"Look and Say" reading method?

[Tarenath]

A couple of months ago ds (3.5) epxressed interest in learning to read. I bought a couple of phonics books and tried to do some exercises with him but he didn't get on with them (played around) so I let it drop, not wanting to damage his interest in reading.

Recently (last week or two) he's been pointing at random signs/words while we're out and asking what they say. Things like "bus stop" on the road and the signs for our local football clubs. He's not yet asked the same thing twice, but I've also not tried to test him as I know this will be met with "I don't know" regardless of whether he knows a word or not.

The thing is, I'm not sure where to take it from here. He really enjoys being read to, but hasn't yet asked what any words in books are. I'm assuming that will come in time, but I would like to encourage him. I don't want to push him though if that makes sense. Should I just do what I'm doing now and just tell him when he asks?

This article, by a homeschooling dad, covers the subject:

tdpower.blogspot.com/2007/09/phonics-vs-sight-recognition-reading.html

I'd just continue with what you are doing. He is very young and may well suddenly want to read a specific book - or you may come across him reading it to a toy.

You could play a game (e.g. walking along the street) to count or spot bus stops or other things he has asked about. Perhaps you can see how many of your initial letter and his initial letter you can spot in a street. And so on. You don't need to go out of your way to take it anywhere - he is already doing it himself and you just need to enjoy the journey and help him when he asks.

He's very young. Sounds like he's doing really well. Even though he hasn't yet asked what the words in books are, he may well be assimilating them all the same.

The phonics method is great and works for lots of kids but it doesn't work for everyone. I have worked as a classroom assistant and have heard hundreds of primary and secondary-aged children reading aloud. Some find phonics very useful, Others don't.

Phonics didn't work for me - I learned to read very young and my mum said she didn't actively teach me but just became aware that I was recognising the words. My eldest niece did a similar thing: with no formal teaching she was able to 'read' the entire of 'The Gruffalo' at age 3-ish by memorising it and then matching the sounds up with the words.

Just tell him when he asks.

Thanks everyone. I do try to sound out the words when he asks, but obviously it's a bit difficult when the sign is high up out of reach, or in the road as we can't follow it. I know he's still young and has plenty of time, especially as we're HEing. I'd just like to help him as best as I can

That sounds great Taranath! This is how my little boy started out. We read loads of books together too and he loved 'funny' words like "squelch" and other sound effect type words so he started looking out for them in his favourite books and I let him read them out when we got to that part etc. He knows the sounds of letters too so if he comes across something he doesn't know then he can sound it out but he definitely learned to read by recognition.

I have to say, I'm not a big fan of phonics being taught instead of letters - like the letter 'luh' etc instead of the letter 'l'. I think they do have their place in learning to sound out difficult words etc but teaching a child to spell 'dog' like 'duh,aw,guh' is a bit mad IMO. DS learned the letters and what sounds they made as separate things and it certainly hasn't hindered him in any way!

Phonics is taught in schools because research shows that phonics works best for the majority of children. Your DS may be in the minority for whom it doesn't. If what you're doing is working, go for it!

When I learned a language with a different script as an adult, I found that I naturally gravitated towards a "look and say" approach. I found road signs very helpful, too (though we missed a few junctions/turning poingts/motorway exits/loos whilst I was navigating...)

Breastmilk, I don't have a problem with phonics being taught esp if they do work but I don't understand why they can't learn 'this is the letter 'l' and it makes the sound 'luh' rather than 'this is the letter 'luh'.

"Recently (last week or two) he's been pointing at random signs/words while we're out and asking what they say. Things like "bus stop" on the road and the signs for our local football clubs. He's not yet asked the same thing twice, but I've also not tried to test him as I know this will be met with "I don't know" regardless of whether he knows a word or not."

It sounds like your son is the sort of child who perhaps is not very keen on displaying his knowledge, and just likes to work things out quietly for himself without other people being involved in his thought processes? Or am I reading too much into what you said ?

