Identifying letters

Just curious what the usual age range is for being able to recognize individual letters.

Clarissa knows all the capital letters and many lower case.

Elliot knows a few letters, and even those are inconsistent.

I know I'm not supposed to compare, but I'm wondering if they're both within the normal range.

Rachel

 

My older one was way ahead of the game with letters -- mostly because of a million readings of Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, and a million viewings of Leap Frog's Letter Factory. (Highly recommend both, if you don't have them!) She knew all her upper and lower case letters before 2.5, and by that age was doing simple spelling, and identifying the first letter by the sound of a word...she started reading independently a few months ago.

(This is her *thing* though -- the kid can't throw or catch a ball, and still expects me to help her with potty even though she can do everything perfectly well herself. )

She started preschool two mornings a week at age 2, and the kids were not expected to know their letters. This past year, in the 3-year-old classroom however, they were.

Do you girls go to preschool? I would just ask the teacher if they're both on track....

 

My Ian knows all of his letters since around April of this year, so after they turned two. Uppercase is how I write them on the chalkboard but lowercase is on SuperWhy alot and he seems to know them too. Evan asks me what some letters are but other times he knows them. I think he is just is more interested in playing where Ian will sit with me and read or let me play letters with him.

 

mine have been reciting their letters since about 19-20 mos but I know that is SO not the norm...I credit many many episodes of Sesame Street through the nasty fall/winter!

 

We went to storytime at the library and the 'teacher' generally has a letter up on the wall as the 'theme.' This one was the letter 'A', but it was April fools day, so it was upside down. Audrey looked up and correctly identified the letter. Another parent in there asked how old she was (after acting impressed) and I said '2.' She continued to be impressed. I think it was about Christmastime when they started letting us know that they knew their letters. My two have had speech issues, so I was surprised. So, they were about 2.5 years old when they could identify letters.

 

Mine know all of their letters lowercase and uppercase. We have been working on them daily since about age 12 months. We would sign them, write them, and use flash cards. We also bought the leap frog fridge magnet letters and they love to play with those. We have trouble with our colors though, they just can't keep them straight.

 

both boys were around 20 months when they could both recognize all uppercase and most lower case. Now they can recognize all lower case as well and know each letters phonic.... This is just something they both jumped on early, and I've encouraged where I can. If you ask they can each spell their names, the other's name, and "Mommy" & "Daddy" but I think that is mostly memorization. Numbers and letters are really big with them where as crafts, coloring is something they have no interest in for longer than 5 minutes. At this age I think it really is what each child chooses to be interested in! HTH!

 

We have always used this tub cushion and it has all the letters on it. Every bath time we sing the ABC's and I point at the letters as we go. Dd can point out all letters correctly and ds can do about 10.

 

We realized our girls recognize all upper and lower since about 2 (when they started to speak) and also know the sounds...but as PP said. Mostly thanks to the LeapFrog video and Fridge Phonics!! They are starting to spell words they see out loud and one can write her name. Though- they were LATE movers (one just learned to run at 2.5 and they are still figuring out how to catch welland both were in PT & OT) so we read a lot...

Everyone learns at a different rate and different things....

 

Well, Joey is apparently clueless....could care less about letters! Preschool will be good for her!

Ellie knows E. She pointed it out on my sweatshirt last weekend.

 

Mine knew their uppercase letters before 3, not by some miracle or great effort on my part, but thanks to Leap Frog Letter Factory. They know a large handful of lowercase, but I have not purposefully "checked" for understanding.

I teach kinder and in doing our pre-kinder assessments in June on incoming kindergarteners (so four and five year olds), most knew most upper case and some kids knew most lower case. There was a very wide range of abilities, but lots of kids did not know a good majority of lowercase letters (this is in a fairly middle income area, just for a point of reference). They learn their letters very quickly though, by the time kindergarten gets underway. So at this point, I would not be concerned AT ALL!

 

Mine know their capital letters. They learned them mostly through The Letter Factory Movie and their LeapFrog Fridge Phonics toy.

 

Okay, I am a slacker. P and P know many of their letters, but not all. P and P can say the alphabet, but still get confused with some letters. I am also a teacher (elementary school) they should know these things.
In all honestly I haven't really made a point of doing flash cards or things of that sort. We spend a lot of time reading books and looking a words, but I haven't made a big point of letter recognition (this is something I have been working on over the last few weeks).

