Lily has mastered the ability to say, sign, and recognize all 26 letters. She started demonstrating interest in the letters about three weeks ago and in that time has managed to learn them all, in upper case.
We have a few different flash card sets, she has 12″ foam letters, and, as she has discovered, the world is FULL of letters everywhere you look!
She recognizes the Sign for the letter and tries to sign it back. Most of her signs for letters are not really obvious, unless you have context, but the letters O, A, T, R, L, and Z are her favorite and she can sign them well enough that anyone can determine what she has signed.
Why are we teaching her letters so young?
I have had a few people express that they feel we are pushing her too hard and that we just expect too much of such a young child. So, to address this concern, as it will surface again, it should be made clear that we do not push her. Lily demonstrates interest in something and that is our cue to focus a bit more on it than other things for a few minutes, hours, or days. She determines what she wants to learn, and she also decides how much energy is devoted to it. She also often determines just HOW we focus, as in what activities are included. Eventually we will begin to structure her learning times somewhat, but we are working to foster a mind that recognizes the possibility of learning ALL the time, not just when it’s time to, based upon a schedule. This concept is one that comes naturally to the child, the work in fostering of the concept is to for her father and me.
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She is amazingly observant of her world, speaking or signing objects, feelings, and ideas all the time about everything around her. Yes, all babies are the same, but most of those we are frequently in contact with cannot articulate nor communicate what is going on inside their head to the extent that Lily can. She notices things while we are driving around town that I have never seen even though I have gone down that same street 100 times.
So, why letters? Well, she started pointing them out when we would go to the store, read a book, get the mail, you name it.
I pulled out the cards that we play signing games with (they also happen to have letters on them), her foam letters – which she loves to throw at people, and we use the AquaDoodle and MagnaDoodle to guess what that letter is. Recently, we’ve begun writing together on the white board and on paper. She loves to have her hand held and guided around the medium with a crayon, marker, or whatever stylus is appropriate.
From letters to reading…
Yes, she is already learning letter sounds. This started a month or two ago, when one day she started to say MMMMMMM and pointed to the M on her book. From there she showed us the sounds for T, S, L, A, O, P, K… etc – my favorite is how she says X.
We started putting two letters together and then three, to spell words that she uses all the time. She isn’t “reading” the words, but she recognizes them, which at this stage proves quite interesting. We will continue to encourage letter sound combinations and phonics for the purpose of eventual “reading” skills, and will have the extra added benefit of her already having recognition of quite a few words.
She continues to prove that the stages and ages our society typically deems appropriate for educating is sadly delayed. We are collectively missing so much opportunity to utilize the natural window of our children’s development by sticking to the “proven” educational system that our society is tied to.
This blog is our effort to introduce our friends, family, and any who might be interested in understanding the benefits and value of teaching our littlest people how to speak through ASL (Sign).
