toddler reading

My DD (will be 4 in 2 months) loves books. Her memory is quite good. If
I read her a book twice, the third time she remembers the context,
words based on the picture on every page and "reads" to her sister. She
wants to learn how to read. She asked me point-blank to teach her to
read. I started to teach her letters, the sounds they make etc.

Penny Gaines...

[snip]

Chookie...

I think you misinterpreted her request. She wants to read. That doesn't mean
she wants a school-type lesson every day! Remeber she is only little and has
never been to school.

This is our problem: On day 1: I introduced her to the very first basic
level BOB book. I made her read the book. She loved it. The second day,
I asked her to re-read the book. For the most part, she just remembered
what's on each page based on the previous day's reading and repeated
it. She didn't actually read by looking at the word. She just read by
looking at the pictures. I tried to cover the pictures and she got
upset. This is just one example. I also wrote few common words on a

Chookie...

But this is how the kids in DS1's class learnt to read. The pictures are
contextual clues. The kids started off remembering the stories, so they were
pretending to read, really, but gradually they started to recognise particular
words. (I should mention for the phonics nazis that she also provided phonics
instruction, but *reading stories* was not the time where that was done.)

piece of paper and stuck it on the wall. I showed her what each of
those mean. The next day she read about 80% of them correctly just by
looking at how the word looks, not because of the letters in each word.
I hope I'm making sense. This was 6 months ago. Even now it's the same.

Rosalie B....

I think maybe you should make a game of covering the pictures up,
rather than a sort of punishment.

Chookie...

That is actually *good*. Most of us spend our time sight-reading -- we only
have to slow down to decode unfamiliar words -- but it sounds to me like she
already has a sight-reading vocabulary. Does she recognise those words in
other contexts?

I got frustrated by the way she remembers how a word "looks". I stopped
teaching her to read. I just continued reading books for her. She keeps
asking me for "sounds books" (her word for BOB books) and I feel bad
for not being able to teach her properly. She's obviously intelligent.
I just don't know how I can utilize her skill properly. I appreciate

enigma...

if she remembers how a word 'looks', even in a different
context (like on a sign or in a newspaper) & can tell you what
the word is, then she's reading.
not all kids learn through phonics. i was reading before i
even knew my alphabet. i knew that that combination of
squiggles meant that word, even though i couldn't tell you
letters or letter sounds, per se.
let her read through memorization if that's the way she
learns. i think the only "wrong" way to teach reading is to
make it boring.
if she seems to learn words by how they 'look', you could
label things around the house (my mom realized i was reading
at three when i asked how to say 'thermometer')
lee

any suggestions.

Jeanne...

Like everyone says, she is learning to read - just not quite in the way
you expected :) It sounds like she's using the "Whole Word" method while
you want her to learn using Phonics. Both are valid methods and probably
both are needed.

Continue to give her the BOB books and let her go with it the way it
works for her. But also continue with the individual letter sounds
separately from the BOB books. Later, you can use the individual letter
sounds and put them together to form words in the BOB books.

Welches...

Do you mean she's remembering how a word looks or where its on a page?
If it's where it is on a page then look at doing flashcards. #2 (age 3)
memorises where things are and will apparently read quite hard books that
she knows.
If it's word recognition then keep with that method. It's a valid way of
reading. I got phonics half way through reading Lord of the Rings. That's
how far you can get with word recognition.
I'd do flashcards.
I've been doing flashcards with #2 and she can read a few simple books, I
think she's on about 50+words now. She also picks up words on her own since
I started flashcards. You have to learn some words by recognition anyway
(try spelling out was, what, said etc.) so why not start with those if it
concerns you. When I introduce a new flashcard I'll sound it out for them if
relevant.
The way #2 works best is we have her current list of words up on her wall.
In the evening she can ask to do them as part of the routine. Sometimes
she'll be doing them every night, other times she won't want to do it. I
never do it if she doesn't want to. If she gets them all right (or nearly)
then she gets a new word. She usually knows the new word by the next night.
(you have to keep changing the words round too)
Once she knows a word she'll point it out in books, newspapers, signs etc.
I think generally teaching phonics to under 5s is an uphill battle. Some
children get it very easily, others take a lot longer. Neither method's
better. My brother was writing phonetically at just over 3. I didn't get it