 

My DS has known his letters {capital} for about 6 months now. My DD has known them for about three months. I haven't started on lower case letters yet, maybe in a few months. :good:

 

I know of a great website for learning the alphabet. My boys learned the alphabet upper and lowercase, the sounds the letters make and words that start with the letters. They love it and they learned very quickly.

http://www.starfall.com/

 

I'm a preschool teacher and i would say 3 to 4 is "normal" for them to learn their letters, though obviously many children are capable of doing so much earlier than that. the fact that they CAN learn them before then doesn't mean they HAVE to learn them, kwim? don't stress, he'll have them down before you know it. if he still doesn't know them in kindergarten, then i would start to think about it again....

that said, the ability to learn and memorize that young children have from 1 to 3 years of age is quite incredible! my cousin's son could point out all 50 states on a map before he was 2 years old (you can see him here), and could also name them when pointed to (a whole other ability). he is now learning the state capitals at all of 2 and a half.....and mine won't even sit still for a story! LOL

 

QUOTE(seamusnicholas @ Jul 7 2008, 10:34 PM) [snapback]864850[/snapback]
Mine know their capital letters. They learned them mostly through The Letter Factory Movie and their LeapFrog Fridge Phonics toy.

You read my mind! That how my twins' know their ABCs.....just today my son said ABCDEFGHI but he couldn't finish the rest or he wasn't sure what next but it is a good start!

D, w/Rianna and Justin (21 mos)

 

Sofie was more about 3, maybe a few at age 2. I would agreet that somewhere between 3 and 4 is completely normal. She can write couple now too, and has been doing that for a few months (including her name). I never did anything special or practice with her.

The twins (19 months) don't have a clue, and honestly I think that's completely normal. My boy hardly says a word to begin with and my girl is into a lot of things but not letters!

I don't think it "helps" to speed up things in our case since they're bilingual, born in the US, now a few months back in Europe and back in English / Chinese speaking Hong Kong within 4 weeks.

 

DS1 just had that kind of brain and knew letters, numbers, colors, shapes at 18 mos. (This has not translated into stellar grades in high school, however. <_< )

DS2 just flat-out refused to learn any of that stuff. I forced him to learn colors & shapes at 2.5 (I made a chart and we reviewed it once a day, which took perhaps 2 to 5 mins), because you can't give directions or ask someone to bring you something if he won't acknowledge color or shape. He started Kindergarten knowing only the letter A. He caught up very quickly and is now an A student who is 2 years ahead in math and a year ahead in science.

I tell these stories to illustrate that kids learn in their own time and knowing the letters early is nice, but doesn't necessarily predict academic success. I agree with the PP who teaches preschool. If they want to learn, great, but no reason to stress them out over it.

My girls both learned before 2, but haven't started school yet.

 

I think it is a 4 year skill, at least that's what the pediatric neurologist said last week at Grace's appointment.

Grace knows most of her letters (uppercase), and Lily maybe knows about a 1/3. I credit Fridge Phonics and various other letter toys they have, plus we sing them a lot. They are also starting to recognize what letters words start with.

 

Why are parents so anxious for their kids to grow up? Honestly, flash cards at age 2? What about just learning through play? What about letting them learn at their own pace?

 

My boys knew their uppercase letters by sight and sound around age 2. At age 3, they know their lower case letters as well, the 50 states by shape and name and some of the state capitals, numbers 1-20, colors and shapes. Ethan is now spelling and starting to read (probably memorization as opposed to comprehension). I credit Fridge Phonics and Leap Frog videos to teaching them their letters. We don't do flash cards or anything. We just read alot, talk about what we see when we are out, they love to do puzzles (that's how they learned the states). I might take them to stores to shop a little too often because we will be out driving and Ethan will say "K-O-H-L-S spells Kohl's Mama" among other store names -- LOL!

Mendy

 

QUOTE(Mellizos @ Jul 8 2008, 07:43 AM) [snapback]865416[/snapback]
Why are parents so anxious for their kids to grow up? Honestly, flash cards at age 2? What about just learning through play? What about letting them learn at their own pace?

I was thinking the same thing while reading through this thread!

Mine cannot identify all their uppercase or lowercase letters, but do know quite a few of them-- I would guess half, though I have not "tested" them lately. But I am not concerned at all at this point.

 

In response to the 'growing - up' part....I am not rushing my kids, I do not do flash-cards, nor drill them in anyway.

Just like some kids get 'into' animals, trucks, trains, and I know 2 yr olds that can name every make and model of car, a bunch of exotic animals, every character on Thomas or Dora, ride a bike/tricycle etc....my girls happen to love letters/words/ etc. They have always been interested in them They could care less about numbers and know 1-9 by sight, but really only from reading and seeing them around town. They are not terribly motivated to learn new physical things (riding a trike, playing basketball, swimming, etc) and do them only occasionally. They are both 'behind' gross motor skills and had PT/OT, but I am not worried since I was never athletic at all and turned out just fine.

