What am I doing wrong?

[lizaveta]

Hello. I would love to have a success story to tell but this is anything but. I have been showing my daughter (2.4) little reader for about five months now and I haven't seen any recognition of any words at all. We speak Russian and Spanish at home, so at first I wasn't too discouraged since I thought that it being in English, a language she doesn't really hear all that much, LR would take longer to kick in. But, I have also been showing her files I have downloaded from the Russian section and even there, although she likes looking at the pictures, she hasn't picked up the most elemental words, words that we have seen countless times in books which she loves for me to read. She also loves to read to herself, although it isn't real reading since she will just sit there making stuff up based on the illustrations. At least she loves books. Still, I can't help but feel let down. What am I doing wrong? I started flashing, then switched to LR. All along we have read and re-read mMy books. She has a great vocabulary for a child her age and speak in complete sentences, yet she seems unable to recognize the simplest words.
I am getting a bit frustrated with it all. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Liza

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Hi Lizaveta,

You most likely aren't doing anything "wrong" at all! There are multiple ways to work this and you just need to find a way that your daughter responds best to.

What I would do to possibly see some short term results that will still be fun for your DD is to create an initial  customized file with pictures of very familiar, meaningful things in your home (favorite people, toys, etc). If you have a microphone headset or one on your laptop, you can even record your voice announcing the items. I would continue to play your daily lesson plan and also fit in that particular customized file/lesson a couple of times a day until mastery. It might take a week or two, it might take longer, but stick with it. Also, if you have only been watching the digital version, try to print out some LR files and see if she prefers being flashed the physical word cards or multi-sensory lessons versus the screen.

You can also print off flashcards or her favorite toys and match them up (we especially like our animal figurines for this game), or do word matching. If she is not adverse to "testing," for example you can hold up the LR print out flashcard that says "cat"....then put two other cards on the floor "cat" & "dog." See if she'll give you the correct word after looking at the matching card in your hand.

Have you tried labeling items in your home and taking her around to point at the words? (bed, table, cabinet, chair, etc.) Reinforce those words with a matching LR file.

Do you currently have your computer hooked up to a big TV? That is ideal, the bigger the better if you choose to go with a screen over printed flashcards.

With my daughter, we used the daily curriculum and just moved through LR categories that were printed off and used until mastery. She enjoyed it and didn't find it tedious, once she was solid on them, I printed off another set, usually every Sunday or so depending on how faithful we were. So, that approach might work for you as well.

Lastly, do you really believe that she is capable of early reading? That is essential, she will pick up on your emotional cues, spoken or not. Kids are amazing like that! So affirm her and yourself with a bright, positive attitude and really believe that she can and will read when she is ready!

Most likely, she knows many words but simply has not shown you.

[Mae_Jakob_Ka]

Well, you just need to be patient and hang in there. She will surprise you one day.
It took my son 7 months for him to read his first word. When he did, it felt so wonderful.

I did not have any tricks. I just kept going, showing him the lessons. If he asked for more, I showed him more. He liked transportation lessons, and I showed them to him several times a day. His first word was the word " Truck". After that he only saw words a few time, and would be able to recognize them.

I do agree with TmT. She knows the words but just does not want to read them out loud yet.

Elle

[fma001]

Don't use just one method to teach. Show her the ABC section of starfall.com. Sound out simple words for her. Show her sight word videos on youtube. Print out Larry Sanger's flashcards from his baby reading essay at larrysanger.org. Make your own powerpoint slides. The more you do the more likely she is to learn. I used LR and Your Baby Can Read as one of many teaching methods.

Having said that, it can seem like they aren't learning anything at this age. But they often are absorbing everything and then suddenly they are able to read everything. This happened with my second child. After 18 months of teaching, I thought she wouldn't learn to read early like her older sister did. Then almost overnight she was reading. So, she had been learning all along. She is not 3 1/2 yet, but she can easily read a lot of 2nd grade level material.

[c4andy20]

My suggestion is try really hard to not get frustrated. She will definitely feel the frustration. I was doing LR, LM, YBCR, Leapfrog and many other activities for reading and math. I was so frustrated because my daughter didn't seem to be getting any of it. I felt like it was just a colossal waste of my time. Then one day as I was reading her a story she just said, "Mommy I read it, I read it!". Well I thought she was just going to pretend to read( like she always did before) so I paused and said O.K. She totally shocked me by picking up right where I left off and read it word for word. That was when she was 2.5 years old, now she is 3 and reads all the time. So just try to be patient and work with her as often as you can using as many different methods as you can. The lesson I learned from my daughter was, that she Will learn to read, just on Her timeline not Mine.

[tlyoung]

I agree with those who posted before me. Step back and have fun with all of the reading activities you do. Silly rhymes, songs, and dancing seem to get my little ones attention. Don't put pressure on yourself to get results (i know it is easy for others to say that). Reading will come but you can instill a love for books, the pictures in them and written words now.

[PY]

I will suggest you to have a week or some few days of break. forget about it . and start over maybe she just wants a little break to miss her work and when she re takes it she may feel more excited about it.
Also children are different, if she doesn't show you that she can recognize words it doesn't mean she doesn't know them! Try also to change the rourine , make ir concrete, for example flashcards with real objects, not only tv or computer screen, they need to feel the objects.
check this blog
you may find some ideas.
www.olivesandpickles.blogspot.com

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