Early Literacy: Why NOT to Teach Your Child the ABC's!
Jan 25, 2022 A familiar scene in any home with young children is the child proudly singing the ABC’s and the parents cheering them on. Then, when the child begins to read, parents try valiantly to get their children to understand the relationship between the letters they’ve sung for years and the sound those letters make.
In This Article
Various teaching methods have long been the targets of heated discussions, and none more so than phonics and whole language teaching. A teacher’s decision to teach the ABCs, then the sounds those letters make, and then the sounds combinations of letters make is not necessarily the choice that most teachers choose to use to start teaching early literacy skills.
Whole language and guided reading proponents believe that children learn to read by more than just simple decoding of the component parts of a word, and offer different strategies for expanding vocabulary and comprehension. This blog continues that discussion.
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The Importance of Sound Manipulation
For most people, phonics teaching leaves out one crucial part of learning how to read: sound manipulation. I see this often in my work with parents and children, and fixing this is one of the quickest ways to turn a reluctant reader into an eager, avid reader.
Research on the science of learning to read shows the importance of sound-based learning for ages 18 months – 4 years. Teaching young children the sounds that are in a word is so much more important than teaching them the letters. Phonics (letter recognition) should always come after phonemic awareness (sound recognition).
The ABC’s are a nice way to introduce your child to letters, but without the ability to manipulate sounds, it will be much harder for your child to develop in their reading.
For children to know how to read and break apart words and make meaning out of sounds, they need to know how to manipulate sounds. So, let’s stop stressing learning the alphabet and start teaching our children all of the sounds that they’ll need to express themselves in their lifetimes.
There is a big difference between phonics and phonemic awareness. Phonics is the ability to recognize letters and sounds. It is visual and oral.
As I wrote before, phonemic awareness should come before Phonics, and it is entirely verbal. So, this means you can play with phonemic awareness while on the go, at any time, because it doesn’t require for your child to be looking forward.
How to Help Your Child Manipulate Sounds
There are many ways parents can help their children manipulate sounds. This can look like saying a simple word and taking out the first sound or the last sound and replacing it with another. It can also look like your child breaking apart syllables.
There are several games you can play with your child that promote sound development. In all of these quick games, there are three important principles to remember:
1. Involve Physicality
Wherever possible, make this a physical game. For example, when breaking apart sounds, you can touch your head, waist, and toes for the sounds, or touch your head, waist, and then jump for the last sound. By allowing your child to feel the sounds in their body and associate it with a body part, you are ensuring they see the sounds each as distinct and will associate this with better recall.
2. Celebrate Wins
Every time your child gets a sound correct or guesses well, you can celebrate their effort. A few quick physical celebrations include:
“Kiss Your Brain” – the parent kisses fingers to lips and touches forehead, the child does the same,
“Give Yourself a High Five” – the parent claps hands together, the child does same,
“Pat Yourself on the Back” – the parent pats themselves on the back, the child does same
“Do a Victory Dance” – the parent sings a quick tune as the child jumps around.
3. Keep It Low Stakes
Sound manipulation is core to every person’s ability to process language. Remember, you are encouraging your child to learn how to process words and eventually learn to read. If it feels like a chore, your child is less likely to play and get excited by manipulating sounds, and therefore is less likely to do so. Keep it fun, use silly words, and allow your child to be invested in the games.
How to Play Sound Manipulation Games
There are a few ways you can play sound manipulation games. All of these different ways can be done on the go, in the car, at the dinner table, and with friends and others to encourage the game-like atmosphere of learning sounds and their relationship to each other.
Say a 3-letter or 3-sound word, and break apart the sounds. Then, allow your child to do the same. This can look like:
- First, the parent says “cat”
- Then, the parent says “c—aaaaa—t”
- Next, the parent asks the child: “tell me the sounds in cat”
- Then, the child says “c—aaaaa–t”
- And then, the parent then picks another word and lets the child break apart the word.
You can also do this with syllables or longer words. For example, with the word sidewalk, you can say:
- “Sidewalk. Say Sidewalk.”
- Child then says Sidewalk
- Now, say sidewalk but take away the “walk”
- Child says “side”
- Now take away “side”
- Child says “walk.”
Celebrate your child’s success and encourage him further.
Now that you know the importance of sound manipulation, next time your child sings the ABC’s, smile, cheer them on, and then get to practicing breaking apart and replacing sounds — that’s where the real reading skills are built.
Also, don’t forget about trying the new app ‘Reading Blubs,’ to get your kid started practicing pre-reading and reading skills.
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