inspection like a Labrador.)
She and dh had a lovely weekend.

[Mamaryllis]

Not really. Dd1 knew all her letters at 18mos. It was definitely a party trick lol. I went away for the weekend and left her with dh. It was fun, but a bit weird.
She learned to read at 4/5 quite ordinarily.
Dd2 otoh showed no signs at all of knowing her alphabet but we accidentally discovered that she could read perfectly before she was 3. (Again, nothing to do with me. MIL babysat for an evening and when dh and I got back, she said ‘you know she can read, right?’ We laughed at her. But the next day we opened a few books she had never seen before. She read Virginia Woolf over my shoulder. DH made me turn my work books round so the spines weren’t showing (books on masculinity including ‘Big Black Penis’.
Kids are weird.
Don’t leave them alone.

[thirdfiddle]

Going slightly down a sidetrack doesn't mean he won't pick up reading tomorrow. It doesn't mean he will either. Letter naming is just a bit more a party trick rather than directly applicable to reading, but still showing ability to learn and interest in letters. 2 year olds work by their own rules I reckon, if he wants to read he may well.

[user789653241]

"He's gone slightly down a sidetrack if he's learned letter names rather than sounds"

Not necessarily. My ds knew all the letter names(I taught him, not knowing phonics) but decoding was totally separate matter. Had no problem at all. Some children get that letter names and sound it makes is different thing.

[thirdfiddle]

He's gone slightly down a sidetrack if he's learned letter names rather than sounds (not clear from your post?). I'd think still if he's interested he's interested and obviously you're supportive so it's fairly likely to stick.

My experience is DD picking up letter sounds when DS was in reception so from 1.5-2.5, by the end of that school year she could sound out CVC words but wasn't reading stories as such. About a year later she clicked that she could read books too and learned mostly from the songbirds books we had for DS from sounding out "top cat" letter by letter to reading normal picture books at sight over a period of a couple of months. So still before preschool but not quite as early as you might have thought from the individual letter learning.

[Thebiasedmum]

I found my little one knew the letters by about a year and knew the sounds they made by around 1.6months by two they began to read - so in my personal experience yes I’d say it was the best way forward to early reading

[JustMarriedBecca]

Eldest knew letters phonetically by two, was reading CVC by 2.5, writing and spelling before 3 and is reading and blending at 4 (not started school). She has less of an interest in letters...she's all about maths and the times table at the minute.

Youngest knows his letters by sight and phonetically by 2.5 but no other signs in terms of literacy. Again, seems to be all about maths.

[user789653241]

What my ds loved at that stage was lots of magnetic letters and cut out letters. Before he was able to write, he used them to make up words he saw, like "tesco", or "no entry", and made lists of name and makes of the cars.

[user789653241]

Totally agree with Richmal, as always.

Pretend reading is the big sign that he is ready, ime.