What is the best age to teach a toddler how to read using Phonics?

[Beth1234]

Hey all again :)

Just wondering what the best age is to start teaching a child how to read? Is 3 a bit too young? While I believe it is still very young, I've also heard about kids being like sponges up until a certain age and so no harm in introducing it to them, especially those who seem to be interested. At that age I believe the best way is to make a game out of it, only for about 10-20 mins a day, 3-4 times a week. Anyone taught their kid how to read at such a tender age? If so is it a good idea? Of course bearing in mind, let a kid be a kid and do as they please the rest of the time.

What are your thoughts?

Thanks heaps in advance

Beth xxx

mine was 3 and a bit years. we did 5 mins a day and within 5 weeks had covered all the phonics sounds. then went on to blending basic words. he was/is a book worm though and was desperate to learn.

I have taught both my dds to read early. dd1 was 3 and is in reception now, reading well ahead of her peers, but not bored at all. She goes up a year for guided reading, but stays in reception for everything else.

dd2 read her first word at 2 and is now reading stage 2 ORT at 3. I never ush them, they both love reading.

Phonics not necessarily best left to school if a child is ready - there are lots of good resources and websites out there which make the process easier.

I believe most learning happens at home.

I taught DS2 with Jolly Phonics when he was 3y4m - he had started learning letters and school and in fact had asked me to teach him to read when he was about 2.5. He was very keen.

It can be a tricky one - dsis and I were reading before we started school and would try to help interfere with the teachers lessons.

You may also find that there are different schemes in different schools - DS started on letterland; DD on jolly phonics which can cause confusion as they may have to re-learn things differently when they start school.

My opinion is that it is great to read to and with your child, get them to enjoy books and stories....and then let them take the lead.

My DS was interested in words (in books, on street signs, on food labels etc) from the age of about 2.5 yrs old and virtually taught himself to read, really, by the age of about 3.5 yrs old. At about that stage I did buy him a book of 'first phonics' (or summat) because I knew they taught phonics at the local schools and didn't want him to get confused. He was a fluent reader by the time he started school and I can't say that alone has caused him many problems (he has Asperger's Syndrome, though, which is a whole other kettle of fish!).

My DD is that age now and has absolutely no interest in reading, although she loves stories, being read to and pretending to read. I will see how it goes, but instinctively I think she will probably be best left until she starts school.

Different strokes etc.

Dd knew all letter sounds and could match them to lower case letters on magnets, signs etc. This was well before age theee. Then that was it really until school just before five when she has learnt to read quickly and easily and progressed really fast. Really keen. But think I'd have struggled to teach her formally during preschool years. I really think that exposure to letters and sounds and masses of stories read and rhymes and games is best way to find out if they want to learn to read. If they do they'll be asking and if they don't they'll be soaking it all up ready to fly when they start school.

I work in a library and on training courses we have been told the best thing to help your child learn to read, is to read to them. Reading the same story again and again, may be a tad tedious but is really important. Children who understand story structure and more importantly have a love of books will read. It has certainly worked for DD No 1 and No 2 loves her books too, she is just 3 The tips on the learning corner were, I thought, spot on! Also story tapes/Cds are great, check out your local library

Hello all, our new Learning content about phonics might be of interest - info about how schools teach phonics, what you can do at home (if you want to) and printables so your children can practise.

And any feedback gratefully received, natch. :)

With my DDs, we bought the jolly phonics books and just put them on the shelves. When DD1 was about 3, she became interested in them, and we used to read them together, spot the sound in the pictures and then spot them out and about, on road signs etc. From there, it is relatively simple to sound out CVC words and for them to combine them together to make words. I just bought a copy of the teacher's phonics guide and used that to ensure I was not going to do anything to contradict the school teacher. By the time DD1 started school, she was able to read Enid Blyton's Amelia Jane books and was placed on Gold reading level after her first term in Reception. That said, she was never bored, thoroughly loves school, and has responded well. Of course, whilst she is still one of best readers in the class, others have caught up.

With DD2, we also put the books there and waited for her to show an interest. She is 4 1/2 now, and very keen to start school (she even chooses to wear school uniform to nursery bless her). They have introduced phonics to her at nursery and she has really run with it. She is now learning CVC words and starting to read simple school books. She loves her weekly trip to the library to get new books. However, despite the fact she is starting well over 18 months after DD1, she is catching up really fast and learning much quicker. I don't think there is necessarily an advantage to teaching them early.

What I'm trying to say, is that my DDs learnt to read when it was something they were interested in, and we simply followed their interests and their lead. We simply facilitated their desire to read and no more. If you do something similar, then you won't go far wrong. Its when you push that it all goes wrong in my book.

I taught my son to read at just over four years old using Jolly phonics and he loved it. We did just five minutes of games each day.

My son was not bored in reception as he had a really good teacher. He loves school and continues to do well.

It is criminal that 20% of children leave primary school with less than a level 4 in English/ literacy. There is no way that I am going to leave it to chance my children getting decent literacy skills. Frankly its a myth that all children get there in the end. 10% of adults have weak literacy skills.

The ablity to read and write well opens up so many doors.

