The Toddlers Edge - Home - Early preparation for school

I will be recording comments I have received from others on this page.

I received an e-mail with the following information on it:

This mother of a soon to turn two year old reports she began reading an ABC book to her daughter when she was 3 or 4 months old. At 8 or 9 months she began introducing her daughter to the phonic sounds of the letters. She did this by using names of people she knew. A novel idea I must say. As she is now nearing two she is picking out a few words already. Her mother reports she spontaneously read the word "it" recently and now her mother is introducing her to "at" words. Her mother reports she is very surprised by the progress she has made and that she loves to do these activities with her.

I received this e-mail relating this early learning experience:

I just wanted to tell you that I completely agree with your theories on early childhood learning, especially in the realm of reading.

I am the middle child of three girls. My older sister is about 16 months older than I. She went to pre-school when she was around 3-4, and came home and taught me what she had learned every day. As a result of the early exposure (just what I was patient enough to listen to) and the encouragement of my parents, I was able to read simple books by the time I was in kindergarten. And due to my October birthday, which came before the local (5 by December 1st to start) I was actually reading books like "the Three Little Pigs" in kindergarten. I actually read that book to my class once while the teacher did other work. I read a full Nancy Drew mystery (The Secret of the Old Clock) in 1st grade. It took me a month, but I did it with no help. And I still love to read. My family life was somewhat turbulent (divorces/remarriages, lower income) but I managed to excel all through school, and attended a Premium college (Carleton College in MN). I attribute my successes to my early interest in reading and education.

She also related about her son at 18 months spontaneously counting one day. She attributes this to her habit of singing a little number/counting song.

Then I wanted to add my own comment here. When I had responded to this e-mail I had expressed whether what she had been taught by her older sister as a young toddler was phonics or a word reading approach to reading. She informed me that it was indeed phonics.

I received this e-mail from a parent who bought the program about a year and a half ago for her daughter who was almost one at the time and is now two and a half. To quote the e-mail word for word:

First of all, hello and thank you so much for offering such a novel idea to us parents. I ordered your complete program for my daughter when she was about a year old. I began reading An Ant and A Bee to her shortly thereafter, expecting her not to sit still as usual whenever I began to try to read to her. Surprisingly, this was the only book she would allow me to read to her. By 18 months, she was able to identify all letters. We are currently working on phonics, but at age 2 1/2 she knows that letters make up words that we read to understand language. Everyday all day I am asked, "Momma what do the words say?" Okay, it's frustrating when we're talking about cookie dough ingredients or an automobile ad, but I am certain this means she can't wait to learn to read so that she doesn't have to have someone else read for her. WOW!! (The exclamation was hers not mine)

I received a phone call from a parent who bought the program about 3 months before for her son who had just turned 2. I appreciate her willingness to phone and talk to me personally. I suggested she send an e-mail so she could say everything in her own words and she may do that but I will relate some of our conversation on the phone. She was most impressed with the phonics lessons. Her son just loves it she said and she related how he is picking up on those phonic sounds. He is reading some of the words given on the DVD and he is just barely two! She related how she agreed with me that the lessons, having just the letters with their sound/sounds and without the distracting background, was the right idea, and again repeated how much her son has taken to it in its simplicity. But he also likes the little simple music I have in it between sections to keep the child's attention. She mentioned how she had found out I had been exactly right when I wrote about how children don't have to watch the DVD per say, but just to have it in their view. She related how her son was playing with his toys and not looking at the screen but at the same time was saying the letter sounds as it played in the background.

I received a letter from a parent who had bought the program some time ago and was purchasing by check an additional ABC book. She was nice enough to include these comments. Your materials helped my now three year old learn her alphabet in only two months! She is now learning letter sounds. She hasn't begun to identify three letter words yet but I am sure that will be soon to come. My son who is now 15 months old is very interested in books, whereas my daughter was not at that age. Everyone who knows my daughter is amazed at how well she has picked up not only the alphabet, but numbers, colors and shapes. I think you are right about starting with the letters early gives a jumpstart to their brains and makes them eager to learn.

I received this e-mail from a grandmother who writes:

Hi-just a short note (from the school where I teach) to let you know that my granddaughter (22 months) is really enjoying the Toddler's Edge phonics lessons and basic alphabet book. I babysit on Wednesday nights while my daughter's in school, so I can see for myself how much she is absorbing from the program. She especially loves the "One, Two, Buckle My Shoe" song with your daughter (I assume) singing it so robustly! An interesting aside: Living as we do in Wisconsin, our accents are ordinary Midwest, flat vowels, hard consonants, so she's picking up on the more Southern softer longer sounds. At any rate, we're all enjoying the "edge" especially the resident toddler!

I received this information from a parent who had used a combination of sight reading and phonics with her young toddler. She reported:

"My daughter could identify all the letters by age 14 or 15 months, and at age 3 1/2 she can read most phonetically spelled 3 and 4 letter words and can read the more common 5 and 6 letter words."

I will end the quote here but will make comments on what impressed me with the information that was given me. This parent reported not being particularly organized with her approach but using a combination of phonics and the sight reading method. What struck me though, was the similarity of what she used in the phonics portions of the teaching with what I had done with my daughter, i.e. showing the letters and giving the letters sounds and this was done within the context of words like I do in one section of the DVD but didn't do with my daughter.

And since that was all I had done with my daughter, not even using the words but just the simple presentation of letters with their sounds, my theories remain that it is the phonics which produces the early reading ability but the sight reading is a good supplement to the phonics. But naturally this mother wouldn't place an emphasis on one over the other since she was using both approaches.

I was happy to receive this e-mail from a grandmother who writes:

I'm very excited to have discovered your website. I am now a grandmother, but my third child who is now 35 learned to read very well before the age of three and by kindergarten was reading fifth grade material. She learned phonics through early PBS programs The Electric Company and Sesame Street. Because of my experience I believe in your program sight unseen. I had never found any program specifically designed to teach children that young, but I did work with my 4th child 10 years later with the same principles you talk about in your program. He learned to read also before starting to school.

In subsequent correspondence I learned she was never able to convince anyone of these principles, with the exception of her own children, and I sadly had to admit I have found the same response overall. But right on for all of you who are listening!

I received this e-mail which I would like to give some excerpts from because though not specifically using my program, this mother's experience would tend to confirm my theories.

She writes:

I stumbled on your website while researching methods for preparing my child for school. He's two and a half and at two I started him on Leap Frog Letter Factory and we've watched Word Factory a few times and these programs teach phonics...It seems as if he has read a few words in the past that has shocked my husband and I because it came out of the blue and we didn't believe it was possible..we could not make the connection where he had gotten them.

(Well that's all the quote pertinent here, but I think I know where he got them! The programming was already being made.) _________________________________________________________________________

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