amnewise6 Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Hello, I have a son who is 5 ( will be 6 in Nov). He struggles with his letters and sounds. I am thinking that this runs in our family as his sister had issues when she was younger as well. She was in ps though. My question to all the parents who have taught the names and sounds of letters is what is the best way to approach this? Should I teach all the names of the letters first and then move on to the sounds or skip names and focus on sounds? I was going to do a letter a week type program and focus on 1 letter and learn the name and sound together. I was looking at the pre-k Hooked on Phonics and talked with someone from there and that program teaches them seperately but is also for a younger child. Now I am confused and am lookign for ideas or advice. Blessings, Brooke Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumping In Puddles Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 (edited) The best thing you can do is let him watch The Letter Factory DVD. Seriously, I'm sure many here will agree. Absolutely brilliant. He should have it down in no time at all. :) ETA: some people have had success with not teaching the letter names, but most get frustrated and kids learn the letter name and the sound at the same time. Edited August 5, 2009 by Jumping In Puddles Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane Elliot Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 (edited) For a kid like that, it's all about exposure, exposure, exposure. Sing the alphabet. Get letter magnets for the fridge. Write in the sand. Get the Signing Time alphabet DVD. Cut his sandwiches into letters. Get one of the Leap Frog refrigerator letter games. Use alphabet puzzles. Use www.starfall.com (it's free!)...etc. All day, everyday. And we've had a lot of success with the Go for the Code series. ETA: As far as teaching letter sounds vs. letter sounds with the name, I've done it both ways. I don't think it matters either way. Edited August 5, 2009 by Luann in ID Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
usetoschool Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 The reading program we use is called Jolly Phonics. The reason we like it, and it has worked well for us, is that it teaches the sounds first and then shows them what marks on the paper we use to indicate that sound. To me it make sense to explain writing as a way to record spoken words. Doing it this way has, for us, eliminated some of the confusion about saying the name of the letter versus the sound of the letter, especially for vowels. Jolly Phonics is not the only program that does it this way, just the one we like. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JudoMom Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 The best thing you can do is let him watch The Letter Factory DVD. Seriously, I'm sure many here will agree. Absolutely brilliant. He should have it down in no time at all. :) ETA: some people have had success with not teaching the letter names, but most get frustrated and kids learn the letter name and the sound at the same time. :iagree: This DVD has taught my younger 4 boys their letter names and sounds (it wasn't out in time for my oldest). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jane Elliot Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 The reading program we use is called Jolly Phonics. The reason we like it, and it has worked well for us, is that it teaches the sounds first and then shows them what marks on the paper we use to indicate that sound. To me it make sense to explain writing as a way to record spoken words. Doing it this way has, for us, eliminated some of the confusion about saying the name of the letter versus the sound of the letter, especially for vowels. Jolly Phonics is not the only program that does it this way, just the one we like. I agree. Jolly Phonics is very nice, and it's a program recommended in Overcoming Dyslexia. Jolly Phonics has some board books (available at Rainbow Resource) that have a page for each letter/phoneme. We enjoy cuddling with these. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lulubelle Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 This is my issue with my 5 year old son. He is an April birthday. We began with Phonics Plaid K and he just was not ready for the knowing of each letter or the writing freely of each letter. Then, I got Get Ready For the Code. Those were good, except for the same problem - not ready to know the letter or freely write the letter. So, then I've been trying to add anything I can think of to help him remember the letter and the sounds. He also has the same problem with numbers! He can't recognize or write them. So, I've looked up Progressive Phonics, as someone on the board mentioned (it's free!). It's really good. It involves individual letter recognition with word recognition too. It has fun books my son really likes and some other activities. Plus, the writing part is entirely tracing, which is exactly where my son is at. So, I'm mixing it all up. Just trying to keep it fun and lots of variety and he is slowly catching on. It is not easy. I think it's just taking him longer to get it. As with numbers, I've found some worksheets online that have helped a bit. Slap the number page, tracing the number, circle the correct number and just having him read our phone number and address. Having him dial a number on the phone. Just about anything I can come up with. I have also gotten the Letter Factory video and it really hasn't helped too much. A bit. My pockets just have to be fully loaded with this one! If I put my first son and my second son together they would be the perfect single person! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hmschooling Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 (edited) The best thing you can do is let him watch The Letter Factory DVD. Seriously, I'm sure many here will agree. Absolutely brilliant. He should have it down in no time at all. :) ETA: some people have had success with not teaching the letter names, but most get frustrated and kids learn the letter name and the sound at the same time. :iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree::iagree: I couldn't get my son to remember his letter names or sounds after so many weeks of trying...every day was like starting over fresh. I found these LeapFrog DVDs and within ONE WEEK, he knew them all. 10 lessons in a phonics book after than and he's reading simple 4 letter words and trying to spell phonetically. I also went on the the next 2 volumes of the LeapFrog set and we just LOVE them! My youngest is almost 3 and already knows, and has know since he was 1.5, all his letter names (upper and lower case) and many sounds. All thanks to these DVDs. ETA: We've gone on to Reading Made Easy with the workbooks now (started a few months before K)-- it's going very well! RME doesn't mix learning writing with the phonics lessons so kids can progress at their own pace in each area. (There are optional copywork lessons for kids that are ready). Edited August 5, 2009 by hmschooling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 Spalding. I'm not surprised that a child so young "struggles" with letters and sounds. :-) I wouldn't even begin to think that he has any learning difficulties, not unless you have noticed his having problems in other areas, too. Spalding (and other similar methods such as SWR) teaches children the sounds of the letters and how to write the letters simultaneously. It connects all parts of their brains because they see, hear, and *feel* each letter. Specific, directional instructions are given for letter forms. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 (edited) The best thing you can do is let him watch The Letter Factory DVD. Seriously, I'm sure many here will agree. Absolutely brilliant. He should have it down in no time at all. :) ETA: some people have had success with not teaching the letter names, but most get frustrated and kids learn the letter name and the sound at the same time. :iagree: Letter Factory. You can't beat the repetition. If someone is going to have to say it 1,000 times before they get it, better a cute frog than me. (And I love teaching phonics!) I used to think that is was best to teach the sounds and not the names, but could not contain myself and would say the letters half of the time anyway, it's really hard to talk about them without saying their names. But, I've since decided that letter names should be taught at the same time. And, for the long vowels, their name is the same as their sound anyway, and many of the other letter names are close to their sounds. Edited August 5, 2009 by ElizabethB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amnewise6 Posted August 5, 2009 Author Share Posted August 5, 2009 Thank you! I have the Letters Factory DVD and I have ordered the Explode series for him. I will add a bunch of hands on for him during the week as well. He has no other issues with writing, I can show him the letter and he can write it. He has no issues with math or numbers. So I think we are just going to have to expose, expose, expose everyday. He gets so frustrated at himself that he wants to give up sometimes and gets really mad. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aletheia Academy Posted August 5, 2009 Share Posted August 5, 2009 My dc did enjoy The Letter Factory quite a lot. It was quite painless for me, too. When/if you are ready for some structured learning time with your guy, I highly recommend checking out the phonogram cards that go with SWR. You can purchase those as a separate component; although, you can easily add writing instruction with it and/or spelling. Any kid I have ever observed who has gone through that program can decode like a pro, even with phonograms that have different sounds, such as "ough." We have been using PP and ETC, mostly with my ds, but with dd starting K in a few weeks, I'm going to use those cards with both of them. :-) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
siloam Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 Hello, I have a son who is 5 ( will be 6 in Nov). He struggles with his letters and sounds. I am thinking that this runs in our family as his sister had issues when she was younger as well. She was in ps though. My question to all the parents who have taught the names and sounds of letters is what is the best way to approach this? Should I teach all the names of the letters first and then move on to the sounds or skip names and focus on sounds? I was going to do a letter a week type program and focus on 1 letter and learn the name and sound together. I was looking at the pre-k Hooked on Phonics and talked with someone from there and that program teaches them seperately but is also for a younger child. Now I am confused and am lookign for ideas or advice. Blessings, Brooke Brooke, For a child who is easily confused I would focus on just the sounds. There are a lot of programs out there. I personally use Get Ready, Set, Go for the Code series to teach letter sounds, and I make up my own Sand Letter Cards to reinforce and practice with. I also have them make the letters with play-doh, write it sand (or rice if I don't have sand) or chose out one of these other multi-sensory methods. Also you can play a lot of I spy, but use the first sound of the word, "I spy something that starts with /b/." Then if they can't find it by the sound I start giving other descriptions till they can find the item. At first they may not be able to find it by the starting sound, but over time they begin to. Heather Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 When you're finished with the letter sounds, whatever you use, you should avoid teaching sight words as wholes. For a child having trouble learning to read, this is even more important. Here's why and also how to teach all but 5 of the most commonly taught 220 sight words phonetically: http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/sightwords.html Also, here are my general recommendations for teaching a young child to read. If blending becomes a problem, I would try Webster's and work with 2 letter syllables, they are much easier to learn to blend than CVC words. http://www.thephonicspage.org/On%20Reading/newstudents.html Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TXMary2 Posted August 6, 2009 Share Posted August 6, 2009 The best thing you can do is let him watch The Letter Factory DVD. Seriously, I'm sure many here will agree. Absolutely brilliant. He should have it down in no time at all. :) ETA: some people have had success with not teaching the letter names, but most get frustrated and kids learn the letter name and the sound at the same time. I'll second this! My ds learned the letters and sounds by age 3 just from watching this. I only had him watch it to occupy him while doing school with his big brothers! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