Anne Rogers...

wow, 7, I honestly think I was even older, I don't think phonics was evening
being taught in most UK schools when I was learning to read, I seem to
recall between about the ages of 11 and 13, that it dawned on me that some
words I was reading and mentally sounding out completely incorrectly were
the same as words a teacher was using! Particularly in relation to words
used in biology, mostly human anatomy, I'm struggling to remember any
examples, but at the time, I felt mortified and wouldn't have told anyone!
Even now, there are some words which you almost never say and if I do say
them, there is a reasonable chance they'll be wrong, I don't even know
whether that's because they don't go by standard phonics rules, or if I'm
applying the phonics incorrectly!

Chookie...

LOL, they are probably non-standard. I read 'funereal' and 'misled' wrongly
for YEARS before I heard them pronounced. I knew what they meant, but it
never occurred to me that 'misled' was the past tense of 'mislead' rather than
'misle'!

DS1 taught himself to read well before school and his K teacher's THRASS
programme fit in very well as he wasn't writing much (like many boys, not

Chookie...

Goodness, I have no idea! It's really meant to be a way to learn to
read/write/spell; not sure how useful it would be with speech therapy as such.

interested). He was the only child in his class who read English before
school started, I think, and some of the others didn't have much English. By
the end of the year they were all reading and writing with a fair degree of
confidence, so THRASS worked for all of them.

till nearly 7. Actually I'm the keener reader if that helps.
Go with her method of learning. It'll be much happier for both of you.
Debbie

Penny Gaines...

I think perhaps you ought to step back, and try and work out what you
want to achieve. At the moment, it sounds a bit like your daughter says
she wants to learn to read - meaning perhaps be able to recognise some
words on a page - and you are trying to teach her to Read - be able to
decode all and any document shes come across.

There are probably several different things you want for her when she is
school age. You want her to be able to decode unfamiliar words (ie to
know phonics). You also want her to see books as enjoyable, and to have
a fun time teaching her new things.

At the moment, the best thing is probably to focus on is enjoying books
together. Yes, when she says she is reading, she has merely memorised
the form of the words, but that isn't a bad thing.

I don't know, maybe it bothers you that you aren't using the BOB books
the way the publisher intended (I'm not familiar with the BOB books).
However, if you asked the publisher whether it was more important to use
them in the right way, or for your daughter to enjoy reading, I'm sure
they would say that the enjoyment of reading was the more important thing.

Sushi Fish...

Try some phonic idea first, such as APPLE. Start with A that sound ae,
ae, then AP that sounds ap, ap ... then she gets the idea from previous
pronunciation memory from suggestion of your mouth, oh yes, it is
APPLE. Your child approach is top down, just we adult's way are, that
is she tries to recognize words w/o even thinks about it. The
standard for most kids are phonic approach that lead to instant
recognition of words few yrs later.

Welches...

Depends from where you come from as to what the standard way of teaching the
children: word recognition or phonics.
Debbie

Jeanne...

Actually APPLE isn't a good word to illustrate phonics, especially if
the child is not phonics-oriented. DD would try to pronounce the second
P as well as the E. As for spelling the word, she probably would come
with apl, appul, apul, apol.

Better to start with a short 3 letter wod containing a short vowel
followed by a consonant, such as SAD or BAG.

Jeff...

I don't know the anwer to this, but are there games you can get that would
help her learn the words? You might also get her computer games. (I almost
said computer games that she can plan on the computer. Gee, where else would
you play them? At the tennis court?)

These games could make learning words fun for her.

Games like leap frog might be appropriate for her.

Also, point out words to her when you are in the store (like tomato over the
tomatos), words on road signs and on menus (like broccoli, cheese, sausage
at the pizza place; you might also point out that "anchovi" means "yuck.").
(Remember to keep your eyes on the road, not the signs, as you drive and
lead the way.)

