Teach reading to toddlers

Steps to Teach a Toddler to Read

Wondering how to teach a toddler to read at home? How to teach a 2-year-old to read?

Start by reading to your child every day. Teach them that books have meaning, are important, and most of all – fun! Encourage them to guess what will happen next and point out letters to informally teach them letter recognition. Keep it simple and exciting, and most of all fun. Preschoolers learn most through play.

What Research Tells Us About Toddlers Reading

Teaching toddlers to read is an insurmountable task you may not feel qualified to take on. However, research teaches us that there are things we can be doing to help equip toddlers to read. Teaching a toddler to read involves not only focused efforts but also reading aloud to the toddler (Frey, 2015). According to the same study, parents can build a child’s vocabulary simply by talking to the child, but the best way to boost vocabulary is by reading (Massaro, as quoted in Frey 2015).  

Interestingly, reading aloud to children helps boost not only their vocabularies but also their understanding of grammatical rules and nuances which forms the basis for later learning to read. Simply talking to children also helps boost their vocabularies as well. The more parents talk to their children, the higher their IQs tested at ages three and above (Frey, 2015).

Starting to Teach a Toddler to Read

With all the positive research supporting the idea of reading for toddlers, you may come away from this wondering just how you’re supposed to do that. Below, we’ve collected several fun and easy-to-implement strategies for teaching a toddler to read.

1. Read to your toddler. The above research shows how important this step is. Children who are read to become literate, period. Even when your child can read independently, it’s important to read to him or her.
2. Teach the letters of the alphabet. Even within this step, there are various schools of thought on how to go about doing this. Teach basic letter recognition to begin with. And be sure to make it a fun game!
3. Sing and teach letter songs. This goes along with step 2 and helps solidify what your toddler is learning. It also takes the alphabet from the abstract to the concrete when toddlers can relate what they’ve been taught to something else they’re being taught. An online preschool curriculum is perfect for this! 
4. Teach short words. Some parents prefer to teach the alphabet first while others skip that step and move
   Click here for free letters and word cards!

   straight into teaching short words. In the toddler years, we’re mainly focusing on stimulating the child’s ability to recognize and memorize letters, numbers, shapes, and colors. What a perfect time to teach short words!

5. Ask questions. Asking your child questions encourages interaction with the book you’re reading. It’s also pivotal in helping your child understand comprehension questions down the road. Reading and fluency are certainly worthy goals, but our ultimate goal should be comprehension. Since we’re talking about toddlers here, you could ask simple questions such as “Do you see the dog?” or “Is the house red?” Simple “yes” or “no” questions will suffice.
6. Be a good example! If your child never sees you reading and if you don’t supply him or her with plenty of book options, it’s possible he or she will take very little interest in reading. Children learn by example and seeing you read frequently will go a long way in igniting his enthusiasm for reading.
7. Point out letters in their natural settings. For instance, when you spot a stop sign, you could point out the letters to your young toddler or ask him or her what letters he or she sees. In your nursery, if you have your child’s name on the wall or on a baby book, take the time to point these things out to him. Seeing letters “in use” rather than just as abstract concepts will solidify the meaning of reading for a purpose to your toddler.
8. Use a multisensory approach. In addition to teaching your toddler the letter sounds and names, incorporate other senses in your teaching. For instance, a soft piece of material your toddler can gently rub will help make sense of the word “soft” and possibly even the letter “S.” This is a good time to do alphabet crafts with your toddler. He or she will soon come to relate letters and their sounds with images that begin with those letters.
9. Become familiar with decoding words. Decoding will help your toddler learn to read faster. Instead of stumbling over letter sounds or digraph combinations, your toddler can begin understanding the way letter combinations work together to form words.
10. Use word families. Word families are words that end in similar sounds but have different beginnings. Examples include “-op,” (pop, mop, top, etc.) and “-at” (fat, rat, cat, mat, etc.).

It’s hard to believe, but your toddler can read! With patience and persistence, you can implement the above ideas and have your child on his or her way to reading! 

Discover more Free Preschool Printables for your homeschool.

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Raising a little bookworm? Reading is a milestone typically associated with the early grade school years. But parents can help foster reading skills from an earlier age.

