Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Phonics for the very young

I feel like such a nit picker sometimes but DS15mons has been trying to learn how to speak properly, he loves copying us and has to do everything exactly the same. So I'm parroting over & over again the same words, I know I'm not supposed to correct him when he tries to speak but he's really trying. With his favourite words like Tractor (we live rurally), he spent 30 minutes one day just going "ac" "ac" "ac". Of course it took me forever to figure out what he was doing until he came out with "TRACTOR!" (he was practising the "ac" part which he couldn't say before then).

He's lost his Ts again and is getting frustrated saying "ac or" "ac or" over and over when he seems them go by.

Anyone have suggestions for Phonics games?

Have you tried Starfall.com?

Not sure if you want to resort to screen time but the Leap Frog DVD- "Letter Factory" is cute.

It sounds like it is a developmentally normal place for him to be and I'd try to accept that. I'd suggest being very low key and calmly redirecting as long as he will accept it. "Is it in this room?" "Will you should me please?" might be helpful phrases.

Mr W (19mos) loves starfall. We go through all the alphabet several times a week. Its a good site.

DS5.5 loved this when he was about 1 or 2. It's definitely beneficial to a visual learner.

I'm trying really hard not to push him because he doesn't say very many words clearly but our non-verbal communication is excellent . If he wants juice he gets me a cup, if he's hungry, well he walks right over to the counter and grabs the bread (He's pretty tall for 15 months!). He knows words like "ou side" and can turn the TV on and climb pretty much anywhere he wants to go.

He just seems to loose words frequently and get them all jumbled up, I want some fun games so he can stop frustrating himself . I have no problem with him saying thing like "ac or" (tractor) because I understand him perfectly and we have entire conversations no one else understands all the time . It's just Lucas who seems to get really annoying and will repeat the word over and over again until he can say it just like mommy. He's also have a really hard time with the new cat Peaches, and can't pronounce her name at all, but he tries! Every time he sees her "Hi P....". (It comes out like "Pea Hea S" I'm just waiting for him to start practising the "ch" "ch" "ch")

I haven't tried Starfall yet but I definitely will. I did borrow a "Your Baby Can Read" dvd from a friend, he doesn't have the attention span to listen to it for long, but really enjoys the slow word pronunciation.

The other day he told me "Yea, Buss Teeet", man is he cute!! but the frustrating thing for me is that he says things like "Fishy" and "Ma ison" (Madison our dog) and "Hi Kitty!" and "Daddy! Da da da Daddy!" but no Mommy, he doesn't even try *sniff*

I think it is possible that phonics resources aimed at teaching a child to read could actually make this worse because they model breaking words don't into little parts in a way that isn't modeling good speech. I think it may encourage him to fixate on the parts his mouth isn't ready to make yet. I would encourage him to show you, sign, etc. From the words you mentioned it sounds like he's actually got a fair amount of speech for his age.

I don't know what to tell you guys, I haven't been encouraging him to practise at all - it's DS that's doing it, all on his own. If he says "ac or" I say "Yes honey, that's right Tractor, very good!" then he starts with the "T, T, T... Trac or".

I just want to encourage him I have the same concerns about impeding his speech, but if he's going to do it anyway he might as well be making the right sounds.

He LOVED the starfall website, great because it's really rainy again today! We got through quite a few books before he got bored (/needed to go run around & cause trouble) once we sorted out who was going to control the mouse! (He LOVES to move it around but doesn't have very good aim yet).

He loved the letters too but got bored of those guys fairly quickly. DS is just not much for sitting down and playing quiet games!

Play "I Spy" with him!

Tell him you spy something that begins with this letter or that one or is this color... or has the "ac" sound or begins with the "tr" sound...

have him find it in the room, or word it so he goes to find you something in the house with that letter, color or sound, and point it out or bring it back to you. Both my kids really love these kind of games b/c they try to outdo each other!