Hi, my son has difficulty learning letters, any advice is highly appreciated.?

Question

My son is almost 5 years old, and he has been in a Montessori school for the last 8 months. He has also been in a pre-school before that. Teachers start to teach letters at age of 3, so he has been exposed, and recently required to learn English letters. But his progress is really slow. He can recognize the letters, but can not remember their sound. Even if you tell him again, he might forget after 1 minute. He is the only kid in class that showed such a difficulty to learn letters consistently. But he is not completely incapable of learning, as he can spell our A, B, E, K, W and some other letters well.

Our family speak mostly Chinese at home, but our son seems to have no difficulty learning English at school.

Is there a better way to teach him letters? Is there a sign of learning disability here? Thanks.

Answer 1

The speech therapists I've worked with (and the training I've had) always tells parents to continue speaking native languages at home...so do NOT stop speaking in your native tongue.  If your son does not grasp Mandarin, he will have a harder time grasping English.  6+ hours a day at school will be enough language a day for him to grasp the English language as he imitates others around him (as far as language).

Lastly, I was a former preschool teacher and currently work with K-1st grade students. I have one Korean student who has had problems learning alphabet sounds until I became her teacher. She learned the to say letter sounds because of this one song ~ Alphardy!

Please order this song/CD for your son and make the pictures from Clipart or print them from Dr. Jean's webiste. Glue the pictures on a manilla folder and point to the picture while the song is on a particular letter. In time, he will point or do the movements to the song on his own. For instance "E" for elbow e/e/e (while tapping his elbow and saying the letter E sound three times while looking at a cartoon picture of an elbow on the picture in the folder)

Play it everyday all day if necessary and he will pick up the letter sounds in no time.

Good luck to you and your son!

Answer 2

There are CD's by Hal Palmer that are very popular with pre-school teachers for teaching sounds.  I'm all for computer programs for a max of 20 minutes a setting.  Leapfrog is great too.  Look into purchasing a pre-K workbook from a teacher supply store or a big box store like Walmart.  Do a page or two a day.  Don't make it stressful, just have fun with him.  

It's very normal for students who are learning two languages to learn deficiencies at first.  He is learning two sets of sounds, vocabulary, etc.   He should catch up shortly and when he does his growth will probably be rapid.  I do mean rapid. It's like switching on a light switch.    

Continue teaching him both Chinese and English simultaneously.  He's actually in the ideal setting to learn both languages- educated parents and a good school.  

If another year passes and he is progressing in the same way, then I would worry about a special education referral to determine if there is a learning disability.  If you had him tested now, the first thing they would say was that he was on the lower side of normal but not within the special education range.  Students who are learning English as a second language are much harder to get into special education at this age. You have to give children time to learn the language.

Another thing that should not be looked over is that he is male.  Boys are usually weaker in reading at first, but they usually catch up by 6 or 7.

Answer 3

You could try this as a first step:

1) Ask your child to imagine a cat on your mantelpiece (or somewhere about 6 feet away) - get him to describe the cat, make it move around, l**k its paws.  If he can do that, then he can visualise, which is a key requirement of spelling.

2) Write 'cat' in bold letters on a piece of paper and hold it up in front of him.  Ask him to copy those letters onto his picture of the cat - make sure he has the letters in a clear colour (not orange on a tabby, for example), nice and bold, and as large as is comfortable.

3) When he has that, ask him to read the letters to you from the cat: "c-a-t".  The letter names, NOT their sounds.

4) If he struggles, see if he needs to make the letters bigger, nearer or a different colour.  He should be able to see them just as clearly as he can see the cat, and therefore be reading them as though they were on paper.  He MUST be looking up to do this, because that is where his mental whiteboard resides: if he looks down then he is going into his feelings.  

5) If he manages this, then (crucial point) ask him to read the letters in reverse, starting from the last letter, ie "t-a-c".  Make sure he is looking up.  This part of the exercise ensures that he is reading it, not remembering it.

If he can do this, then there is nothing wrong with him except a lack of affinity with the school's approach. You can find out more at: http://www.freer-mind.co.uk/dyslexia.htm...

Answer 4

I cared for a young boy who had 2 Leap Frog videos, one about letters and one about numbers.  They have songs that he learned that say things like "M says mmmm, m says mmmmm, every letter makes a sound, m says mmmm."  Music is a great teacher.  They don't even realize that they are learning.

Answer 5

Speak to him in English.

It's not a disability. It's the same problem ESL people have. English is not spoken enough at home so they don't learn.

Answer 6

I personally understand your frustration... I have a child who had experienced developmental delays.   Read my published articles on this matter.  I think it will help.

http://www.associatedcontent.com/user/17...

Answer 7

I taught my brother by having him trace our encyclopedias, he traced the letters on the sides of the books and we sat every day and went over them, he was three and learned them pretty quickly.

Answer 8

This link discusses learning disabilities. http://www.schwablearning.org/articles.a...

I think you are wise to assess, but be careful who assesses your child. Don't let anyone label him too quickly, sometimes kids get caught up on some glitch in learning. I've seen it many many times, I know several children who were labeled  too quickly - and that can be worse for a child than the difficulty they are having in learning.

Trust your motherly instincts, try not to stress, observe and try a variety of techniques.

It may help to evaluate what styles of learning your son has. Kids usually have a blend of learning styles  (search: learning styles on the web. ) Some are  auditory, some tactile, others are sight learners....and so on. Knowing this will help you model learning experiences for him and might unlock a few clues.

Answer 9

First of all stop talking Chinese at home.  You can buy cd's that sing songs about the letters and their sounds.  This is a very effective and fun way for them to learn the sounds and names of each letter and will help him tremedously with his reading.  Good Luck!

Answer 10

There is nothing wrong with a bi-lingual family.

Speak with his school abou the issue, and see if testing is needed or available in your area.

If he can recognize the chinese symbols for letters and sounds, consider working with him to have both be side by side. I know chinese does not usually do individual letters like english does, but if the C A T  word is next to the chinese word for cat in big letters, and the two words are both said and practiced over and over. Make up songs yourself to rhyme and practice. Make it a game, with a reward and praise at the end. A Star sticker, or other motivation might help with all of this.  Some children take longer to learn letters than others. For many years children did not even start school until they were 5 or 6. Some parents would take time to teach basic letters or numbers, but not all!

Be sure to have plenty of ways for him to practice his letters and sounds, letter magnets on the refrigerator, chalkboard, or paper and colors to practice with. If you can get some magazines with lots of pictures in English, cut them oput and have him write the words to go with the pictures.

You can throw a lot of money at it, but parents careing enough to spend time working wtih the child will always make a difference.

Good luck

Kay

Answer 11

Look into purchasing Leap Frog learning products...you can get them at places like Target. Although we are an english speaking family, my youngest son (who is almost 4 now) learned his alphabet at age 2. He knew their sounds and how to identify them at random...upper case AND lower case.