People whose kids can recite the alphabet before age 2

[newmum234]

And counting from 1-20 too - do you actually do regular sessions teaching your DC how to do this? My DS is 15 months and only says mama and dada. There’s no way he’s even close to learning the alphabet or saying numbers!

@nomoreeusernamesplease

Fantastic reply by *@Maryann1975*.

BIL's DS was not saying a single word at 18months, absolutely reduced to talk. By 2yrs, he was talking full sentences and now at 2.5, literally does not shut up! As PP have said, not talking in isolation is no concern if they understand what you are telling them and can communicate with you in other ways (nephew would take us by the hand and show us what he wanted)

DD knew how to count all numbers to 20 and could read them by 2, however she did not understand the concept at that age so it was meaningless. If you had shown her 4 apples, she would not have understood why that was 4 until a bit older.

Talk loads to your child about absolutely everything, describe it all when you are out, the colours, the sounds, how many there are, happy, sad etc. That will develop their vocabulary. When reading books, take time to enjoy the book, look at the pictures, understand what is happening, make faces based on feelings, guess what might happen next (this bit when little older). Don't worry about finishing the book. Work on gross motor skills and fine motor skills as they get older, playdough, threading, scissors (closer to 2 for scissors), allow them to climb at the park and build strength in arms and legs. Lots of singing and dancing.
Those are the things that will help them at this age. Saying the alphabet and numbers without understanding why doesnt mean much

The best way to teach maths to a toddler is to tell them to divide something equally to share with others.

DD could recite and identify 1-10 at 16 months, recite and identify letters at 18 months, 1-20 at 20 months. This would be because of various lockdowns which left us housebound (not UK) we spent ages singing alphabet songs, playing alphabet games, books with numbers etc etc. Oh and TV, TV definitely helped.

Tbh i can’t imagine it makes any difference in the long term.

My DS was like this, he could count to 20 and do the alphabet before 2. We didn’t do anything with him beyond the normal songs at baby group, he just seemed to get it. But he did not walk till 22 months or crawl till 18 months so I think he was working on other skills.

Now at age 7 he is academically about a year ahead but you would only know if you were his teachers he doesn’t stand out particularly among his peers.

My DS knew the alphabet by two and could count forwards and backwards. We had a 3.5 yr old so she had various puzzles and games which he just loved doing. He’s a really quick learner and taught himself to read by the time he was 4. No special lessons required, we just read to him and encouraged him.

My mum was determined that our DD was a bit slow because she wasn’t an early talker like I apparently was, and was ‘behind’ her cousin who is 6 months younger. She had a lot of problems learning to speak clearly because of glue ear. Now at 15 she is super bright and also has an absolutely beautiful speaking voice which is very funny considering her early years. Of course mum now says she knew all along how clever she was LOL.

Mine could read numbers and letters very early - he recognised his first number at around 1.5 and knew 1-20 and the alphabet by 2. We had to read every car numberplate on walks. But he also watched a LOT of Cbeebies because we were in lockdown, and I think that's why. It's just what he was exposed to. When he went back to nursery he was much less interested and started talking more about his friends and toys.

He's now 2.5 and has only really got the concept of counting in the last month or so, and even then it's fairly random (sometimes he counts up to 5 correctly, sometimes he just keeps counting everything again). He can read all the alphabet but can't read words at all. And although he can count to 100-ish by rote and missing lots, he reads anything bigger than 20 backwards (so 62 is 26). He's much more interested in playing with trains and flowers now.

Developmentally, 15 months is a world away from two. I think my dses both had around 20 words till about 18 months then had their language explosion, so probably 100-200 words by 2. Also, I'm sure little girls are usually way ahead of boys at this age.

It's more like a step up than a gradual shift - amazing to witness if you haven't experienced it before.

They all prioritise different things too: ds2 got colours and numbers slightly before 2, but lagged on gross motor.

Also mine wasn’t really saying much at 15 months, yet she babbles on and on now at 20 months. I would have his ears checked just to be sure but otherwise my Dd loved Julia Donaldson books for counting and colours just keep singing, talking and reading.

I really obsessed for a while with my DD because I kept getting questions of why she isn’t walking yet from in-laws (walked at 13 months 🙄) or talking yet (she talks, just not to you) etc etc it made me feel like she was behind. It’s pretty awful the anxiety about whether your little one is ok, or are they behind, is it your fault etc etc.i had to decode that barring an actual health issue I had to stop caring a bit and just love her and whatever she does she’ll do in her own time but in the meantime I’ll just sing this song and read this book with her because she likes it.

