Anonymous wrote:Yes, but it didn't MEAN anything. Still doesn't.

+1 mom of teens. The one who couldn't read after 1st grade is now at a school rated #4 nationally and #1 in CA. What's she the best in? Reading/writing...

DS could, DD couldn't. DS read early (3), DD read late (7). Now they are in middle school and DD is, by far, the better reader and a straight-A, highly motivated student. Early-reading DS started to dislike reading in 3rd grade when it got more challenging.

Continue to read to them, point out letters, etc. but don't worry about it. They'll get it when ready.

Yes. DD could recognize all upper case by around 20 months. She is now 24 months and we are working on lower case, although they are confusing to her. We used these little flashcards from Amazon and let her play with them while explaining what each letter was: https://www.amazon.com/Mudpuppy-ABCs-Flash-Cards-Ages/dp/0735334218/ref=sr_1_10?ie=UTF8&qid=1518706728&sr=8-10&keywords=letter+flash+cards

We also have the foam letter tiles for the bath that she plays with. If she picked up a letter we would exclaim "A!" When we were in line at the grocery store, I'd show her a magazine and we'd say the letters together. She loves pointing out letters and now is doing "D is for dada, M is for mama" type stuff.

Anonymous wrote:I would not make any effort to "teach" him. Just expose him to lots of books and words. Get a magnetic set for the fridge etc. and make his name etc. No big deal at 2.

+1 if you want to “teach” something I would focus on thinking and problem solving skills. Nothing to gain from memorizing letters

Both son and daughter knew their ABC's at 18 months, but my son only knew them in song form. If I showed him the letter B, he had no idea it was a B. If I started the song at the letter G, he could go through and finish it, though.

My daughter knew them in song and knew them visually. But, she was much more interested when I'd read to her and she loved other learning activities. My son was just interested in hearing the story, not me pointing out words/letters. He was one that I had to "trick" into early learning by making a game out of doing tracing worksheets, etc. when he was 4.

Mine could point to all uppercase in random order if asked at 20 months. It took him a bit longer to name them, he can now name all but 3 at 24 months; but he was also speech delayed so I think that was the reason rather than that he didn't know them.

Kids develop at different paces. It is fine. Some rare kids are reading with comprehension at 26 months and most could not care less what "r" is.

Anonymous wrote:My brother could identify all his letters at 18 months - and he turned out to be a certified genius. Went to Harvard at 16 and medical school at Yale. He is an oncologist now with two little girls who seem bright but are not geniuses by any measure so far.

And your point is?

No, I don't see any need to teach it that young.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but it didn't MEAN anything. Still doesn't.

Sure it does, my kid knew all his letters at 2. 23 years later, he still knows all his letters.

Probably not at 26mo. He started by knowing that his name starts with H. At 2.5 he knew his letters and most of the sounds but still mixed some up. At 3 he knew all the letters upper and lower case and their sounds - but when he showed up at preschool many other kids did not know any letters and he is one of the younger kids in the class.

He plays Endless Alphabet on the iPad a lot and his daycare really drilled letter with “letter of the week” starting at 2. He is 3.5 now and he refuses to practice writing.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but it didn't MEAN anything. Still doesn't.

Sure it does, my kid knew all his letters at 2. 23 years later, he still knows all his letters.

Anonymous wrote:I would not make any effort to "teach" him. Just expose him to lots of books and words. Get a magnetic set for the fridge etc. and make his name etc. No big deal at 2.

+1000

Just read, point out letters, play with fridge magnets. Your kid is TWO. Do not drill him on letters. My first kid picked it up and knew them all before 3. I am teaching kid 2 their letters explicitly (but still in a fun way) because they reached 4 & didn’t know them yet.

Anonymous wrote:Yes, but it didn't MEAN anything. Still doesn't.

This. Many times, when you hear about very young kids learning letters, or knowing the state capitals (like the kids Ellen brings on her show a lot), it's much more about word association than them understanding the underlying meaning.

For example, my young toddler (under 2) can tell you the cow says moo, but I don't know that she understands that that means "moo" is the sound the cow makes. She's understood there's a connection between "cow" and "moo." I think there's probably some cognitive benefit to learning word associations, but I'm not deluding myself into thinking it's deeper than that right now.

Anonymous wrote:My 3YO can only recognize a couple of letters. He can recite the ABCs, but it's meaningless without letter recognition.

Same here... Guess we need to keep saving for college since no full rides are in our future!!