Whether you can actually teach your toddler to read has a lot to do with your individual child, their age, and their developmental skills. Here’s more about the stages of literacy, activities you can do at home to promote reading, as well as some books that will help reinforce these skills.

Related: Books better than e-books for toddlers

The answer to this question is “sort of yes” and “sort of no.” There are a number of things that go into developing the skills for reading. While some kids — even young kids — may pick up on all of these things quickly, this isn’t necessarily the norm.

And beyond that, sometimes what people observe as their kids reading may actually be other actions, like mimicking or recitation.

This isn’t to say you can’t expose your little one to books and reading through activities like reading together, playing word games, and practicing letters and sounds. All of these bite-sized lessons will add up over time.

Reading is a complex process and it takes the mastery of many skills, including:

Phonemic awareness

Letters each represent sounds or what are called phonemes. Having phonemic awareness means that a child can hear the different sounds that letters make. This is an auditory skill and does not involve printed words.

While similar, phonics is different from phonemic awareness. It means that a child can identify the sound that letters make alone and in combinations on the written page. They practice “sound-symbol” relationships.

That is, knowing what words are and connecting them to the objects, places, people, and other things in the environment. With regard to reading, vocabulary is important so kids can understand the meaning of the words they read and, further down the line, whole sentences.

Reading fluency refers to things like the accuracy (words read correctly versus not) and rate (words per minute) with which a child is reading. A child’s phrasing of words, intonation, and use of voices for different characters is also part of fluency.

And very importantly, comprehension is a big part of reading. While a child may be able to make out the sounds of letter combinations and put together words in isolation, having comprehension means that they can understand and interpret what they’re reading and make meaningful connections to the real world.

As you can see, there’s a lot involved. It may seem daunting, prompting you to research different products meant to help teach even the youngest babies and tots to read.

A study from 2014 examined media designed to teach babies and toddlers to read and determined that young children do not actually learn to read using DVD programs. In fact, while parents surveyed did believe their babies were reading, researchers say they were actually observing imitation and mimicking.

Related: The most educational TV shows for toddlers

First and foremost, it’s important to understand that all children are different. Your friend might tell you that their 3-year-old is reading books at a second grade level. Stranger things have happened. But that’s not necessarily what you should expect from your tot.

Facts: Most children learn to read sometime between the ages of 6 and 7. Some others may gain the skill (at least somewhat) as early as age 4 or 5. And, yes, there are those exceptions where kids may start reading earlier. But resist the urge to try to force reading too early — it should be fun!

Experts in the field explain that literacy for toddlers does not equal reading per se. Instead, it’s a “dynamic developmental process” that occurs in stages.

Skills toddlers have and can develop:

• Book handling. This includes how a toddler physically holds and handles books. It can range from chewing (infants) to page turning (older toddlers).
• Looking and recognizing. Attention span is another factor. Babies may not engage much with what’s on the page. As kids get a bit older, their attention span increases and you might see them connecting better to the pictures in books or pointing out objects that are familiar.
• Comprehension. Understanding books — text and pictures — is a developing skill as well. Your child may imitate actions they see in books or talk about the actions they hear in the story.
• Reading behaviors. Young kids do verbally interact with books as well. You may see them mouth the words or babble/imitate reading the text as you read out loud. Some kids may even run their fingers over the words as if following along or pretend to read books on their own.

As time goes on, your child may also be able to recognize their own name or even recite an entire book from memory. While this doesn’t necessarily mean they’re reading, it’s still part of what leads up to reading.

So what can you do to foster a love of language and reading? A lot!

Literacy is all about exploring. Let your child play with books, sing songs, and scribble to their heart’s content. Remember to make it enjoyable for both you and your little one.

1. Read together

Even the youngest kids can benefit from having books read to them by their caregivers. When reading is part of the daily routine, children pick up more quickly on other building blocks for reading. So, read to your child and take them to the library with you to choose books.

And while you’re at it, try keeping the topics of these books familiar. When children can relate to a story in some way or have a good reference point, they may be more engaged.

2. Ask ‘what will happen next?’ questions

Talk to your child as often as you can. Using language is as important as reading when it comes to developing literacy skills. Beyond asking “what will happen next” in a story (to work on comprehension), you can tell your own stories. Be sure to incorporate new vocabulary when and where it makes sense.

