22MO recognising letters.... where next?

[Jannt86]

OK so I have a 22MO who's really starting to recognise her letters and seems pretty interested in them. I'm not a ridiculously pushy mum by any means but she is adopted and BP's had mild LD so I am very keen to nurture her at this crucial age and give her the best chance possible to succeed at school.

I really just wanted to get some tips on where to go next ITO teaching her to read and when is a realistic age to give it a go? I have no real idea what 'phonics' is all about although I have (hopefully?!) at least been teaching her the phonetic way to say her letters. I just really don't know where or when to go from here. I spell out some words if she's pointing them out in a book and seeming particularly interested but other than that don't really know how to teach her. Firstly will she necessarily be ready for this once she can name all her letters or is this not particularly an indication that she'll 'get it' when it comes to reading? Secondly what sort of age would people recommend we try some basic words etc and how would they recommend we go about it? Are there any good resources to help? I'm presuming that phonics is the way to do it, especially at this age, but I'm lost because we didn't even have phonics when I learned to read 🤣 Any help would be greatly appreciated

Link letters and words with the world around you. Point them out in books, on signs, etc.

Phonics is giving the letters their sounds rather than their name. We tend teach using the letters of their name initially and young children quickly recognise their name.

You could look at ‘Jolly Phonics’ resources which teach them in the most useful order. At her age I wouldn’t be pushing too hard though, only when she’s interested.

Most important thing for literacy and speech and language is sharing lots of books together and lots and lots of talking to her. A running commentary on what you are doing, talk about what she’s doing. Repeat back what she says using correct grammar (without telling her she’s doing it wrong). That way she’ll make the link between words and the letters and that it’s a way to communicate. This is more important than just knowing the names of letters.

Thanks that's very helpful. Yes don't get me wrong I'm not just sat here teaching her letters and phonics all day. That would drive me mad never mind her The bulk of what we currently do is imaginitive play with her play kitchen/teaset/dolls or reading books. She does have some magnetic letters and numbers though which she loves and likes to pour all over our living room floor get out at least once a day so I just wondered what the next step would be once she can comfortably name them all.

Can she name them - aaaa, beeeeee, seeeeee - or sound them out, a for apply, buh for book, etc? If the former then you need to listen to jolly phonics as a poster above said, get the correct up to date way to sound at the words, and introduce her to that.

The next step after knowing all the sounds via fun games like can you spy something beginning with ssssss? Sock, or shhhh shoe...

.. would be to practice blending an segmenting. For eg, can you help me find my sh-oo-zzz? Or my sss o ck? Lots of ideas for games and robot masks etc online.

Then after she’s really secure you can introduce blending cvc words with cards, or writing it and seeing if she can guess etc.

My dd’s nursery did all this v light touch and then she started reception reading confidently despite not having ever picked up an actual reading book.

Keeping it fun and about love of sounds / wordplay is the most helpful thing for her