There is no 'push' grow-up at all. I go with what they are interested in and take it from there....right now it is letters, princesses, and dinosaurs. So we get books at the library on dinosaurs & princesses, play make- believe with them, act out stories with them, puzzles, talk about them. They get excited about something, so we explore it....no more than learning through play, exploration, and songs.

I am happy that they know them, but in no way would be upset or worried if they did not. Every child is learning something at this age and it could be letters, numbers, states, every dinosaur name that ever was, types of cars, train names, all the colors in the crayon box, how to kick, throw, hit a ball... etc....kids will pick up information that interests them whatever it is. Enjoy what they enjoy.

That is just my 2cents.

 

QUOTE(Mellizos @ Jul 8 2008, 09:43 AM) [snapback]865416[/snapback]
Why are parents so anxious for their kids to grow up? Honestly, flash cards at age 2? What about just learning through play? What about letting them learn at their own pace?


We never did flashcards or leapfrog or any of that. DS1 still managed to learn everything, and so have my girls. I do have letter magnets on the fridge, but just to play with. When kids are interested, they pick these things up very quickly. And you can never tell what will pique a particular kid's interest. I have one daughter who just *loves* Dick & Jane. My mother found an old one in a flea market, and she just reads it and reads it. I finally ordered her a newly-re-released D&J book because she just loves them. This despite the terrible reputation D&J has for making reading boring. Go figure.

 

Both of mine knew most of the capital letters at about 24 months. I think they were on the early side, though. At just over 2.5 years, they know all the caps and a lot of the lowercase ones -- both to find them on a page if we say them, and to say them if we point to them.

I tried not to be invested in it -- we didn't try that hard to teach them, but they seem to really enjoy it.

Interestingly, Sarah is actually better at letters than Amy, even though Amy's verbal skills are much more advanced. Sarah can even spell a couple of words ("cat" and "cow") but she can't even pronounce the "K" sound. Just goes to show that they learn different things at different times!

And, FWIW, they're not all that interested in numbers. They know that numbers aren't letters, but can't recognize them by sight, and can only really count to 2.

And what KCMichigan said:
QUOTE
There is no 'push' grow-up at all. I go with what they are interested in and take it from there....right now it is letters, princesses, and dinosaurs.

Except in our case it's letters, trains, and animals.

 

QUOTE(KCMichigan @ Jul 8 2008, 05:13 PM) [snapback]865667[/snapback]
In response to the 'growing - up' part....I am not rushing my kids, I do not do flash-cards, nor drill them in anyway.

Just like some kids get 'into' animals, trucks, trains, and I know 2 yr olds that can name every make and model of car, a bunch of exotic animals, every character on Thomas or Dora, ride a bike/tricycle etc....my girls happen to love letters/words/ etc. They have always been interested in them They could care less about numbers and know 1-9 by sight, but really only from reading and seeing them around town. They are not terribly motivated to learn new physical things (riding a trike, playing basketball, swimming, etc) and do them only occasionally. They are both 'behind' gross motor skills and had PT/OT, but I am not worried since I was never athletic at all and turned out just fine.

There is no 'push' grow-up at all. I go with what they are interested in and take it from there....right now it is letters, princesses, and dinosaurs. So we get books at the library on dinosaurs & princesses, play make- believe with them, act out stories with them, puzzles, talk about them. They get excited about something, so we explore it....no more than learning through play, exploration, and songs.

I am happy that they know them, but in no way would be upset or worried if they did not. Every child is learning something at this age and it could be letters, numbers, states, every dinosaur name that ever was, types of cars, train names, all the colors in the crayon box, how to kick, throw, hit a ball... etc....kids will pick up information that interests them whatever it is. Enjoy what they enjoy.

That is just my 2cents.

Exactly!!!! Well put!

Liam could identify all caps out of order by 18 mos and could count to ten and identify a quantity of 5 or less... But had almost no words...

Joss still doesn't identify all her letters correctly 100% of the time (just not interested I think) but can spell, and write most of her name as well as about 5 other letters.

This is just to illustrate that every kid is different!

We have never done flashcards (I hate them), watch VERY little TV and have 1 set of magnetic letters, this is just who they are...

 

Back in the days when we were young, we went to school / Kindergarten to learn how to count, our ABC's etc. Now it's very different. Kids are generally expected (in many school districts) to have a basic set of knowledge before they join kindergarten. This includes counting, recognizing and saying letters, etc. As pp mentioned, some preschools also require a basic set of knowledge before the kids can attend.