Over time, your tot may make the connection between the words you speak and the words they sees written on the pages of their favorite books.

3. Point out letter sounds and combinations

Words are all around us in the world. If your child is showing an interest, consider taking the time to point out words or at least different letter combinations on things like their favorite cereal box or the street signs outside your home. Don’t quiz them just yet. Approach it more like: “OH! Do you see that BIG word on the sign over there? It says s-t-o-p — STOP!”

Look at labels on clothing or words on birthday cards or billboards. Words don’t just appear on the pages of books, so eventually your child will see that language and reading is everywhere.

4. Make text a game

Once you’ve observed the words and letters all around your child’s environment, turn it into a game. You might ask them to identify the first letter on the grocery store sign. Or maybe they can identify numbers on the nutrition label of their favorite snack.

Keep it playful — but through this activity, you’ll slowly build your child’s text awareness and recognition.

After a while, you may see that your child initiates this activity or that they are starting to pick up on full words on their own.

5. Practice sight words

Flash cards aren’t necessarily a first choice activity at this age — they tend to promote memorization, which isn’t the key to reading. In fact, experts share that memorization is a “lower level skill” compared other more complex language skills kids gain through meaningful conversations.

That said, you may consider introducing sight words in other ways, like with phonetic reading blocks. The blocks offer practice with rhyming skills, too, all while allowing your child to twist and create new words.

Shop for phonetic reading blocks online.

6. Incorporate technology

There are certainly apps you may want to try that can help introduce or reinforce reading skills. Just keep in mind the American Academy of Pediatrics recommends avoiding digital media for children under 18 to 24 months and limiting screen time to no more than an hour daily for kids 2 to 5.

Homer is a phonics-based app that lets kids learn letter shapes, trace letters, learn new vocabulary, and listen to short stories. Other apps, like Epic, open up a huge digital library for reading age-appropriate books together on the go. There are even books that will read aloud to your child.

When looking at different apps, just remember that toddlers can’t learn to read using media alone. Instead, look at technology as a bonus to the other activities you do together with your child.

7. Play writing and tracing games

While your little one is probably just learning how to hold a crayon or pencil they may enjoy the chance to work on their “writing.” Spell out your child’s name or have them trace it on a piece of paper. This will help show your little one the relationship between reading and writing, reinforcing their reading skills.

Once you’ve mastered short words, you might go on to your child’s favorite words or perhaps working together to write short notes to family members or friends. Read the words together, allow them to dictate, and keep it fun.

If your little one isn’t into writing, you might try getting some alphabet magnets and forming words on your refrigerator. Or if you’re OK with a mess, try writing letters in sand or shaving cream in a tray with your index finger.

Shop for alphabet magnets online.

8. Label your world

Once you’ve gotten the hang of some favorite words, consider writing up some labels and placing them on objects in your home, like the refrigerator, couch, or kitchen table.

After your child has become more practiced with these labels, try collecting them together and then having your child place them in the correct location. Start with just a few words at first and then increase the number as your child becomes more familiar.

9. Sing songs

There are lots of songs that incorporate letters and spelling. And singing is a lighthearted way to work on literacy skills. You can start with the regular ABCs song.

Blogger Jodie Rodriguez at Growing Book by Book suggests songs like C is for Cookie, Elmo’s Rap Alphabet, and ABC the Alphabet Song for learning the alphabet.

She also suggests Down by the Bay for rhyming skills, Tongue Twisters for alliteration, and Apples and Bananas for phoneme substitution.

10. Engage in rhyming games

Rhyming is an excellent activity to develop literacy skills. If you’re in the car or waiting in line at a restaurant, try asking your child “Can you think of words that rhyme with bat?” And let them rattle off as many as they can. Or alternate rhyming words.

PBS Kids also maintains a short list of rhyming games children can do online that feature favorite characters, like Elmo, Martha, and Super Why.

Your child’s interests may guide your book choices, and that’s a good idea. Bring your tot to the library and let them choose books that they can relate to or that cover a subject they might enjoy.