japhmi Posted August 7, 2009 Share Posted August 7, 2009 The best thing you can do is let him watch The Letter Factory DVD. Seriously, I'm sure many here will agree. I've read on here that a lot of people like The Letter Factory, but I'm hesitant about it due to the poor phonics on the Leap Pad toys (many of the consonant sounds have a vowel sound with them). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom2denj Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 My dd 3 is picking up the letters and their sounds with Letter Factory! The best thing you can do is let him watch The Letter Factory DVD. Seriously, I'm sure many here will agree. Absolutely brilliant. He should have it down in no time at all. :) ETA: some people have had success with not teaching the letter names, but most get frustrated and kids learn the letter name and the sound at the same time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jumping In Puddles Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 I've read on here that a lot of people like The Letter Factory, but I'm hesitant about it due to the poor phonics on the Leap Pad toys (many of the consonant sounds have a vowel sound with them). The video has proper phonics on it. I don't really like any of the Leap Pad toys, just the videos and particularly this one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fshinkevich Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 I would also like to add my story to consider. My son was the same way, I was exposing, exposing and he wasn't getting it. He was super at math, and everything else, just not phonics/reading.Poor guy was getting so frustrated and so was I. So when he turned six and we were sitting down doing phonics and he started to cry I just put it ALL away. I did not approach it again until he was 7 and we started the new school year. I pulled everything back out and on the first day he started reading, in a few months he was reading at level and now he reads above level. Sometimes kids just need a little time, they are all different. On the other hand, I also love the Leap Frog DVD :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tree House Academy Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 I also recommend the letter factory (leap Frog) DVD. We did letter of the week too. Once we did letter of the week and Leap Frog, it clicked for him. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 I've read on here that a lot of people like The Letter Factory, but I'm hesitant about it due to the poor phonics on the Leap Pad toys (many of the consonant sounds have a vowel sound with them). It's actually impossible to say most consonant sounds without a bit of a vowel sound. The sound "cuh" is not the same when said in isolation as when pronounced in the word cat. You can say it with less of an "uh" sound, but it is impossible to say its exact sound in isolation. Syllables, on the other hand, are the same in isolation as in words. (But I do still teach them phonetically, and teach "consonant sounds," but they should more properly be called "consonant sound approximations." I have a picture of this on my dyslexia page, some waveforms and spectrograms of sounds in isolation vs. syllables vs. words. It's about 1/3 to 1/2 way down, in the section "the atomic nature of sylables." I like the Letter Factory DVD. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
momtolgd Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 The best thing you can do is let him watch The Letter Factory DVD. Seriously, I'm sure many here will agree. Absolutely brilliant. He should have it down in no time at all. Totally agree here! All 3 of my kids learned their letter sounds and letters by age 3 with this dvd! Even my dd who didn't talk much as a toddler knew all of them before she was 2 1/2! It's really brilliant. :001_smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
amnewise6 Posted August 8, 2009 Author Share Posted August 8, 2009 Thanks for all the info. I have been putting in the Letter Factory and he seems to be picking some things up. We are really doing a lot of exposure and I think if we continue he will get it. When we take it slower he is more willing than when I push him to "get it". I get so confused with other resources telling me that I need him reading by Dec. I have my older daughter in K12 this year for 8th and I am getting a lot of different feed back from the teacher about things and it is actually making me confused. I feel that if we take it slow and do the letter a week that he will be so far behind for next year in 1st. I also have 2 other children 3rd and 5th and we do MUS and CLE plus other stuff. I appreciate all the advice and personal experience it has helped ease my mind a bit and given me some great ideas..I love the sand cards, I will make him a set this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ElizabethB Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 Thanks for all the info. I have been putting in the Letter Factory and he seems to be picking some things up. We are really doing a lot of exposure and I think if we continue he will get it. When we take it slower he is more willing than when I push him to "get it". I get so confused with other resources telling me that I need him reading by Dec. I have my older daughter in K12 this year for 8th and I am getting a lot of different feed back from the teacher about things and it is actually making me confused. I feel that if we take it slow and do the letter a week that he will be so far behind for next year in 1st. I also have 2 other children 3rd and 5th and we do MUS and CLE plus other stuff. Reading by December is a good goal, but you can (actually should, some people try!) only teach as fast as they will learn. You should try to teach all of the letter sounds they will need to learn and how to blend as quickly as possible, but it takes some children longer than others. My daughter learned phonics very quickly but needs a lot more repetition for math. We just work more on math and teach where she is, not where she "should" be. I would do a little bit of blending every day, it takes some students a lot longer to learn to blend sounds together to make words. It's easiest to start with 2 letter blends--I prefer syllables, those can later be used for learning to sound out long words, but you can also start with 2 letter phonetically regular words like in, up, and it. (In, up, and it are also syllables as well as words.) I've also found that doing some spelling along with the reading helps cement the information in the brain. A young child still struggling with writing can do oral spelling and/or some "written" spelling with magnetic letters. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fshinkevich Posted August 8, 2009 Share Posted August 8, 2009 I also found this book very helpful when we were struggling. If you have not read it, I highly recommend it (and his other books too :)). http://www.amazon.com/Learning-All-Time-John-Holt/dp/0201550911/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1249708331&sr=1-3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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