DS1 knew all his letters and sounds by the time he was 2, he couldn't walk past a sign without needing to know what it said, he couldn't eat a yogurt without needing to know what the ingredient list said etc. Before he was 3 he would throw a tantrum if he was asked to "read a book" as he couldn't read (quite happy if you said "go and look at the pictures in a book"), just before his third birthday I realised he could blend phonics, eg said to him "What does c...a.....t" say and he knew it was a cat. Within a couple of months he was reading - because he wanted to, I didn't really have to do anything.
DS2 is now 4 1/2 and only now is really starting to get interested in letters, he was very into numbers before that. He starts school in September and I think he will pick up reading very fast when he gets there - he is only just starting to be able to blend phonics together to work out words, and it is only in the last couple of months he has been able to work the starting sounds of words. There would have been no point what so ever me trying to teach him to read at 3, he wouldn't have been capable, let alone that he wasn't in the slightest bit interested.
DS3 appears to be more like DS1, however he is now 2 1/2 and only knows a few letters as although he enjoys letters, he isn't as obsessed about them as DS1 was.

I have to admit it worries me when someone says that their nearly two year old is obcessed by letters. I knew a little boy who was like this and later on he was diagnosed with autism.

I think that speech development is vital before a child can learn to read.

I'm with katymac. 6 or 7 is ideal.

The first problem is to identify if your child is cognitively able to use phonics. Not all children and adults are able to use phonics for a wide range of cognitive reasons, many of which are not clinically diagnosable until the age of maturation (7 - 8 years old) or when children stop growing out of developmental cognitive problems.
if your child is cognitively not able to use phonics then trying to use phonics as a form of teaching will be pure disability discrimination, by asking your child to do something they are not cognitively able to do. Which in the first step in telling them that they are a failure, because you are not able to communicate as they are best able.

Teach them to read if you want to. I waited till school with dd2 who had known letters since just 3 and could blend. In the end she was desperate and the school were going so slowly that I gave up and did it myself anyway. The children in reception so quickly split in terms of what they can do anyway.
As my six year old snuggles up with a book each evening I don't notice her thinking that it was especially wrong of me to accelerate her access to literature...
Its rude to say but Dolfrog appears to be talking nonsense.

I started teach our son the alphabet when he was about 3.6 because I realised he could easily make out the sounds they made. If you think the child finds it hard to make out the sounds that letter make don't insist. They get too stressed. But keep reading.

I'm fairly ambivalent about teaching my son phonics before he starts school. He is 4.5 and a bright, inquisitive boy, who enjoys exploring stuff around the house. He's into gardening, science experiments (only messy ones) and tearing around the garden with a ball. He loves books, and will happily listen to any book I read to him, but I sense that any attempt by me to teach him to read might turn him off learning to read for good.

He told me a while ago that he wanted to learn, so I bought the Jolly Phonic workbooks and we did a few of the exercises. He didn't find it fun or enjoyable, so we ditched them in favour of mud pies, baking and card games.

He has absorbed so much from doing the messy experiments, gardening etc that I'm not bothered at all that he isn't learning letter sounds. He can do subtraction and addition, something he hasn't been taught, so I think I'll leave phonics for his reception teacher and enjoy the next few months before school.

camicaze

I am talking about a listening disability, Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) which the Medical Research Council estimates affects 10% of all children, who have a listening disability, which cognitively prevents them from processing the gaps between the sounds which can make up a word, and are therefore cognitively unable to use phonics, and the so called "blending"

To be able to use phonics you need to have good listening skills, and if you have APD you have a listening disability, for which there is no cure, so those who have APD will never have the listening skills required to use phonics

I would never use the jolly workbooks with a pre school child, but there are ways of making learning phonics fun.

dolfrog, auditory processing and listening skills can be improved in all children other than the profoundly deaf. I am sure that more than 90% of children can be taught to blend. My son managed to learn to blend inspite of having a moderate hearing loss. (The digital hearing aids and the soundfield system the school had really helped.)

Ofcourse children need to have fun and get messy. I don't see how a small amount of phonics stops this.

We had the letterland CDs for DS1 the year before he started school. DS2 used to hear them too, in the car. When DS1 started school, he came home with phonic sounds to practise, and we did them at tea time, so DS2 heard too. One day, DS2 decided to join in with DS1's phonics practice, and demonstrated, at age 3.3, that he knew all the phonic sounds. And that he could blend them too. He's an August baby, so he starts in Reception this September age 4.0, but now at age 3.8 he's made a really good start on reading, and will no doubt be quite confident with it when he starts school. I hope his teacher will see past the "August-born boy" stereotype though.

Central Auditory Processing Disorder is a complex condition. These children are thought to be able to hear normally but do not process what they hear in the same way as their peers. It is estimated that between 5 and 10% of school aged children are affected but only a small proportion have severe difficulties which result in the inability to distinguish differences between sounds in words.
The problem with identification is that many symptoms overlap with other conditions/difficulties and sometimes coexist.

Just be careful that the "learning" is child led and that you use the same scheme as the school your DC will go to (if you know which school that is) uses otherwise it could become confusing for them.

reallytired

"dolfrog, auditory processing and listening skills can be improved in all children other than the profoundly deaf."

You do not know what you are talking about. Auditory Processing Disorder (APD) is a clinically diagnosable listening disability, and those who have a clinical diagnosis as all of my family have , including me, have a listening disability, and are not able to use phonics or phonetically able to sound out new words.
As I said earlier the UK Medical Research Council define medical conditions and not those trying to sell reading programs to schools.

mrz
the Central part of the name of the condition was dropped in 2000, and it now universally known as Auditory Processing Disorder