The following books — many of which are recommended by librarians or beloved by parents — are appropriate for early readers and help reinforce things like learning the ABCs, writing, rhyming, and other literacy skills.

Reserve these books at the library, visit your local indie bookstore, or shop online:

• Chicka Chicka Boom Boom by Bill Martin Jr.
• ABC T-Rex by Bernard Most
• ABC See, Hear, Do: Learn to Read 55 Words by Stefanie Hohl
• T is for Tiger by Laura Watkins
• My First Words by DK
• Lola at the Library by Anna McQuinn
• I Will Not Read This Book by Cece Meng
• Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crockett Johnson
• How Rocket Learned to Read by Tad Hills
• Do Not Open this Book by Michaela Muntean
• Not a Box by Antoinette Portis
• Dr. Seuss’s Beginner Book Collection by Dr. Seuss
• My First Library: 10 Board Books for Kids by Wonder House Books

What to look for in books

You might be out in the library browsing around and wonder what is most appropriate to bring home for your tot. Here are some suggestions based on age.

Young toddlers (12 to 24 months)

• board books they can carry around
• books that feature young toddlers doing routine things
• good morning or goodnight books
• hello and goodbye books
• books with only a few words on each page
• books with rhymes and predictable text patterns
• animal books

Older toddlers (2 to 3 years)

• books that feature very simple stories
• books with rhymes that they can memorize
• wake-up and bedtime books
• hello and goodbye books
• alphabet and counting books
• animal and vehicle books
• books about daily routine
• books with favorite television show characters

Reading books and playing with letters and words can help set your toddler on a journey to becoming a lifelong reader, whether or not they start fully reading at a young age.

There’s so much more to literacy than reading chapter books — and building the skills to get there is half the magic of it all. Academics aside, be sure to soak in this special time with your little one and try to enjoy the process as much as the end result.

How to teach a child to read: important rules and effective techniques

October 26, 2022 Likbez Education

Teaching a preschooler to read without losing interest in books is real. Lifehacker has selected the best ways for responsible parents.

How to understand that it is time to teach a child to read

There are several signs of psychological readiness.

1. The child speaks fluently in sentences and understands the meaning of what is said.
2. The child understands directions: left-right, up-down. For learning to read, it is important that the baby can follow the text from left to right and from top to bottom.
3. The child distinguishes sounds (what speech therapists call developed phonemic hearing). Simply put, the baby will easily understand by ear where the house and the bow are, and where the tom and the hatch are.
4. Your child pronounces all the sounds and has no speech problems.

Natalia Zharikova

Speech therapist with 33 years of experience

A child with speech therapy problems does not hear and does not distinguish similar sounds. From here come errors with speech, and subsequently with reading, and even more often with writing. It is very difficult for a parent to identify violations on their own, so usually a teacher or a speech therapist can point this out to them.

How to teach your child to read

Be patient and follow these simple guidelines.

Set an example

In a family where there is a culture and tradition of reading, children themselves will reach for books. Read not because it is necessary and useful, but because it is a pleasure for you.

Read together and discuss

Read aloud to the child and then look at the pictures together, encouraging them to interact with the book: “Who is this picture? Can you show me the cat's ears? And who is that standing next to her?” Older children can be asked more difficult questions: “Why did he do this? What do you think will happen next?"

Don't learn the letters as they are called in the alphabet

Instead, help your child remember the sound the letter makes. For example, you show the letter "m" and say: "This is the letter m (not em )". If a child remembers the alphabetic names of letters ( em , es, ef and so on), it will be quite difficult for him to learn to read. Then, when he sees the word ra-ma in the book, he will try to pronounce er-a-um-a .

Go from simple to complex

Once the child has memorized a few letters (from 2 to 5) and the sounds they represent, move on to syllables. Let the words consisting of repeated syllables be the first: mum, dad, uncle, nanny . In this case, it is not necessary to break the syllable into separate sounds. Do not say: "These are the letters m and a , and together they read ma ". Immediately learn that the syllable is pronounced like ma , otherwise the baby may start to read letter by letter. After mastering simple combinations, move on to more complex ones: cat, zhu-k, house .

