Dear Facebook Fans,
Learning to Read Phonetically (Part 6 in a Series) NOTE About No Research Related to This Post: For these written language milestones, there are no studies that have been conducted. For this phonics milestone, I am hypothesizing about the importance of learning phonics and which reading methods are better for teaching phonics. There are no studies comparing different methods for teaching babies to read. As I have stated many times in the past, no one needs to purchase Your Baby Can Read in order to teach their baby or toddler to read. I originally designed the program for my own babies, so they could learn to read while watching videos, riding in the car, or playing.
This post about the phonics milestone covers four main ideas. The first point is that there is a lot of variability in the importance of phonics when learning to read based on which language is being learned, so the “phonics milestone” may not even exist in some languages and, at the other extreme, it will lead to reading at a relatively high level once mastered in languages that follow the alphabetic principle (where there is a one-to-one correspondence between letters and sound). The second main idea is that in phonics-based languages, I believe this is an extremely important milestone and that reaching it earlier is likely much better than reaching this milestone later. Thirdly, I address why I think there is such a divisive debate between supporters of methods that emphasize whole language and supporters of methods that emphasize phonics. More importantly, I think the debate could be moot if we would teach reading at the same time that other language skills are taught. In the last section, I offer some suggestions for parents to help teach their babies, toddlers, or older children phonics using our multi-sensory, interactive approach.
The idea of babies naturally learning their written language at the same time they are learning to say and understand language is much larger than simply teaching babies to read in English. Billions of people on our planet will learn to read in languages that are not phonics-based, so this phonics milestone will vary in importance based on the language that is being learned. Chinese Mandarin, Bengali, Hindi, and Japanese are among the most widely- spoken languages and none of them are phonics-based. Within the alphabetic languages that are phonics-based, there is a wide range in how phonemic they are. Spanish and Vietnamese are consistent phonemically more than most phonetic languages. English is considered to be one of the least phonemic out of widely-spoken phonetic languages.
If the ten most widely-spoken languages were placed on a continuum based on how much they follow the alphabetic principle (of each letter of the alphabet making one distinct sound), English would be near the center between the logographic-based writing systems and the languages that very closely follow the alphabetic principle. Different languages on this continuum would generally use dramatically different approaches when teaching reading from memorizing every symbol at one end to a phonics approach at the other end. It may be partly because of the location of English on this continuum that there are often “reading wars,” or intense disputes, between those who advocate primarily phonics approaches to teach reading and those who advocate primarily a whole-language approaches. Since English has so many exceptions to the phonics rules, a combination of approaches is probably better once the child is age six years or older.
But which approach would seem more optimal for teaching babies and toddlers the written language?
Just like teaching reading in different languages may lead to diverse approaches when teaching reading, teaching reading in English during the first couple of years of life -- compared to age six or later -- may likewise call for a method that matches the baby’s developmental state. It is possible that an approach that may work well later in childhood doesn’t work well earlier or that an approach that works well in infancy may not work so well in later childhood. [Note: There are no studies as of April, 2013 comparing and contrasting various approaches to teaching reading during infancy, so I am hypothesizing based on logic that I will explain.]
I designed the Your Baby Can Read multi-sensory, interactive approach to use both whole language and phonics parts, but the emphasis is on whole language. A phonics-based approach becomes more important as the child gets older in a way that is similar to contrasting the way a baby learns grammar with how an older child would learn grammar. The baby has learned some grammar and syntax with no formal instruction on either in the first year of life. On the other hand, an older child would likely need to learn through the complicated rules of grammar in a way that it similar to learning the rules of phonics.
This is an important milestone that will allow your child to learn a lot more on his or her own. Babies and toddlers often have a lot of free time, so learning phonics early in life could lead to reading many books about many topics and acquiring a lot of knowledge. In addition, there will likely be a lot of incidental learning in numerous situations because the baby or toddler could read signs, notes, packaging, store names, street names, etc. that allowed the baby or toddler to figure out the world with more information than most babies or toddlers generally have.
To help your baby reach this phonics goal:
1) Teach your baby numerous individual words. Use many of the ideas in the Feb. 1st post. Remember, not only is it theoretically possible that babies could learn the written language in a way that is similar to how babies learn the spoken language – there is a lot of anecdotal evidence of babies who learned phonics without being told. For example, please read many of the posts on this website, YouTube, or other infant reading websites where parents talk about their babies learning phonics. In addition, there are also books written on early literacy describing babies who learned to read without being taught phonics. However, there needs to be more research on this topic. The main point here is that teaching your baby or toddler to read many words could help your baby learn phonics because the child will have more individual words memorized which should also increase the chances that the child will learn some phonics.
