4 year old struggling with letter recognition - anyone relate?

[BeansMeansBeans]

My 4.5 year old DS is the only one (in his very small class of 6) at primary who doesn't know his letters. We have been doing flashcards with him but I'd say he only knows about half the alphabet and isn't really bothered... For example, he just says "not sure" without even looking at the letter on the card, even if it's one he already knows!

He gets read to every night and is in a very "word rich" home with both parents reading etc. He's very curious, chatty, and interested in the world around him. I just feel worried he'll get left behind. We do have dyslexia in my family, although I don't have it personally.

Anyone have a similar experience? How did it turn out?

Don’t panic, he’s only 4 & they all learn at different rates. Freeze plastic letters in ice cubes…..find different ways to melt the ice & name the letters. Hide the letters in sand/flour/gloop. Print with them/squash them into playdough. Finger paint them. Concentrate on the activity and make sure the letter recognition is secondary so that it doesn’t feel pressured and “worthy”.

Make fairy cakes/biscuits & ice a letter on top of each with coloured icing pens. He can name the letter when he chooses his cake.

@Funderthighs thanks, I'm trying to keep it fun... We do treasure hunts for letters around the house etc. It sounds silly, but I didn't think he'd have a problem with it! The school hasn't said anything other than to give us flashcards

You could have a letter of the week and stick up copies of that letter all over the house. In the kitchen, on the side of the bath, in a cupboard, pop one in his shoe, under his pillow, etc, Every time you see it you can name it and have a chuckle about where it is. You could use a single flash card of the letter and do it like “Elf on the shelf”…..Hunt the letter!

To eliminate the obvious first, did he have his eyesight checked before starting school?

Other than that, fun activities as pp have said.

Leave any formal activities until term begins again and then do what his teacher recommends. If that includes flash cards, then make sure the font is the same as is used at school and that you are pronouncing the sounds correctly, e.g. /c/ not /cuh/ - ask his teacher for help if you are not sure.

Don’t compare how he is doing with what you are told the other children in the class can or cannot do; go by what his teacher is telling you.

You're absolutely overreacting-- he's still so young! You're in danger of putting him off learning letters if you turn to flashcards etc. Just go with what school advises you to do, especially keep on reading to him every day, following the words with your finger so he starts to make the connection between fun books and the words that give you access to that world.

@MrsJamin the school told us to do flashcards - really fast flashing them up, which is a bit pointless as he doesn't know the letters so we aren't able to speedrun them at all at this point.

My nephew wasn't interested in reading or letters so they started Reading Eggs with him. The tech/ competitiveness of completing levels clicked for him.

Heis4.5.give him time.

I'd highly recommend the app 'Teach your monster to read '. Turns reading into games. It really helped my son, who wasn't really interested in reading

Check eyesight.

We used letterland which is quite old now but has lots of stories about the letters so it hangs on a hook as it were.

As @Octavia64 says, get an eye test. Astigmatism makes it difficult to differentiate between straight and curved lines. It's free.

Yes always recommend an eye test as an easy way to eliminate any potential problems.

The Phonics Fairy and Mini Writers Club on Instagram are brilliant for helping parents to support children to develop their early reading skills at home.

Do you mean he doesn't know the letter sounds or the letter names?

It wouldn't surprise me at all if he was dyslexic tbh, you have it in the family and he's struggling to learn the letter sounds and even recall ones he did know previously. Struggling to learn the letter sounds is often the first sign. On the other hand of course he's still very young, but in such a word rich home I'd still be wondering.

I would try as many different approaches as you can - magnetic letters, BBC Alphablocks, tracing letters in sand, making them out of playdough and fun apps. I remember I cut out pictures of DS's favourite things/characters/food and we made a huge poster of the alphabet and stuck things beginning with each letter underneath the correct letter.

Although they don't normally diagnose till 7 I'd get a screener done at 5 if he's still struggling then.

This. He will be doing phonics and sounds rather then letter names. They do letter names but the first goals are phonemes and sounds

How is his hearing? History of ear infections at all?

@bookish83 are you the Op/mother of the child in question?

The school is talking out of their arse re flashcards. Words need to be learned in context, in stories, with meaning! Is this a UK state school? Does not sound normal. (I am a qualified primary teacher BTW)

@MrsJamin Using flashcards to support sound recognition is absolutely normal in UK schools, especially since the government began pushing the synthetic phonics approach.

The children will only be learning 'Tricky' words as whole words (words that are not yet decode able because the child hasn't learned the code), they will be learning to recognise individual sounds and then blend them together to make words.

At this point in the year, only knowing half the sounds he has been taught will mean that the OP's son is not keeping up with his peers. Use the flash cards by putting a few of them down face up and ask him to find specific sounds, rather than just doing speed recognition.

Do you know which phonics scheme school is using?

I was also going to suggest check his hearing as well as eyesight.

No? What a funny question.

Anyone who understands Reception literacy and phonics would ask what I asked.

Sounds are taught first, and the first term of reception focuses on level 1/2 phonics. So I am trying to help by asking the OP what they are working on with the child

The hearing test/ear infections question is also important.

Hi, thanks for all the replies.

He learns e.g. "buh" for the letter B, so I suppose he's learning the sounds?

He was investigated for a squint as a baby as his aunt (a paediatric doctor) thought he had one, but it turned out not to be the case/resolved itself. Would Specsavers check his eyesight for him, or would it have to be a doctor?

He does make progress but it is so, so slow and he's never had an issue with any type of learning before, which makes me wonder. Never had an ear infection.

you could get a pack of magnetic letters as they are more tactile and focus on one letter at a time.

@LivelyAzureFawn we literally ordered some off eBay today!

@Nix32 I think the school are using "Read Write Inc"