How many letters does your two year old recognize?

emmasue18

If we could just get K (he calls it X), V, and W we'd have them all. DS is 25 months old and my family and friends are making me feel like he's really behind. But when I taught 4 year old preschool, the kids weren't expected to know the letters until the end of that year. But do they generally know them this early? If I remember right, only 50% of my class knew any of letters most of the time. I didn't work in the best area though, maybe that has something to do with it?

emmasue18

And those are just capital. We have even started lowercase. Maybe I am sucking at this. lol

mrsolsenk12

At 25 months, he knew maybe 1/2 of them. Now at almost 31 months he knows all of them and the sounds to them.  When we were at our 2 1/2 year pedi visit our pedi said that knowing all capital letters is a 3 year old milestone so i wouldnt worry. I also used to teach preschool and not all kids who started at 3 knew all of them especially lowercases. (my ds knows most of thr lowercases but mixes up a fee of them).

Anne0784

Why in the world does your just turned 2 year old need to know all of his letters?!  He's clearly not "behind" so I'd ignore your family.

 

emmasue18

Anne0784:

Why in the world does your just turned 2 year old need to know all of his letters?!  He's clearly not "behind" so I'd ignore your family.

 

I love you! Ha ha. He isn't the biggest talker, so they already think something is wrong with him. I personally don't, but I am a huge believer that kids do things at different paces and constantly drilling him and making him feel bad about it is stupid and gets us no where. The pediatrician said as long as he know 60+ words and is starting to say two-word phrases--he's fine. He says thank you, bye bye, hi Dada. So the ped cleared him for "normal" speech development. But we didn't talk about letters.

leslie13510

If a barely-just-turned-2yo knowing 23 out of 26 capital letters is "behind," then I'd hate to know what your family's and friends' standards are for anything else.  Good grief.  He's barely 2! 

And because you asked, I think DS knew all of his capital letters at that point, but he was really really into learning things like that, and big on memory type activities.  DD knew maybe 8-10 letters then, because she just didn't give a shiit, and would rather have been playing dolls.  Which I let her.  Because she was barely 2, and there was no reason that she needed to know her alphabet.  Just in the last few months or so has she really taken an interest in learning things like letters, numbers bigger than 10, and other memory tasks like that, and since then she's quickly learned all of her letters among other things.

staceyk110

Well, my DS must be super behind! He know maybe 5 or 6. We haven't really practiced at all, it's really just from playing with the letters on the fridge and singing the ABC song.  

kms34

Depending on the day maybe 6 or 7.  They are working on letters at daycare so I'm not worried.  He'll point them out on paper here and there but not consistently.  He also doesn't know all his numbers 1-10.  6 and 10 trip him up every time. 

I'm not worried in the least.  He's only 28 months and has a long time before preschool.  He'll get there.  Right now I'm letting him be 2

jenn_darrin1515

lol.  my girls are 2.5 and they don't know a single letter.  your fam would think my kids were in need of an educational intervention!  seriously...he's 2.

emberlee3

I haven't counted, and I don't try to work on it, but I think he knows 8 or 10.  Mainly from playing with foam bath letters.  He's about as interested in letters as he is in potty training, and guess which one matters to me more?

darlawoods

Hi all! Our DD will be 2 next Saturday, and knows about 5-6 letters, but knows the sounds to a lot of them, thanks to leap frog letter factory

I don't think you DS is behind at all!  I also agree with you in the fact that kids learn at their own pace. 

*sallymad*

Behind?? lol my almost 3 year old can only recognize a few letters. Mostly G and E (because that starts with her name and her sister's name) and O. 

Not worried here, she's got a great vocabulary. 

bobbs420

Um, believe it or not, all of them He just turned 2 on Monday, and he has known them all for about 2 months. I knew he recognized alot of them, but I had no clue until I tested him one day, just out of curiosity, and he knew them all. I was pretty surprised. These are capital letters, not lowercase. He really likes letters though

AliW220

None!!! He recognized that letters are on things, but can't pick them out.  It's something we're trying to work on.

He doesn't have alot of interest in letters unless it's singing ABC's. He loooves singing.  We're trying to get him potty trained before LO arrives... which is never going to happen... so letters have taken a back seat for now.

