Preschool learning question...

No matter how long we have tried, different methods and ways, this kid has zero interest in working on letter sounds.

I have tried to brainwash with the Letter Factory, we do puzzles, have a specific letter day which we pay attention to all day. He recognizes letters, but no interest in sounds.

He wants to start spelling. He fake reads all the time. He spells things like his name...but only through memorization, no sounding out. We have our "homework" book and he traces letters and all that.

How do I get him interested in sounds? we sing the every letter makes a sound ___ says ___...he has no idea what I am talking about

DH, my dyslexic love, says to skip and concentrate on math. This kid loves adding and subtracting and will do it all day long. DH says its because it makes sense and with sounds I am speaking in mumble jumble.

any tips? pointers? experience?
tia!

Message edited 12/7/2009 12:06:44 PM.

Re: Preschool learning question...

Sarah's class has been working on writing letters, so they trace them and then talk about things that start with that letter, and then they make a small puppet out of construction paper that's glued to a popsicle stick that starts with that letter. So far she's made an alligator, bear, cat and dinosaur. Maybe you can adjust that so that he's doing something crafty and still learning about the sounds?

Re: Preschool learning question...

Reading is a developmental skill and if he's not ready, it doesn't matter how hard you push him, he's just not ready. That being said, you think he's not listening, but I guarantee he is. I thought Ava was never listening to me because she had no interest in it, but now, at 3.5, she's reading. One day, she decided she cared and we haven't looked back since.
Just keep doing what you're doing, but I noticed the less I really pushed the issue, the more she wanted to learn. I would just point out letters and their sounds.
Also starfall.com was a great tool for us. She was playing with letter sounds without me pushing them on her. I don't know if he can use a mouse yet, but if he can, put him on the computer and I bet he'll pick up all the sounds fast!

Re: Preschool learning question...

thanks!

kathy-we glue the letter of the day to a plate with beans and macaroni...maybe i need to step my game up. I have also been going out of order since the alphabet in order was driving him crazy...we would get into long fights about STOP...vs STUP..since u comes after t...every stop sign he was spelling wrong. then i figured sesame st goes out of order...but if preschools are going in order, maybe we should go back to that.

rachel-thanks for the link. he spends a lot of time on the computer so we will look that up.

he probably is soaking things in...just a little "don't send this kid to preschool pressure" from his doctors...he wants to read so bad and learn, i just have never taught a 2 year old

Re: Preschool learning question...

I bought a little magnetic blackboard with magnetic letters (made by Melissa and Doug) and we make words during mealtimes. It's lots of fun and it's great having all the letters right at the table instead of on the fridge. DS was already pretty good with letter sounds when we started, but you might find your DS picks up letter sounds as you are making words for him. It's a technique from a book called "Mommy Teach Me to Read" that you might want to check out.

ETA: I also read to concentrate only on the sound. So instead of showing the "B" and saying "B" and saying "B says Buh" just show the B and say "Buh." Don't know if that will help. I swear DS learned all the sounds just from the "Talking Letter Factory."

Message edited 12/7/2009 1:45:29 PM.

Re: Preschool learning question...

Try www.starfall.com

DS loves this site and it's free and very interactive (go to the letters section). I learned about it from the teachers in my building.

ITA that reading is a developmental skill. My DS, who will be 3 in January, can identify all the letters, letter sounds, shapes, colors, and numbers past 30. However, he has trouble responding to questions, saying more than 3 word sentences, and has fine and gross motor delays. He gets speech, OT and PT for this. These are all developmental.

My point is that every child is different and every kid learns at a different pace. I wouldn't be concerned at this age at all. It will come with time. I can tell you that DS's therapists put minimal weight on the fact that he already knows his letter sounds, especially since he is struggling in other areas. It does not mean that your DS will struggle later on with this concept .

Re: Preschool learning question...

thanks!

see Letter Factory again...we sing the songs, doesn't sink in.

our former speech therapist was the one who picked up on the fact that it is out of his character to not like sounds...

not really worried, just wondering if we could skip sounds, memorize words to spell, then come back to it one day. i don't want to skip over a building block.

Re: Preschool learning question...

Wow, Josh is way more advanced then Luca! I have my kid in school 3 mornings a week and they don't seem tohave done anything with letters yet. They do crafts every day based on their theme for the week (shapes, seasons, etc..) but no letter work. I actually was planning on bringin it up to the teachers. I "try" to do some stuff at home with him, but your efforts put mine to shame!

Re: Preschool learning question...