Learning the alphabet...what age?

TheMalleys · June 2009

DD is 19 months old, and for the past month or so, she has become very interested in the alphabet. We have been encouraging it, so she can recognize and say about 23 letters. I was trying to look up on what the "appropriate age" was for them to learn the letters and there is such a wide range of "normal", but most say between 2-6. So is this normal, or is my DD some sort of baby einstein

? Just wondering.

Erika6504 · June 2009

DD knows "C" and that's it. I think it depends on how much time you spend. She is interested in the alphabet but not enough to sit still and learn it.

KristinKD · June 2009

Confused

April37 · June 2009

DD can say the entire alphabet .. she knew it before she was two. But, she doesn't have letter recognition yet.

punkfiction · June 2009

memorizing the alphabet is normal for kids 1.5-3 years old. but who cares if they don't know what the letters really mean? same with counting IMO. i am not impressed when kids under 2 spat off 1-10. but if they can actually COUNT things, then thats where you know they are learning something.

//just my opinion of course.

dnagal · June 2009

I think there's a difference between knowing the alphabet letters and putting them into context. They've been singing the alphabet song at the daycare to the newborns, and most of the kids can sing the whole song themselves by 2, and may or may not be able to identify specific letters on flash cards. But generally, answering questions like: What letter does "Dog" start with? or what is a word that starts with "B"? doesn't come until later.

MamaNikki · June 2009

I think it was around 19 months that my DS starting getting really interested in the alphabet too. E's and F's especially. He wanted us to write them over and over and over again. We started writing other letters because we were getting tired of writing just E's and F's for him all the time at his request. That's how he started learning the other letters. I think he knew the whole alphabet and numbers 1 thru 10 by the time he was 22 months.

roseroseroseroserose · June 2009

That's great that you are fostering her love for letters. I get some 4 year olds that don't know theetters in their name

like punk said, you can start saying B says b like ball.

marriedchick06 · June 2009

StacieErin:
That's great that you are fostering her love for letters. I get some 4 year olds that don't know theetters in their name :/like punk said, you can start saying B says b like ball.

ditto?

moroccojade · June 2009

We sing the song once in a blue moon.... But haven't concentrated on this.

So... I just asked DD if she knew the alphabet. She said "Yes." So I said, ok, show me.

She sang the song.... I guess that counts!?? lol.

I can't really answer your question of 'what age'. She might have known it for months now and I wouldn't have known till this very moment. Am I a terrible mother?

Read2Me · June 2009

I vote baby Einstein! ?:) ?My daughter is the same way and of course, I think she's brilliant!?

Eva has just started noticing letters other than the ones in her name (she knew those when she was 14 months- she went through a stage where she was obsessed with having us write her name). ?Now she knows about 10 letters (some upper case, some lower, some both) and has been trying to sing the alphabet song. ?Her favorite book right now is Chicka Chicka Boom Boom so she is exposed to letters a lot with all the repeated readings. ?I am thrilled that she is so interested in letters, numbers and books. ?I used to be a literacy specialist and my area of focus was early literacy acquisition so it absolutely fascinates me how children learn and I love that she is so into learning as most of the children I worked with came into school with little to no literacy experiences and had a lot of ground to catch up.

DevonPow · June 2009

From what I see, it is all over the place and totally depends on when your DC takes an interest - it is not a matter of intelligence, etc. DS also showed an interest early on - he could sing the ABCs well before 2 (But I am sure he did not know what it meant - he had just memorized a song), and by a little over two years old could identiy all upper case letters and a handful of lower case. Two of his friends could identify all upper case AND lower case before two (both girls).

He knows this purely because he became interested for some reason and wanted to learn them, he isn't a genius and other kids aren't behind if they don't know it. It is just a random thing he decided to like and memorize.

Now, if he could figure out phonics and begin spelling and sounding out words, THEN I will think he is a genius

DevonPow · June 2009

punkfiction:

memorizing the alphabet is normal for kids 1.5-3 years old. but who cares if they don't know what the letters really mean? same with counting IMO. i am not impressed when kids under 2 spat off 1-10. but if they can actually COUNT things, then thats where you know they are learning something.

//just my opinion of course.

I agree with this - DS can "count" to 20 (well, he says twenty-teen - lol), but he only understands the concept of numbers up until 2. There is a difference between memorization and comprehension.

TheMalleys · June 2009

Thanks for the responses. DD doesn't know that alphabet song, we just started singing it to her regularly. But you can point to letters on a t-shirt, or letter in a book and say, "what letter?" and she will repsond with "A", or "G" or whatever the correct letter is upper case in random order. She is starting to learn the sounds too, she'll go "A". "ahaha...apple". Pretty cool how they learn things so fast!

wellfleet04 · June 2009

Kate could identify all her upper case letters by 19 months, and most of her lower case letters by 20 months. She also knew the numbers 1-10 and how to count to 4 (meaning she knew if she was holding 1, 2, 3 or 4 things) before 2. She is 26 months now and knows that letters make up words--she'll point to words and ask us "what does this say?". But I agree with Devon, this is no indication of her geniusness, only an indication that she took an early interest in the alphabet and decided to memorize it.

kada626 · June 2009

Our dd can mostly sing the abc's(we have to sing along with her). She can recognize both upper & lower case letters. We are actually working on reading & spelling words right now.

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