Help to understand the meaning of what they read

Do this when the child begins to slowly but surely reproduce words and whole sentences in syllables. For example, the kid read: "Mom washed the frame." Stop and ask: “What did you just read about?”. If he finds it difficult to answer, let him read the sentence again. And you ask more specific questions: “Who washed the frame? What did mom wash?

Show that letters are everywhere

Play a game. Let the child find the letters that surround him on the street and at home. These are the names of stores, and memos on information stands, and advertising on billboards, and even traffic light messages: it happens that the inscription “Go” lights up on green, and “Wait so many seconds” on red.

Play

And play again. Stack blocks with letters and syllables, make up words, ask your child to read you some kind of sign or inscription on the packaging in the store.

Natalia Zharikova

There are many exercises for memorizing letters. For example, circle the desired letter among a number of others, circle the correctly written among the incorrect ones, color or shade. You can also ask the child to tell what the letter looks like.

Use every opportunity to practice

Whether you are waiting in line at the clinic or driving somewhere, take out a book with pictures and short stories to accompany them and invite your child to read together.

Build on your success

Repeat familiar texts, look for familiar characters in new stories. Runaway Bunny is found both in "Teremka" and "Kolobok".

Do not force

This is perhaps the most important thing. Don't take away a child's childhood. Learning should not go through violence and tears.

What techniques to use to teach your child to read

Here are six popular, affordable and effective techniques. Choose one or try several and choose the one that interests your child the most.

1. ABCs and primers

Traditional, but the longest way. The difference between these books is that the alphabet fixes each letter with a mnemonic picture: a drum will be drawn on the page with B , and a spinning top next to Yu . The alphabet helps to remember letters and often interesting rhymes, but will not teach you how to read.

The primer consistently teaches the child to combine sounds into syllables, and syllables into words. This process is not easy and requires perseverance.

There are quite a lot of author's primers now. According to the books of Nadezhda Betenkova, Vseslav Goretsky, Dmitry Fonin, Natalya Pavlova, children can study both with their parents before school and in the first grade.

Parents agree that one of the most understandable methods for teaching preschoolers is Nadezhda Zhukova's primer. The author simply explains the most difficult thing for a child: how to turn letters into syllables, how to read ma-ma , and not start naming individual letters me-a-me-a .

2. Zaitsev's Cubes

If a child consistently masters letters and syllables while learning from an ABC book, then in 52 Zaitsev's Cubes he is given access to everything at once: a single letter or combinations of consonant and vowel, consonant and hard or soft sign.

The child effortlessly learns the differences between voiceless and voiced sounds, because the cubes with voiceless consonants are filled with wood, and the cubes with voiced consonants are filled with metal.

The cubes also differ in size. The large ones depict hard warehouses, the small ones - soft ones. The author of the technique explains this by the fact that when we pronounce to (hard warehouse), the mouth opens wide, nor (soft warehouse) - lips in a half smile.

The set includes tables with warehouses that the parent sings (yes, he doesn’t speak, but sings).

The child quickly masters warehouse reading with the help of cubes. But there are also disadvantages: he may begin to swallow endings and face difficulties already at school when parsing a word by composition.

3. "Skladushki" and "Teremki" by Vyacheslav Voskobovich

In "Skladushki" Vyacheslav Voskobovich reworked Zaitsev's idea: 21 cards show all the warehouses of the Russian language with nice thematic pictures. Included is a CD with songs, the texts of which go under each picture.

Folders are great for kids who like looking at pictures. Each of them is an occasion to discuss with the child where the kitten is, what the puppy is doing, where the beetle flew.

It is possible to teach a child with these cards from the age of three. At the same time, it should be noted that the author of the methodology himself does not consider it necessary to force early development.

"Teremki" by Voskobovich consist of 12 wooden cubes with consonants and 12 cardboard cubes with vowels. First, the child gets acquainted with the alphabet and tries with the help of parents to come up with words that begin with each of the letters.

Then it's time to study the syllables. In the tower with the letter M is embedded A - and the first syllable is ma . From several towers you can lay out words. Learning is based on play. So, when replacing the vowel , house will turn into smoke .

You can start playing tower blocks from the age of two. At the same time, parents will not be left alone with the cubes: the kit includes a manual with a detailed description of the methodology and game options.

