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Toddlers: 12 - 24 Months
groovygrl
member
Q about ABCs and 123s between 18 & 24 months.
groovygrl
member
How old is LO?
Can s/he recognize any letters on sight & say them? If so, how many?
Can s/he count verbally? Up to what number?
Does anyone know the norms for these things? It seems kids are all over the board w/ this stuff, there is clearly a lot of variation but I thought I'd see on here...
This discussion has been closed.
Re: Q about ABCs and 123s between 18 & 24 months.
DD is 22 months
She can say most of the alphabet from memory (she skips the same 5-6 letters every time, haha) but as far as recognizing the letters written down, she can only do that from A-G so far.
She can count up to 15 and recognizes the written numbers up to ten.
Not sure what the norm is, but I know that only some of her friends from playgroup are doing this at this age. Seems like (at least in this group of kids) the girls get it first.
Tegan will count "one, two", but I'm not sure she completely grasps the concept of counting. She really does like to hear me count and the other day she pointed to the number 1 in a book and said "one", but I don't know if it was just a fluke or if she truly recognizes the number one.
She doesn't seem to know any letters, but is recently enjoying the "ABC Song" so I sing it several times a day. My mom also bought her some letters and numbers that go in the bath tub and stick to the wall, so we "practice" letters and numbers every evening at bath time.
I'll answer my own post I guess!
How old is LO? 23 months
Can s/he recognize any letters on sight & say them? If so, how many?
DD- she can label/recognize about 20-22 of the 26. She tries to sing the song but skips over the same parts each time
DS- can label/recognize about 16-18 of the 26. he does not try to sing the song or say his abcs.
Can s/he count verbally? Up to what number?
without my help/cues, DD can count to 10 and DS to 4. I really haven't done much with numbers- all their books about numbers &counting stop at 10 and I haven't bothered going past that. I also haven't really tried to see how much they recognize the written numbers. The letters are everywhere (puzzles, magnets, bath toys, etc), not so much iwth numbers at our house, I think that is why they are familiar with letters?
DD is 21 months.
She can say and recognize all 26 letters. She doesn't really sing the song yet.
She can count and recognize numbers up to 10. She can say up to 13, but 11,12,13 are a little difficult at times. Depends on her mood.
I have no clue about the norms...sorry!
I've taught K and 1st grade for the last 13 years.... it is completely ridiculous to start teaching your child the ABCs at 18 months - 24 months... it will NOT give him/her any advantage when he/she gets to kindergarten. There are no "NORMS" for toddlers. Let your baby be a baby.
Sure.. you can count while you walk up steps.. or pick up your little one.. 1,2,3... but you should NOT drill/kill your kid into learning how to count or say the alphabet. Sure.. sing the alphabet song.. but do LOTS of nursery rhymes, chants and other songs... rhyming and playing with sounds is a much better indicator of how a child eventually learns to read... it is called "phonemic awareness"... google it...tongue twisters.. you name it... help your child WAY more than having them learn isolated letters which are so abstract and mean nothing to them. READ with you child.. point to the pictures in books.. develop sophisticated vocabulary.... TALK to your child.. narrate his/her day.. ask questions about what he/she is doing....THIS is what will help your child once he/she gets to school.
When he/she is maybe 4 or so... in preschool.. THEN you can start playing with magnetic letters and sounds....start writing his/her name...using playdough.. ;paint... etc... developing fine motor skills in his/her hands.
Sorry.. I just work in a district where parents are CRAZY about getting their kid ahead.. when they just need to be kids.
DD knows the alphabet from the song and from her favorite book.
Likewise, she picked up counting because we count things. That's it.
The OP said absolutely nothing about being worried about 'getting her kids ahead in school', or being worried about anything, actually, she just wanted to know if anyone knew the norms.
I get that where you live, people may drill things into their kids. But your post seems very presumptuous. I have never drilled any information into her - all I have done is encourage her curiosity.
You have no reason to assume that anyone here isn't 'letting their kid be a kid.'
She was just wondering. Calm down.
Since all the other posters seem to have children a little more advanced in this I will give my answer. DS is 22 months. The only letters I've notice he recognizes are D, P, T, and M. Though he doesn't say "M" he says "momma" when he sees the letter. He has foam letters in the bath and he likes to pull them all out and have me tell him what each one his. He likes when I sing the alphabet song, but shows no interest in trying to sing it.
As far as numbers, I don't think he recognizes any. He doesn't try to count. And the only number I have heard him say is two, when you ask how old he is going to be. And really he is just repeating me, he doesn't really understand what it means.
Uhhhh THANK YOU SharonWant...(sorry can't see your whole name). If I had known someone was going to go off on me for something I never even stated I wouldn't have bothered posting. I never said I was trying to get them ahead in school or any such thing, I was really just curious as to what other kids were doing in terms of letters & numbers.
