Learning Letters and Sounds

One of the first things you need to know about teaching your child to read is this: multisensory learning is best. This means that when you engage several of the five senses (sight, hearing, smell, taste, touch) you allow your child to create a connection to information that may otherwise be difficult for him/her to access.

Photo by Krista Lord @ thismummaslife.com

This photograph of a child working with a salt tray not only illustrates my point, but gives you a concrete idea that you can use when working with your own child. (For more information on how to make this DIY Salt Tray and Alphabet Cards, see This Mumma's Life ). You also can use a baking pan or plastic container for the same purpose.

Tracing letters in salt or sugar, or even on a piece of felt, fur, bumpy plastic or carpet, is a great idea. However, it's better if your child uses one or two fingers to trace the letters and actually feels what he's touching rather than using a cotton tipped swab or other implement. Before tracing the letter, have your child say the name of the letter out loud, followed by a key word that helps him remember the correct sound that the letter makes. Finally, have your child trace the letter as he says its sound. Here is an example using the letter "a" with key word "apple":

It's recommended that your child traces his letters in cursive. Here's a brief explanation of why: The continuity of the single starting point for cursive and the ability to keep the finger moving helps a person learn the letter kinesthetically (learning through movement, using "muscle memory"). It's also best if your child concentrates on tracing lowercase rather than uppercase letters first.

Rather than working on the entire alphabet, you can work on a few letters at a time. Choose letters by observing which letters your child already knows (check if your child knows both the letter's name and the sound it makes). Making your own flashcards by finger painting with your child is a good tactile way to go through the alphabet together before tracing, checking your child's knowledge without having him feel like it's a test.

Photo by Krista Lord @ thismummaslife.com

Printing the letters on your flashcards is fine because your child is learning to read print rather than cursive. As I explained earlier, it can be beneficial to teach your child to trace the letters in cursive and not worry about printing. However, many students will have to print in school and you might want to work on it. Just remember that dyslexic students may have more trouble with reversing letters and forming the letters incorrectly when printing their letters.

If you want to teach your child to print before using cursive for tracing, you must make sure that your child is forming the letters correctly. Too many children have been taught to print by tracing words on worksheets. My own son ended up forming his letters wrong because his teachers did this. He starts his letters at the bottom and goes up. This is incorrect. You must start at the top and go down. Children can practice going from the top down by drawing "blades of grass" on a piece of paper, which are just straight lines starting from the top and going down into the ground. Here is a link to an excellent guide to teaching your child to print: Correct Letter Formation

You also want to be careful about how you model the sounds for your child. You don't want to say "'B' says 'buh'." You want to clip the sound so that he only hears the true sound of the letter B. Try saying the key word "bat." Then try to say it without the "at" added to it.

Unfortunately, many teachers and even Orton-Gillingham trained tutors make this mistake. The letter R is especially difficult. R does not say "er" or "ruh", it says "r" as in the word race without the "ace".

You can search YouTube for "Orton Gillingham" and find many good lessons modeled for you, but you may also see a few misleading ones. Here is a link that shows you how a tutor works with her students: Orton Gillingham 3 part drill This tutor does a good job although she is having the student trace the letter three times (when saying the letter's name, its key word, and its sound). It is best to trace only the letter when saying its sound.

If you have any questions or want to add anything to this discussion, please comment below. Thanks!