Sound or Sight?

[Guest mcbloggy]

My daughter is two and a few weeks ago she started “reading” simple words. The problem is she doesn't know it. If you ask her to read a word she will just guess. If you ask her what sounds the letters make she will sound them out one at a time. I don't know what to do. Am I teaching her to memorize words? Is there a step I’m missing?

[Shannon C]

This doesn't seem like something you should be stressing over at age 2, IMO. Just let her know the words by sight and give her some phonics instruction in a few years. She may just take off on her own as some kids do, but you can do formal instruction if she needs it later on. I don't think I'd attempt phonics instruction at this age aside from doing some phonemic awareness stuff.

[musicianmom]

I tried at 2, because dd knew all her letters and what sound each individual letter made. But like your daughter, she couldn't read more than one sound together. So I left it alone. We played rhyming games and clapping words into syllables. We tried again with actual reading after her 3rd birthday and everything fell into place. If it hadn't, I would have waited a few months and tried again.

 

In the meantime, it won't hurt if she learns a few sight words before you start actual instruction.

[skaterbabs]

I honestly believe there is a switch in the brain that just flips one day. "Oh, wait! "C" says "cuh" and "A" says "aa" and "T" says "Tuh" and "CA" says "Caa" and if I put that "T" at the end.... Hey! Wait a minute! That says CAT!"

 

My DD spent about six months able to read but convinced that she didn't know how. (Granted, she was four and not two! LOL) I let her watch lot of "Between the Lions" on PBS (which helps show the blending process) and play on www.starfall.com. We also purchased the BOB readers and left them where she could access them. The books were destroyed:glare:, but her confidence got a huge boost when the first day we brought them home she realized she could read the first three books without any help at all.:lol:

 

 

Anyway, all that is to say, just give it time. She'll be reading before you know it - literally! LOL One day you'll be in the grocery store and she'll say "Mommy! That says "Do not enter!"" :001_smile:

[Academy of Jedi Arts]

My dd was reading sight words as a baby/toddler. She taught herself how to read. The phonics instruction came with spelling after she was already reading well.

 

A lot of gifted kids do not like to be put on the spot. Instead of pointing out words and asking her to read them, try pointing out words to her. Just make it very matter of fact, "This is the door we go in, it says WOMEN." Then just go in the door as normal.

 

I know how you feel. You have this amazing little thing that is starting to read and you want to know just how much she knows. You want to figure out how she is processing this information so you can help her learn more.

 

We had a copy of Phonics Pathways laying out on the table when dd was little. She would bring it to me when she wanted to look at it, not the other way around. It helped her to see the word patterns. Still, any reading practice was done by her alone in her bed at night with whatever books she selected. Another thing that helped her was my running my finger under words on the page as I read them.

 

Had I tried to quiz her on words as a 2 year old, she would have completely shut down. We had no clue just how much she could actually read until she was closer to 4 and able to read most any book in the house. Before that, we just got little glimpses here and there whenever she decided to show us.

[MSNative]

Just keep reading, reading, reading. She is picking up more than you know. We did that with our guys and both were reading by three without us doing any instruction. We did read some of the simple readers which seemed to help, but mostly we just read books they liked.

 

I agree that there is just a switch that goes off when kids are ready. You can't push it and you can't change it. She is doing great.