Increasing Letter and Sound Recognition

I get a lot of questions from parents, teachers, and families about techniques for teaching letters and sounds.  What I have learned from taking numerous literacy courses over the years, from being a speech-language pathologist, and most importantly from being a mom, is that children learn better when I incorporate a lot of color, sensory, movement, and singing.  I try to incorporate as many of these as possible during teachable moments. 

Letters are the symbols that represent a particular sound.  When introducing letters to children, you can start by using books, items around your home, or items in the community.  Letters are everywhere.  They are on toys, your child’s written name, cereal boxes, snacks, street signs, and more.  Point out and highlight letters as you read the words around you.  One of my favorite books I used with my children for learning both upper and lower case letters was “Chicka Chicka Boom Boom.”  When I read the book, my sons and I made up a song, danced and acted out the story while saying each letter.  Once I discovered the video, my boys made multiple requests to listen to it.

When it’s time to teach individual letters, I try to make it as simple as possible.  I begin with a sound, such as “B”, that the child can say, or a letter from the child’s name.  I present the letter in written and print format, which helps the child recognize that the letter will not always be the same size, color, font, and so forth.  The child can use any item of choice, whether it is cereal, playdough, cars, or crayons, to form the letter themselves.  The sound is produced multiple times while the child writes or makes the letter. I end the session with the child writing the letter with my support as we say the letter and the sound. 

This can be repeated multiple times until the child can say the letter’s name and sound without help.  Some kids can learn 2-3 letters at a time, while others do better with just one letter to learn in a week.  If you start with 3 letters and you feel it is taking weeks for your child to master the sounds, decrease the number of letters. 

I hope you found this article helpful.  Please complete the contact form on our website if you have any questions or would like to register for our summer program.