If that's how he is, it's just possible that you won't ever have to concern yourself with the question of phonics, look-and-say, or anything else regarding reading. He may just ask you what he needs to know and work it out for himself (no doubt using one of these methods or a combination of them, but you may never even know how it happened).

It's very common for home educated children to just figure it out for themselves. The process might take a long time, so an early starter wouldn't necessarily be an early finisher. Still, it must be very encouraging to you that your son is showing this interest! However brave a face we put on, I think a secret (or not-so-secret) fear of most home educating parents is that our children won't ever learn to read well, and it will be All Our Fault.

Happy reading!

My oldest learnt the names of the letters; then she liked lots of 'look and say' mixed in with phonics from watching cbeebies and playing on internet games aimed at preschoolers and us occassionally talking about the sounds letters made; She wouldn't ever read to us, but clearly could read a few words, and then a few more etc. Then she decided to do reading to us for a few weeks, then she stopped doing that and we used to catch her reading to her little sisters - but she didn't like (and still doesn't) showing what she knows or what she's learning, and we respect that. Then we realised that she was reading fluently. She was very young to do this autonomously - about 5.5y. She's gradually worked her way up to reading chapter books now, aged 7.

DD2 is learning differently - she likes reading to us and, at age 5.5, is behind where DD1 was, but at the stage she would be in school, so still ahead to be learning autonomously.

Phonics is taught in school because, to educate a child in our current school system, they need to know how to decode words very young. I don't agree with this for many reasons, but that's the way things are. I don't see 'decoding' as 'reading'. However, if you need to teach a large number of children to be able to read what is on their worksheets and what you're writing on the board, phonics (and by that I mean a step-by-step, linear approach) seems to have an ok result.

I don't think that approach is actually the most efficient for individual children, who tend to be ready to learn to read at wildly different ages but, if you can wait until the right age (which might be earlier than the school age), then it'll be easy...just like potty training. They'll still find phonics a very useful (essential?) tool, but used alongside all the other randomly acquired skills needed to learn to read. And it is random - higgledypiggledy; not linear like the school system requires.

Just keep doing what you're doing. Read a brilliant book called 'Read With Me: An Apprenticeship Approach to Reading' by Liz Waterland, which is out of print but you can get on Amazon really easily. And make sure he keeps on loving words and books.

I have 3 dc .....ds1 learnt to read v easily without much help from me and was a strong reader when he entered school,ds2 struggled and didnt really 'read' until he was about 7 he could recognise words and could 'read' but not to enjoy reading iyswim.

Ds3 has been entirely home edded and he learnt to read very young,his interest was there and his enthusiasm and he was 'up for it' I think a child can only really learn to read when he can recognise ALL the letters in the alphabet and so for us learning the sounds was key,not phonics as such just A is for apple aaa and later ds enjoyed correcting me and saying ay ay ay too.

"It sounds like your son is the sort of child who perhaps is not very keen on displaying his knowledge, and just likes to work things out quietly for himself without other people being involved in his thought processes? Or am I reading too much into what you said ?"

Partly, and partly I feel I pushed him too much initially and put him off which is why I don't want to 'test' him and have him lose interest again.

"Partly, and partly I feel I pushed him too much initially and put him off which is why I don't want to 'test' him and have him lose interest again."

Oh yes, I did that with my older daughter. I think I put her off for a couple of years. Once I realised I'd gone over the top, I backed off completely and then never asked her to do any reading at all, and always answered her questions even when I thought "I KNOW you know that!!" After making that initial mistake, I never even mentioned her reading or asked her to attempt to read or recognise letters or anything. When she worried ("everyone else can read and I can't!!") I reassured her that most everyone learns to read sooner or later, and it might be difficult or easy, but we would wait until she was ready. It helped that of her two best friends, one had been a prodigious reader since toddlerhood and the other couldn't read a thing and was a year older than dd.