letter names, sounds or both?

[lorrainejmc]

My ds7 has been using Starfall a lot and is now asking me "what's that?" when playing with letters. Starfall says the letter names, followed by the sounds. I'm unsure which to tell him and I don't want to confuse him as he has a long history of receptive and expressive language delay and a hearing loss which is now resolved.

 

Any suggestions?

[ElizabethB]

Both.

 

Just like a sheep says baa, the letter a says ah. This establishes that it has a name and a sound. With my older remedial students, I make sure that the can do both, and do oral and written spelling along with phonics work. This helps them learn the phonics faster and establish the connection between sounds and spelling.

[KatDilan]

Both.

 

Just like a sheep says baa, the letter a says ah. This establishes that it has a name and a sound. With my older remedial students, I make sure that the can do both, and do oral and written spelling along with phonics work. This helps them learn the phonics faster and establish the connection between sounds and spelling.

:iagree:

 

However, while naming the letters is good, if they know the sounds, they can start reading and nail down the names later. If they know the names, they still HAVE to learn the sound before they can start reading. Just sayin'.:tongue_smilie:

[LittleIzumi]

Both! I try to teach all of the phonograms along with the letter sounds, so the kids don't get very frustrated (as my oldest did) that a great deal of "a"s do not say "aah." They know it usually says the short vowel sound but they understand the options.