And, of course, give her positive feedback as she learns more and more
words.

She'll learn to sound out words when she is ready.

Ericka Kammerer...

I'm not sure I understand the problem? It sounds
like you are insisting that she learn via phonics, and she's
picking things up by sight. Why can't she? Eventually she'll
learn to sound out words when it's useful to her. Why can't
she learn things the way she wants now? It's not like you're
somehow damaging her because you're allowing her to learn some
sight words at four years old. Some kids are very successful
with this reading strategy for quite some time. Follow her
lead and answer her questions. She'll be fine.

Best wishes,
Ericka

tedneeley...

OP here. Thanks for your reply.
I know there are lot of resources and info on how to teach using
phonics method. But how do you really teach by sight/recognition
method? Just by repetition and rhyming?

toto...

Try Writing to Read.

Writing to Read by John Henry Martin, Andy Friedberg

Make word walls with words she wants to know. (that means put the
words up on the wall so she can see them).

Some games you can make here:

I appreciate any suggestions, links and books.

HCN...

All you do at the toddler stage is to read to your child. Nothing else.

It could be the Bob books (which my kids hated), or the Dr. Seuss books, the
Berenstain Bears books, or any book at all. It also helps if it is a book
they are interested in. My severely learning disabled child loved "Thomas
the Tank Engine", so we had lots of those.

Try planning lots of trips to the library.

tedneeley...

Oh yes. I go once a week to pick up new books. I got few wonderful
reading list suggestions from this board.

Banty...

Gosh - there's a lot of preformed opinion here.

Only read, she's too young.
That she's young means that sight/recognition would be appropriate (even though
there's no hard feelings regarding "phonics nazi's")

Why would either of these be true?

I was in kindergarten, one that taught reading, a year early, when I was four.
The reason why was that by time I was three I was asking my mother about what
the *letters* sounded like and was pulling down encyclopedias and figuring out
the roman numerals on the index pages. Written language in the western world is
based on the representation of phonemes, and I knew that full well by looking at
it. C'mon - LOOK at it.

IMO, the recent strong push for phonetics is a reaction to the earlier hype (and
its unfortunately wide dispersal in the curriculum of primary grades) of the
"whole word" concept. Call it reactionary, maybe, but not "nazi". Now, at
least it's been replaced, but unfortunately rather confusingly replaced by a
mixed curriculum purporting to teach by learning style, but perplexing many by
presenting both to all kids.

If she's receptive to a (gentle, unrushed) presentation of reading in a
phonetics framework, there's no reason not to proceed.

Or, she may be more receptive to a "whole word" framework, associating the word
arrangements with objects.

Either way, it may actually give her a chance to learn before becoming
confusified by current public school practices.

Ericka Kammerer...

I think that in general, kids who are pushing to
learn to read before kindergarten are kids whom you can
generally trust to find the path that works for them.
That's why I would suggest simply enabling what she
is trying to do herself, rather than imposing a particular
strategy. If she needs a strategy imposed in order to
learn to read, she'll get that soon enough (and without
mucking with the pleasure of parent and child reading
together). Right now, she's got a strategy and it seems
to be working for her, so I don't see a reason to try
to "break" her of her current approach and substitute
a different one instead. Let her run with it and see
where it gets her.
Also, I don't know that school approaches are
necessarily confusing. Neither of my kids, bright as
they are, were interested in learning to read before they
went to school. Both learned quickly and easily at
school and didn't find it confusing at all. They learned
to sound out some works and read others by sight and
didn't have any problem with the concept that different
strategies might be appropriate for different words
(not to mention different kids).
I'm sure that there are some kids and teachers
for whom the learning to read process is a struggle, for
various reasons. I just wouldn't borrow trouble. I
think the kid who is ready and willing to read before
school generally doesn't need much except for everyone
else to get out of her way (and perhaps support her
efforts). The kid who isn't ready and willing will
likely learn just fine when she gets to school age.
The parent who pushes (either by trying to get a kid
to read before he or she is ready and willing, or
by forcing a particular method on a kid who is
ready and willing) just asks for trouble, I think.
By the by, I was not saying that sight reading
was appropriate because she was young. Reading via
that method can be appropriate for different people at
different ages. I was saying that because she is young,
the risk of following her lead and allowing her to do
what feels natural and successful to her is very low.
If it works, great. If it doesn't, she has plenty of
time to learn another strategy. She has the luxury of
time, so why fuss over it?