We sing songs, do nursery rhymes, play w/ a kajillion kinds of puzzles and toys & pretend and dressup, etc...... but we read approximately 20-25 books a NIGHT (like in one hour) with our kids b/c they are obsessed with books- we don't suggest it, they bring them to us, over & over (and frankly, I could do with a little less book reading some nights...). Therefore, they have picked things up from their alphabet books & other books. Like I said, we don't have much with numbers and I don't really talk about numbers so that is why I think they've picked up on the alphabet & not really numbers so much. When they pull the letters off the fridge or out of the bath I say them and if they can say them I encourage it, I don't think that is drilling them or forcing it? I also don't think they can read or anything, they just know what the visual looks like of the letter. I do make the sound of the letter and give examples of words that start with that letter when we're playing so they start to get that the letters are associated with words. It isn't a matter of drilling them or quizzing them at all. They both know M is for Mommy, D is for Daddy, the same with the first letters of their names & G is for Gigi (their grandmother). So clearly there is a little comprehension but I"m not sitting down & sounding out words expecting them to read or something.
Geez PP, I get where you're coming from with seeing parents who are fixated on their kid being the smartest in the kindergarten class or whatever but my post never even touched that.
How old is LO? 22 months
Can s/he recognize any letters on sight & say them? If so, how many? ---- Yes, he knows/recognizes all upper and lowercase letters, says them and spells any word he sees.
Can s/he count verbally? Up to what number? --- Yes, Up to 40 something (not kidding, although he says twentyten instead of 30) now in English, up to 10 in the other two languages we speak (Italian and Albanian)
Does anyone know the norms for these things? It seems kids are all over the board w/ this stuff, there is clearly a lot of variation but I thought I'd see on here... --- I have no idea what the norm is, children learn at different paces.
ETA: FTR, I have not been teaching DS these things, he picks them up really quickly and is thirsty to learn. Most of what he knows is in English, which is ridiculous, since we don't speak English in the house (main language is Italian and I speak Albanian when I am alone with DS).
We love you baby - m/c - 09/10/2011
Nothing wrong if you do think they can read. DS has sounded out several words - "STOP" and "TRUCK" come to mind right now. His daycare is always in awe of it. I started reading simple books at 2.5 and my parents did not push me. I loved books and they encouraged it. I'm thrilled my DS is the same way! Like you, we read sooo many books each night and all day every day we are with him full days. He craves it!
I note, however, that he does not call the letters by their names. He knows 25 (he just can't get Q!) but he calls them by their phonetic sounds. I think it is adorable!
We love you baby - m/c - 09/10/2011
Sorry I'm still fixated on this crazy beratement. My daughter requests the ABC song as one of her bedtime songs. Over & over. So I sing it and of course over time she tries to sing along b/c she hears me sing it & also b/c her leapfrog table sings it, and Elmo sings it and whatever else. I don't care if she can sing it, though I do think it is darn cute when she tries.
& another thing here, who said anything about writing? I'm psyched my kid can hold the crayon & scribble and sometimes ooohhhhh!!! she makes a round-ish sort of shape. I bet there are people on here whose kids can draw/scribble way better than mine can, does that mean they're drilling drawing into their kid or maybe their kid just enjoys drawing & coloring and happens to be a little better than average.
Again, I get this is clearly a sore spot for you. But seriously. You make it sound like if a kid knows letters before age 2 the parent must not read to or talk to them and just sits around with flashcards quizzing their kid all day.
My son also requests ABCs or shapes or colors or anything he is set on in that particular moment, for me to say over and over at bedtime. I don't sit with him for hours to teach him things but I can't deny him the opportunity to learn when he clearly asks to. It's not all black and white. I don't think we should kill a child's interest to learn, just like we shouldn't force them to sit and learn if they are not interested at all. I do believe that children need to be children and play before they get to the part in life where responsibilities come - it is important that they enjoy being careless... but they have the right choose. My son finds letters/shapes/colors/numbers/anything to be a game, he has fun learning. Who am I to stop him and tell him "no, now you go play with some dirt instead!"?
How old is LO? 21 mos.
Can s/he recognize any letters on sight & say them? If so, how many? Yes, I'd say 1/2
Can s/he count verbally? Up to what number? 1-5 and then 14 & 16 (no idea why). He can SAY 1-5, he has no idea what they represent past 2.
Does anyone know the norms for these things? It seems kids are all over the board w/ this stuff, there is clearly a lot of variation but I thought I'd see on here... no norm, all over the map, my kid sits and works on letters at the fridge and his little laptop for :10 at a time, he loves letters. Calls them out on signs, matches them up ("same same") etc. But he could care less about toys cars, so ....
How old is LO? 20 months
Can s/he recognize any letters on sight & say them? If so, how many? Yes, all of them. He has been able to do this since around 14-15 months. He doesn't sing the ABC song but he can say the entire alphabet. With regard to the PP's comments about drilling a baby to learn these things, I can assure you that we did not. He was obsessed with the book Brainy Baby ABC and a Melissa & Doug alphabet train puzzle. At first, he pointed to each letter and "asked" (i.e. pointed to it and said "eh?") what it was. To be honest, DH and I got tired of it. But, he did learn it quickly and he can recognize letters when they are upside down, backwards and in different fonts also.