4. Chaplygin's dynamic cubes

Evgeny Chaplygin's manual includes 10 cubes and 10 movable blocks. Each dynamic block consists of a pair - a consonant and a vowel. The task of the child is to twist the cubes and find a pair.

At the initial stage, as with any other method of learning to read in warehouses, the child makes the simplest words from repeating syllables: ma-ma, pa-pa, ba-ba . The involved motor skills help to quickly remember the shape of the letters, and the search for already familiar syllables turns into an exciting game. The cubes are accompanied by a manual describing the methodology and words that can be composed.

The optimal age for classes is 4-5 years. You can start earlier, but only in the game format.

5. Doman's cards

American doctor Glenn Doman suggests teaching children not individual letters or even syllables, but whole words. Parents name and show the child the words on the cards for 1-2 seconds. In this case, the baby is not required to repeat what he heard.

Classes start with 15 cards with the simplest concepts like females and males . Gradually, the number of words increases, those already learned leave the set, and the child begins to study phrases: for example, color + object, size + object.

How can one understand that a child has understood and memorized the visual image of a word, if the author of the methodology recommends starting classes from birth? Glenn Doman in "The Harmonious Development of the Child" strongly emphasizes that it is not necessary to arrange tests and checks for the child: kids do not like this and lose interest in classes.

It's better to remember 50 cards out of 100 than 10 out of 10.

Glenn Doman

But given that parents can't help but check, he advises the child to play the game if they want and are ready. For example, you can put a few cards and ask to bring one or point to it.

Today, psychologists, neurophysiologists and pediatricians agree that the Doman method is aimed not at teaching reading, but at mechanical memorization of visual images of words. The child turns out to be an object of learning and is almost deprived of the opportunity to learn something on his own.

It is also worth adding: in order to proceed to the stage of reading according to Doman, parents need to prepare cards with all (!) Words that are found in a particular book.

6. Montessori method

Montessori reading comes from the opposite: first we write and only then we read. Letters are the same pictures, so you first need to learn how to draw them and only then engage in pronunciation and reading. Children begin by tracing and shading the letters, and through this, they memorize their outline. When several vowels and consonants have been studied, they move on to the first simple words.

Much attention is paid to the tactile component, so children can literally touch the alphabet cut out of rough or velvety paper.

The value of the method lies in learning through play. So, you can put a rough letter and a plate of semolina in front of the child and offer to first circle the sign with your finger, and then repeat this on the semolina.

The difficulty for parents is to purchase or prepare a significant amount of handouts. But you can try to make cards with your own hands from cardboard and sandpaper.

What's the result

On the Internet and on posters advertising "educators", you will be offered ultra-modern methods of teaching your child to read at three, two years old or even from birth. But let's be realistic: a happy mother is needed a year, not developmental activities.

The authors of the methods as one insist that the most natural learning process for a child is through play, and not through classes in which the parent plays the role of a strict controller. Your main assistant in learning is the curiosity of the child himself.

Some children will study for six months and start reading at three, others have to wait a couple of years to learn in just a month. Focus on the interests of the child. If he likes books and pictures, then primers and Folders will come to the rescue. If he is a fidget, then cubes and the Montessori system are better suited.

In learning to read, everything is simple and complex at the same time. If your child often sees you with a book, you have a tradition of reading before bed, your chances of getting your baby interested in reading will increase significantly.

See also 🧐

• How to teach a child to keep promises
• How to teach a child to say the letter "r"
• How to teach a child to ride a bicycle
• How to teach a child to swim
• How to teach a child to write

How to teach a child to read: techniques from an experienced teacher

At what age should children start learning to read?

“But still, the starting point for the first steps in this matter should not be a specific age, but the child himself. There are children who are ready to master the skill as early as 3-4 years old, and there are those who "mature" closer to grade 1. Once I worked with a boy who could not read at 6.5 years old. He knew letters, individual syllables, but he could not read. As soon as we began to study, it became clear that he was absolutely ready for reading, in two months he began to read perfectly in syllables, ”said Speranskaya.

How to teach a child to read quickly and correctly

The first thing you need to teach your baby is the ability to correlate letters and sounds. “In no case should a child be taught the names of letters, as in the alphabet: “em”, “be”, “ve”. Otherwise, training is doomed to failure. The preschooler will try to apply new knowledge in practice. Instead of reading [mom], he will read [me-a-me-a]. You are tormented by retraining, ”the speech therapist warned.