Best wishes,
Ericka

Ericka Kammerer...

Honestly, color me lazy, but I wouldn't worry
so much about the how. She's obviously bright and motivated.
I'd just answer her questions, follow her lead, read to
her, give her written words for things, and leave it at
that. I don't know that I'd actively teach reading by
sight. I just wouldn't get bent out of shape if that's
how she was approaching it at this age.

Best wishes,
Ericka

Chookie...

Give her the books she likes and help her read them. Read to her, with her,
and help her if she hits an unfamiliar word. I found Mem Fox's Reading Magic

bizby40...

This isn't a problem, it's a natural stage of reading. Let her figure
out the words in whatever way makes sense to her. If you refuse to
teach her until she can do it "right" you'll take away her pleasure in
reading.

tedneeley...

OP here. Thanks for your reply.
I'm only concerned that I'm not teaching her right. She knows sounds
yet she doesn't use them.

JennP....

Completely normal. In fact, fluent readers use more than just phonics to
read. We use background knowledge, context, picture cues, etc all to
construct meaning. Reading is the *construction of meaning* not just putting
sounds together.

Also, she's not even four yet. She'll get it. She's halfway there.

npardue...

Sounds very much like my daughter. She has (and has always had) an
excellent memory. While she wasn't an extremely early reader (she
started really reading the summer before kindergarten, so she was 5
1/2) she had built up a good sized stock of sight words long before
that. (I remember her looking over my shoulder one day ... she was
probably 3-ish, and pointing to a word and saying "That says 'People'"

Anne Rogers...

there isn't such thing as a "right" way to teach reading, there have been
movements at various times that are utterly convinced phonics is the wrong
way, though it would seem to me that it is up there as having stood the test
of time and working reasonably consistently, but if a different method works
for your child, then there isn't such a thing as a wrong way to learn to
read.

to be very helpful in encouraging me to do exactly what parents have always
done. Here is her website:

(She is a well-known Aussie picture-book writer)

Tori M...

hmmm I was asked by a math teacher if I was dislexic in high school but
dismissed it because I read everything. I can not spell for anything. My
biggest issue is 6's and 9's. It is hard for me to memorise them in
things...

A question.. for those of you that are mildly dislexic (sorry if this isnt
the right wording) , can you read upside down? No I dont mean can you stand
on your head and read :P Can you look at a book upside down and read as
well as right side up?

Jeanne...

Yes I can. Is this a sign of dyslexia? As a teen, I could also write
upside down and backwards (as in if you turned it around, the words are
readable). My spelling and reading are fine but I cannot sound out
words at all.

Welches...

Yes I can. I can also write/read in mirror writing with a minimum of effort.
Debbie

Banty...

Me too. I was always a bit bemused and confused by those "now you can read it
if you hold up this mirror" tricks. As in, whaddaya talking about - it's
readable either way.

I didn't think it's uncommon, and it seems that a lot of folks here are weighing
in that they can do it.

Now I wonder about those who can't seem to. What's *their* diagnosis? :)

Anne Rogers...

at first I though, what an earth are you talking about, no one can do that,
but dutifully, I reached for a book and did an experiment, I can basically
do it, it's not easy it's not fast, it's not accurate, but it's doable,
totally surprised me, is that normal or not?

Tori M...

I can do it well.. I wouldnt do it with a regular book for fun but it is
handy for reading to kids. I dont know if it is normal but I get comments
about it all the time.

Cathy Kearns...

I can do it with no problem, I'm not even sure I read slower upside down.
Also reading in the mirror doesn't bother me at all. And yet, I can't tell
my right from my left, and can never figure out the "your finger and thumb
make an L" trick. Weird how minds work.