2) Write out rhyming words frequently – say the first few, then ask your baby or toddler to say the others. For example, write out “hat”, “cat”, “sat”, and “bat”, then ask your child to say “mat” and “pat”.
3) Focus on two types of phonics learning with babies and toddlers: implicit/analytical phonics and embedded phonics.
A. Implicit or analytical phonics – This type of phonics involves the child analyzing whole words to detect patterns in spelling or the sounds. To use analytical phonics teach do activities similar to #3 above and #8 below where you show your child many words that start or end with the same letter(s), or that rhyme and are spelled the same in the middle. Write out ‘bat’, ‘bubble’, ‘bear’, ‘bottle’, ‘baby’, and ‘book’, then ask your child to read ‘bib’ and ‘box’. Note: ‘bib’ is in the YBCR program, but ‘box’ is not. Do the same with words that end with ‘ing’ by writing out ‘smiling’, ‘going’, ‘sharing’, ‘ring’, ‘bring’, ‘jumping’, and ‘wing’, then see if your child recognizes ‘stopping’ or ‘ding’ Neither of these words (‘stopping’ or ‘ding’) is a YBCR word. You could also write out ‘seen’ and ‘green’, then see if your child can read ‘teen’. Note: This example illustrates why learning to read and spell in English using phonics can be complicated because if you select the word ‘been’ it is pronounced with a short ‘e’ sound instead of a long ‘e’ sound and if you write out words that rhyme with ‘seen’ and ‘green’, many are spelled with an ‘ea’ in the middle (e.g., ‘clean’, ‘mean’, or ‘bean’).
B. Embedded phonics means teaching the letter-sound relationships when you are reading with your child and you notice that she/he needs help with a particular part of phonics. In other words, if you are reading a book with your child and the word ‘bed’ is not pronounced properly, then teach the ‘b’ sound, the ‘e’ sound and the ‘d’ sound in the word ‘bed.’ You could primarily use analytical phonics while doing the teaching, but you only do it as it is needed based on your child’s abilities and needs. This one-on-one teaching is great because your main focus is on enjoying the books with your child, but you teach phonics as is needed.
C. As your child is age 3 or older, you may need to introduce some explicit phonics where you write and sound out all of phonemes. I could write a lot about why I would NOT focus on explicit phonics with babies and toddlers, but the basic reasons are:
1) it may slow the speed of initial reading (instead of immediately recognizing the word and understanding what it means, the child sounds out individual letter sounds), [I will talk more about this on the “fast reading” milestone.]
2) it doesn’t work for about half of the words in children’s literature,
3) it is likely not as interesting because the sounds of the phonemes are the focus instead of the meaning of the word and developing a love of reading is one of the most important goals here,
4) it is abstract,
5) it is complicated, and finally,
6) it is not necessary for many babies and toddlers.
4) Use Your Child Can Read. The DVDs are designed to teach phonics by using primarily analytical phonics as well as by teaching more than a thousand new words. We have many phonics sections in the DVDs. Ideally, parents would frequently watch the DVDs with their children, then do some of the same activities that are in the DVDs.
5) Use the Your Child Can Read Sliding Phonics Cards that have two sliding tabs. The cards are designed to use analytical phonics. We now have them on sale separately in case you have the YCCR DVDs, but not these cards. The child can form words from rhyming words, then match a photo that goes with the words. The background images on the cards match those in the DVDs making the cards very colorful with an interesting look. We now offer the Sliding Phonics Cards to be purchased separately at
www.YourBabyCanRead.com since there are many people who have the DVDs, but not the cards.
6) Write out nonsense words and read them with your child. Encourage your child to make up a word, then you can write it out. Have this gradually lead to you writing two nonsense words and see if you child can point to the correct one. For example, you could write out “nana nana” and “goo” and see if your baby or toddler knows which one says “nana nana.” These nonsense word games can be lots of fun and help the child learn phonics. Try to do some familiar phonics activities and some where your child may need help.
7) Look for books at the library that have many rhyming words in them. “Hop on Pop” and other Dr. Seuss books are good examples of this type of book. Read and point to the words as described in detail in earlier posts.
Use whiteboards, chalkboards, sidewalks, laptops, sand, and many other surfaces to write words that start with the same letter(s), end with the same letters, or have the same letters or sounds in the middle.
9) Make up phonics games to play while riding in the car, on walks, or around the house. Please make it fun for you and your child.
I will write more on this topic in the future. The next written language milestone is Reading Sentences.
Thank you very much for taking the time to read this. Please continue to let us know how your babies, toddlers, and preschoolers are doing with these milestones and how they are doing in general.
Dr. Bob Titzer
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