Another note, I apparently started reading at 2 (bit sceptical about this) and trust me it has had no positive impact on my life whatsoever. Still love reading though.

My ds actually was delayed so not a massively useful barometer but he had no words or sounds at 2. He was talking a bit when he went to nursery at 3 and did have a SALT referral. I’d say he was “normal” by reception. He’s 13 now and doesn’t struggle at all in school and is pretty good at English.. Language is one of those things that snowballs once you “get” it. The best thing for language is storytelling and just talking. I’m not a talker so I think all my dcs suffered from that, but I do read stories and we would listen to stories on cd a lot. 15 months is just a baby though, he’ll learn absolutely loads in the next 12 months just from living his life.

DS could count and recognise numbers and do the alphabet about 18 months. Colours and shapes too, however he's now almost 3 and has only just started saying other words and using words to communicate, they're all different. Numbers just happens to be an interest for my child, plus he likes YouTube 😂

one of my DT's knew 1-15 by the time she was 18 months but that was only because we counted the stairs every single time we went up or came down them lol x

Actually counting came quickly to 2yo because he heard us counting up to 5 as a "warning" for 5yo so often. Although 4 1/2 4 3/4, 4 7/8 etc are a bit of a giveaway to that source...

@Roomonb Same here. I was a little terror at nursery until someone worked out I was bored and advised my mum to start me reading at 2. I don’t think I did phonics, I know she did flash cards successfully with me.

I still love books and I did reasonably well at school but I’m certainly no genius, wasn’t at the very top of the class and I don’t think it made the blindest bit of difference that I started so early except that it made me behave a bit better at nursery 😆

Yup no phonics here either. So I’m a bit wary of the my child is a genius or behind stuff at this age. My DH is convinced my DD is a genius, I think she just has a knack for certain things, can’t do a puzzle to save her life!

Never mind the counting, just bemused at how so many under two's get to see YouTube videos

@SushiGo

Most parents who say this are either a) lying or b) have taught them to say the letter names and not the phonic sounds so it's pretty useless for teaching them to read anyway.

Agreed. Reciting the alphabet does nothing towards learning to read. Similarly counting, as in saying numbers in order, is not as useful as being able to give you, say, six objects out of a larger pile. It doesn't mean they understand the concept of number.

Doesn't matter at all, don't worry about it. Kids learn at different paces. Take the pressure off them, they will thank you for it later

My eldest didn’t have any words at 15 months.
He had single words starting from age 2
2-3 word sentences by 2.5 and full sentences by 3.

My youngest had some single words at 10 months.
Full sentences by 18 months.

They all do things when they are ready.

Ha! No! Being able to recite anything is not of a great deal of use at any age.
My very clever 8 yr old was actually slower than some to speak etc,
It’s not made any difference.
The only child I can think of that comes close to this was a friends son who’s speech was good at an early age and could remember and recite things like the alphabet and his times tables at an unusually early age.
He’s still very bright and lovely but also diagnosed with ASD. He’s great, his brain works a bit differently to some. It’s a positive in some ways but hinders him in others.

Teaching them to be kind, is more important than intelligence .

Count the stairs every time you go up and down them together. It's surprising how much of it they take in.

@Moonface123 I disagree with that. The two thing shouldn’t be mutually exclusive. And uneducated people cause a lot of problems as Covid has highlighted

Loving how this drew so much attention and became a competitive parent thread rather quickly.

@newmum234 - let your kid watch TV, its not the devil!

Seriously, how do you parent without it?! 😂 Need to cook lunch/tea - 20 mins of TV. Need to hoover or clean up - 20 mins of TV. Tired after nursery - 10 mins before bath time to prevent meltdowns.

Honestly, its not going to rot their brain. In fact, there’s some really good educational TV out there.

My DD2 is 16 months, she has a few words - mama, dada, her sisters name, the cats name (kinda, a shortened version), nana, no, oh dear, oh no, more, teddy & caca (cracker). Big sis was pretty much the same at this age. She has excellent language now at 4.

Do not worry at all!

Yes, he was coached. Very early talker, knew all the numbers and alphabet and would walk along naming all the different brands of car ("that's a Toyota, that's a Honda")
He's now 5.5 and is the most noisy kid I know. He never shuts up. When he's not talking he's making noises with his mouth, like Bobby McFerrin. Or drum noises with his hands. He likes himself making noise but doesn't like listening to anyone else who might be talking.

Genetic. His dad and grandad and both 'gift of the gab' people too.