Word Guessing- Should I be Concerned?

[TeachingMyToddlers]

DD  has been word guessing more and more frequently lately. Tonight I took her shopping with me and standing outside the store Kohls, she saw the sign and  unprompted pointed and said "cookie" twice (presumably because of the o & k, although transposed). I helped her sound it out properly and we went about our business.

We introduced very basic early phonics at 19.5 months and she verbally sounded out her first word unprompted at 22 months (about 2 months ago). We just started the Hooked on Phonics program regularly with modified workbooks (aka coloring books with words) about a week ago but we have been watching the videos for a while. we practice sounding out words, she does so willingly and knows her letter sounds by heart, long and short, although not always when to use the long vowels.

I have heard her sound out new words she has never seen before correctly (mostly one syllable words), but I have also seen her be inconsistent lately and "word guess" frequently, even on words I know that she knows (tap instead of  tan). Laziness? (that doesn't really seem like the right term, but I don't know what else to call it?) Bad habits resulting from the whole word method? I don't know.

Should I be concerned? And what should I do about this? Do I keep exposing her to whole word programs? (LR, YCCR, TW). I am still deliberating about the whole thing & would love some feedback.

[annisis]

Josiah is only at 20 months and still developing verbally, so my thoughts may not bear much weight. However, I wouldn't be concerned, and I don't think I would make a big deal about it. From many things that I have read, children at this age liketo test out the rules. They want to make sure that the rules always stay the same. And I think it applies to everything. So she may just be trying to see whether or not she can make up the rules. Look at it this way: You tell her something and then from that moment on, it's true. But if she tells you something, will it then be true? Can she make the rules? Are there already rules? Are they just Mommy's rules?

She's probably just trying to figure things out. I would be very careful not to seem too concerned when she reads something incorrectly. She may then realize that she had such an impact on your emotions, and to a toddler that's A LOT of power! So she may keep it up.

I will say that, Josiah, since learning his lowercase letters phonetically (he learned capital first)  likes to label the capital "P" as the sound for /b/. I just smile and show him "P" while making the proper sound. Not a big deal. It will come to him as long as I am consistent.


As long as she is enjoying learning, I wouldn't stop. But that's just me.

[Tanikit]

No I don't think you need to be concerned - sometime around 2 years my daughter was telling me things she saw were a certain colour that they weren't - I just ignored it and told her the correct colour which she already knew and had known since 18 months - she was just trying me. Even now at 3 she does that though with more complicated things.

Just keep correcting and sounding out for her - if she sees tap and says tag then just say "t-a-p, tap" and leave it at that - don't even tell her she's not right or show any frustration - she is after all 2 years old.

Word guessing in context is actually a good thing as long as it is not phonetic guessing - she should not only be looking at the first letter and guessing as this can lead to poor reading, but when people read they do often skip words without reading them properly because they know what they should say - that is why when something is incorrect many people will read it as it should have been written (which is why proof reading can be difficult if you are used to reading fast) Many early readers do allow children to guess words that are more difficult phonetically by showing them a picture - that way they can learn the word by its context, by the picture and eventually remember the word either by sight or by having to figure out the phonics that goes with it. Try and teach your child how to guesstimate rather than pure guessing.

You also find that guessing decreases when the meaning is more important to the child - if they really care about what they are reading they will want it to be right adn will be less likely to fit in words that are meaningless - they may still guess but their guesses will show more insight.

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