GoombaGirl_79

I really don't think your LO is behind! All toddlers are different and it sounds like he knows a lot any way :-D

DS is...weirdly interested in letters and numbers. I say weirdly interested because he absolutely has to point out letters or numbers any time he sees them. I was a little worried about an ASD for a bit but no, he just loves them. He's 27 months and he knows/recognizes all the capital letters in the alphabet plus about 4 words (his name, "open", "go" and "mommy"). He can also count to about 16; 20 if he has help. But potty training? Yeah right fat chance..he has NO interest there. Getting dressed/undressed? No thank you.  So every toddler just has their areas of interest I think!

shellybell15

emmasue18:

Anne0784:

Why in the world does your just turned 2 year old need to know all of his letters?!  He's clearly not "behind" so I'd ignore your family.

 

I love you! Ha ha. He isn't the biggest talker, so they already think something is wrong with him. I personally don't, but I am a huge believer that kids do things at different paces and constantly drilling him and making him feel bad about it is stupid and gets us no where. The pediatrician said as long as he know 60+ words and is starting to say two-word phrases--he's fine. He says thank you, bye bye, hi Dada. So the ped cleared him for "normal" speech development. But we didn't talk about letters.

DS is the exact same...doesn't talk very much (I've been debating EI), but he really took to learning letters for some reason. He says all except W, R, and X (he is the opposite of your son and calls it K). This actually gave me some hope when I was feeling down about his talking being behind.

Doylesa

Mine doesn't know any letters. He really hasn't showed any interest. He'd much rather point out differences between tractors, dump trucks, steam rollers, etc.

saturdaynightdoubletree

I honestly have no idea. I know she knows "I" and "M" because her and her brother's names start with those letters. I'm a teacher, and totally not worried. At this age kids take interest in different things and are learning so much. She sings ABC's no problem, memory reads 10+ books, counts to 20, knows a ton of songs, and talks better than I do. I'm sure she's advance in some things, in the middle in some things, and behind in some things - that's just the way it goes. It's hard not to compare kids or judge what they know, but don't push it... let LO learn at his/her own pace and interest, just be a positive facilitator of learning activities.

nndidiamaka

DS knows all of them, but does occasionally get tripped up by X and K.  He's also starting to know some of the sounds (B, D, and H are his favorites right now), which I think is because of his "My Own Leaptop" that he's been playing with since his first birthday.  We haven't even looked at lowercase yet. He also thinks it's fun to spell... which usually goes something like this... "W-O-O-M-E-T-P-P-O spells Wal-Mart!"

But, like others have said, he has no interest in other areas -- dressing/undressing, potty training, and even eating with a spoon/fork.  Sure, he'll try for a couple bites, but then he holds the utensil in his left hand while shoving the food in his mouth with his right hand. 

Don't worry about what everyone else thinks.  Your LO sounds just fine.

frenziedmomma

I think your family's expectations are way off. DS knows two capital letters, B and O. That's it. Of course there will always be kids that excel at one thing or another including letter recognition but that is not the norm.

At this age, I think there is more of a chance of having negative results from setting the bar too high.

KathrynMD

Anne0784:

Why in the world does your just turned 2 year old need to know all of his letters?!  He's clearly not "behind" so I'd ignore your family.

 

ditto

KathrynMD

My almost 3 yo knows maybe . .  3 letters?  She's just started learning letters this September and they are working on teaching the kids to recognize their names.  She recognizes all/most letters now, but doesn't call them the right name - so an X will be a W, L, G, but she definitely calls it a letter.  I don't think there's any reason to expect a 2 or 3 yo to know the alphabet.  Its a nice bonus, but it doesn't have any bearing on future success/achievement.  Just keep reading to your LO and exploring the world together.

RHitch

At 2 yo my DD knew all 26 upper case letters, and about 1/2 of the lower case letters. Now at the age of 3, she knows all of her upper and lower case letters, all of the letter sounds, and she is beginning to read small words. Her PS teacher said she is very advanced in this area, and most kids at her age are not expected to know all of this.  Your child is not behind at all.  In fact, I think he's doing great!