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Are learning Sight words really bad for a child?

My 2.5 year old has been trying to sound out words phonetically for months but he also learned like a hundred or so words by sight.

I read some posts about Dolce and sight words being a problem.
I was going to get him some DVD's to help him out of both methods.

Any thoughts?

I don't see why they would be. Everyone who can read English has sight words.

My son taught himself to read at 2 and I never heard him sound out a word. I still don't really know how he reads as he will pronounce any word he sees perfectly even if he's never seen it before or have a clue what it means.


I wouldn't worry about it if I was you. We all have some sight words after all. With english you have to with all of the goofy rules!

I don't see how you can learn any written language without sight words.

Mr W picked up a back of bugles yesterday and said, "buggles" and we corrected him with "byoogles" - that is just the way it is.

I think part of his "Secret Reader" thing is the difficulty of figuring out the pronunciation of printed words.

English is not so bad as other languages. But all are bad.

Sight words are not bad. My son is severely dyslexic and although his tutor spends most of the time teaching him the sound symbol relationship, word patterns and otherwise how to break the code, she also spends time using the Dolch word and phrase lists.

Sight words are the most frequent words that readers come across and it is very important to be able to recognize them instantly and accuratly. Many of the sight words are "rule breakers" or don't play fair and do not follow the common word patterns. Therefore, they cannot be sounded out and must be learned.

That said, most research support the use of phonetic reading programs. At least 80% of the English language follows predictable rules. It is far easier to learn the rules, than to sight read each individual word in the English language.

The National reading panel has conducted signifcant research and published many papers about best practices for reading instruction. Here is a good link to get you started: http://www.nationalreadingpanel.org/Publications/researchread.htm

In addition, Reading Rockets is a great website for pre and beginning readers: http://www.readingrockets.org/

The best thing you can do with a young child is to help develop phomemic awareness - This is the foundation for future reading skills including phonics. http://www.readingrockets.org/atoz/phonemic_awareness
Make sure you are enjoying poetry, nursery rhymes and reading to your child daily. When you are out and about, begin to point out logos, signs and numbers. This helps to develop the abstract concept that print has meaning. To the extent that your child enjoys letter play and word play, have fun with it. WRite letters in trays filled with sand, with a paint brush and water on the side walk, with shaving cream in the bath tub. Above all, make it fun and shut down the activity at the first sign of frustration.

I read this online and thought it was funny. I only clipped part of the poem. Warning- boring drivel ahead. I'm guessing you're asking about spontaneous sight reading, but "dolche sight words" is a list of like 250 of the most commonly used English words. Sight readers are usually great at reading and spelling the bigger more interesting words, but usually need to practice with the little common sight words. (doesn't everybody spell can "cna"?
There's a sight-words list on this page under the resources link:
http://www.ladybird.co.uk/ladybirdworldwide/keywords.html

I can assure you that DS7 is just fine He too knew hundreds of sight words when he was 2.5. Not only did he recognized them but he also enjoyed typing them on the computer. I too never heard him sound out a single word.

Growing up in the 70s, I was taught reading entirely with sight words. The phonetic alphabet was completely out of vogue in our part of the world.
Probably not the brightest idea for teaching reading that was ever 'floated', but no latsign (just kidding) damage:)

LOL @ lulu. (Offtopic, but how's that for alliteration?)

Phore ah langwaj that braykes the roolz az offen az Englysh duz, lerning cumpleetlee buy funeticks iz impossibuhl.

As others have said, we all have sight words whether we were taught that way or not - none of us have to decode the word "cat" when we see it as adults (I hope). I think learning whole words from the start is essential.