Can s/he count verbally? Up to what number? Yes, up to 11.
Does anyone know the norms for these things? It seems kids are all over the board w/ this stuff, there is clearly a lot of variation but I thought I'd see on here... I don't know what the norm is. I do think that it isn't too unusual for an 18-24 month old of educated parents that is exposed to books, letters, & numbers to know this stuff. That being said, I don't think it's a concern if an 18-24 month old does not know this stuff.
Ty for sharing this.
I agree. We're much more interested in playing outside, dancing, playing with silks, etc., than drilling the alphabet into our 18mo old. we also don't let her watch any tv, and i know a lot of the kids shows focus on letters and numbers.
I could kiss you on the mouth.
Parents need to chill out on the whole pound letters and numbers into their kid's head, thing. It doesn't make you a better parent. It doesn't make your kid smarter. It won't mean your kid will be more advanced than the other kids when it comes to kindergarten.
I don't think anyone on here was debating this point or saying their kid was going to excel in school b/c they know or don't know abcs. I was just curious about what other kids in the same age range did in terms of this.
I have no idea what is typical. We read to DS all the time, and incorporate counting into everyday activities. I think learning just occurs naturally at this age, and each child has their own pace. There are no standardized tests to worry about for a few more years!
ETA: oh, I just looked at the PPs. FTR, DS is 23 months and can't sing his abcs, but he tries. He counts verbally up to 11, but for counting objects, he can only handle 2 or 3.
Groovygrl.. I wasn't even going to respond ... bc I didn't mean to offend you with my post or make you feel berated, but with two masters degrees in education (one being in literacy) and 13 years experience, I kind of feel I know what I am talking about in terms of child development.. and yes it is a sore spot bc of where I work... but I don't think you're getting the point..
By asking for "norms" you are asking for information to compare your baby to other babies... to see what is "normal".. for toddlers.. there are no NORMS for toddlers on letters /sounds/ numbers. Go ahead and ask your pediatrician and see what he/she says..
I didn't suggest that if your kids happens to pick up letters/numbers that you're a bad parent. I can tell you care about your child's growth and development b/c it is obvious and you're on this board... What I did say was that it is wrong to drill/kill it into children...and I didn't say that is how YOUR child learned them. You assumed that is what I meant. There are lots of parents that do this with their kids.. I didn't say you were one of them.
I typed that message to give information on things that you and other moms CAN do (and apparently you already are doing). I give workshops for parents all the time on this subject. As for what I meant for writing.. that is one of the ways we teach kids the letters/sounds.. by writing his/her name first. Yes.. it is great your child is scribbling.. so is mine.. good for fine motor skill development. I didn't suggest it was a bad thing....I just said in preschool age start writing first name.
Just as you felt berated and got defensive.. I felt equally attacked for trying to share information that could help others. I'm glad there are a few other moms on here that appreciated my comments. I'm not kidding.. google "phonemic awareness" and you'll understand how what you are already doing (singing songs/rhymes/chants) helps your child's development.
You're welcome.. thank you for your comment.
Thanks.
THANK YOU.
no I totally get your point & happen to agree with you. My point was that it was an innocent question & in no way insinuating that I or others on here felt that we were in any way getting our kids ahead by having alphabet letters on the fridge & your response was basically saying that. I think if you had written something in the beginning about that kids do it at all different ages & it is all normal and that while you're not saying that anyone in the post is drilling their kids on letters & numbers, in your work you see parents doing blah blah blah to get their kids ahead & there are other great ways to encourage literacy and learning such as XYZ, then it would have come off less judgy & more understanding. same thing that always happens on here and in any written communication with misinterpretation & perceptions of what other people mean. no offense taken really, i just was really not getting how your response was answering my question, instead it came off that encouraging a toddler to understand letters was some sort of pushy overparenting.
ETA I guess I feel like it would be like if someone on here posted a question about germs & being uncomfortable having their kid around other kids who might be sick or have a runny nose & asked if others took any precautions or how they dealth with it and because I work in healthcare, I posted a huge response all about how germphobic people are and how it is leading to tons of resistant bacteria & kids need to be exposed to some germs, etc, when the OP never even insinuated they were purell-ing their kid to death or isolating them from germs & was just wondering what others did in the same situation. KWIM?
we all have our hot button issues. I happen to feel that way about immunizations and I just choose to stay out of those posts, but I do appreciate your response, I guess I just misinterpreted it b/c of the wording.
Well said. I work in early intervention and we get questions all the time about colors, shapes, letters and numbers. Our answer is always the same: toddlers learn through playing. So keep singing, dancing and exploring!
My daughter is (almost) 20 months.
She says "A B C" sometimes and then hums and dances to the rest of the song. She doesn't recognize any letters from sight. She knows the "A is for Apple" song by heart, so whenever I sing "A is for..." she's respond with "apple! ah ah apple" and so on with most letters.
She counts "two, three!". She skips one. She doesn't recognize written letters. She knows when she has two of something- for example, she'll have a pacifier in each hand and say " two patsies!". "Two drinks!" "Two bears!" She likes the number two.