Therefore, it is important to immediately give the child not the names of the letters, but the sounds they represent. Not [be], but [b], not [em], but [m]. If the consonant is softened by a vowel, then this should be reflected in the pronunciation: [t '], [m'], [v '], etc.

To help your child remember the graphic symbols of letters, make a letter with him from plasticine, lay it out using buttons, draw with your finger on a saucer with flour or semolina. Color the letters with pencils, draw with water markers on the side of the bathroom.

“At first it will seem to the child that all the letters are similar to each other. These actions will help you learn to distinguish between them faster, ”said the speech therapist.

As soon as the baby remembers the letters and sounds, you can move on to memorizing syllables.

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How to teach your child to join letters into syllables

“Connecting letters into syllables is like learning the multiplication table. You just need to remember these combinations of letters, ”the speech therapist explained.

Naya Speranskaya noted that most of the manuals offer to teach children to read exactly by syllables. When choosing, two nuances should be taken into account:

1. Books should have little text and a lot of pictures.

2. Words in them should not be divided into syllables using large spaces, hyphens, long vertical lines.

“All this creates visual difficulties in reading. It is difficult for a child to perceive such a word as something whole, it is difficult to “collect” it from different pieces. It is best if there are no extra spaces or other separating characters in the word, and syllables are highlighted with arcs directly below the word, ”the speech therapist explained.

According to Speranskaya, cubes with letters are also suitable for studying syllables - playing with them, the child will quickly remember the combinations.

Another way to gently help your child learn letters and syllables is to print them in large print on paper and hang them all over the apartment.

“Hang them on the refrigerator, on the board in the nursery, on the wall in the bathroom. When such leaflets are hung throughout the apartment, you can inadvertently return to them many times a day. Do you wash your hands? Read what is written next to the sink. Is the child waiting for you to give him lunch? Ask him to name which syllables are hanging on the refrigerator. Do a little, but as often as possible. Step by step, the child will learn the syllables, and then slowly begin to read,” the specialist said.

Speranskaya is sure that in this way the child will learn to read much faster than after daily classes, when parents seat the child at the table with the words: "Now we will study reading ..."

“If it is really difficult for you to give up such activities, then pay attention that the nervous system of preschoolers is not yet ripe for long and monotonous lessons. Children spend enormous efforts on the analysis of graphic symbols. Learning to read for them is like learning a very complex cipher. Therefore, it is necessary to observe clear timing in such classes. At 5.5 years old, children are able to hold attention for no more than 10 minutes, at 6.5 years old - 15 minutes. That's how long one lesson should last. And there should be no more than one such “lessons” a day, unless, of course, you want the child to lose motivation for learning even before school,” the speech therapist explained.

How to properly explain to a child how to divide words into syllables

When teaching a child to divide words into syllables, use a pencil. Mark syllables with a pencil using arcs.

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“Take the word dinosaur. It can be divided into three syllables: "di", "but", "zavr". The child will read the first syllables without difficulty, but it will be difficult for him to master the third. The kid cannot look at three or four letters at once. Therefore, I propose to teach to read not entirely by syllables, but by the so-called syllables. This is when we learn to read combinations of consonants and vowels, and we read the consonants separately. For example, we will read the word "dinosaur" like this: "di" "but" "for" "in" "p" The last two letters are read separately from "for". If you immediately teach a child to read by syllables, he will quickly master complex words and move on to fluent reading, ”the speech therapist is sure.

In a text, syllables can be denoted in much the same way as syllables. Vowel + consonant with the help of an arc, and a separate consonant with the help of a dot.

Naya Speranskaya gave parents a recommendation to memorize syllables/syllable fusions for as long as possible, and move on to texts only when the child suggests it himself.

“If a preschooler is not eager to read, then there is no need to put pressure on him. Automate syllables. Take your time. Learning should take place gradually, from simple to complex. The reading technique develops over time, ”added Speranskaya.

Another important clarification from the speech therapist: when the child begins to read words and then sentences, parents need to clarify the meaning of what they read.

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