As for us, we have had flashcards in their playroom since they were 1. They ask to "play" with them nearly every day. We started with flashcards that have pictures on them and we'd talk about every picture, make the sounds, get up and move like the animals, etc. It's just another fun game - not a stressful event. Now we've started adding letters, numbers and colors and we make that a fun game as well. They really enjoy it - it's not about making them grow up faster.

My children just turned two last weekend. I am very sad that they are growing up so fast and am in no hurry at all to make them grow up any faster than they already are. However, I will continue to provide tools such as flashcards and games and other opportunities to learn. There's a big difference between trying to give them a love of learning early in life vs. stressing them out to over-achieve. I hope my kids continue to be as eager and excited to learn in the future as they are today!

 

QUOTE(KCMichigan @ Jul 8 2008, 01:13 PM) [snapback]865667[/snapback]
In response to the 'growing - up' part....I am not rushing my kids, I do not do flash-cards, nor drill them in anyway.

Just like some kids get 'into' animals, trucks, trains, and I know 2 yr olds that can name every make and model of car, a bunch of exotic animals, every character on Thomas or Dora, ride a bike/tricycle etc....my girls happen to love letters/words/ etc. They have always been interested in them They could care less about numbers and know 1-9 by sight, but really only from reading and seeing them around town. They are not terribly motivated to learn new physical things (riding a trike, playing basketball, swimming, etc) and do them only occasionally. They are both 'behind' gross motor skills and had PT/OT, but I am not worried since I was never athletic at all and turned out just fine.

There is no 'push' grow-up at all. I go with what they are interested in and take it from there....right now it is letters, princesses, and dinosaurs. So we get books at the library on dinosaurs & princesses, play make- believe with them, act out stories with them, puzzles, talk about them. They get excited about something, so we explore it....no more than learning through play, exploration, and songs.

I am happy that they know them, but in no way would be upset or worried if they did not. Every child is learning something at this age and it could be letters, numbers, states, every dinosaur name that ever was, types of cars, train names, all the colors in the crayon box, how to kick, throw, hit a ball... etc....kids will pick up information that interests them whatever it is. Enjoy what they enjoy.

That is just my 2cents.


I have to agree here! I have NEVER pushed my kids into learning their abc's. My girls (especially Lorien) has shown such a passion and interest in knowing them, saying them, pointing them out etc. I have always read a ton of alphabet books and number books as well as shape and color books to them because they are usually very short label type books that held their interest. My girls don't know the name of one single dinorsaur where as other kids can name every single one. My girls can name all their letters and know the sounds and several words that start with each sound but most of my friends kids at this age can not do that. However, I always assure them that their kids are normal and mine a bit strange LOL. I don't know why or how they know it all. I'm amazed myself all the time but they just show such a passion in letters, numbers, colors and shapes so I just go with it but NEVER push them (I don't use flashcards but would totally buy them just because they love to read the letters and see words and pictures of things that start with the letters. It would be like another toy to them).

 

I guess sometime around 2 is when they started knowing most uppercase, I don't know if they know all the lowercase or not. They both know the alphabet in ASL too, actually knew that first.

 

Never pushed my kids either just happened to realize my son knew his letters, we have a chalkboard, we have sponge letters so I do letters with them. I'm a SAHM you get creative being home all day so they are not sitting in front of the TV. JMO and I haven't used them yet but why is it so wrong for anyone to use flashcards or anything for that matter to jump start their child's learning? Children learn by repitition it doesn't mean they are drilling them and it also doesn't mean they will take in the info. My kids can't pee or poop on the potty yet I try and try to get them to everyday I'm not trying to make them grow up faster just get to the next step.

 

I'm so glad you asked this I've been wondering about it myself.

Shortly after my girl's 2nd Birthday Liberty learned B, P, M, C, G, & D and there's a few more she gets right from time to time. She LOVES her ABC puzzle and will sit forever doing it. Now Leighanna on the other hand only knows B and sometimes P, she could really careless.

 

I've recently read two pieces of research which may interest you.

Firstly children who are exposed to letters repeatedly - through for example, games, certain books or sesame street - WILL learn their letters earlier. (Just as my two learned to count to 10 very early as several times a day I count slowly to 10 when they're taking it in turns with a toy).

But, secondly, there's no evidence that these children become better readers later or do better academically. It's more a matter of exposure.

Having said all that, clearly there are some super bright kids who will learn early AND do better academically, but for the majority of children it's more a matter of exposure.