| Teaching a child to read and write is a harder task | | | | When you are teaching your child how to read and |
| than many parents expect, not least time consuming. | | | | write, you should be careful to limit the vocabulary that |
| You firstly need to start by teaching them how to | | | | you aim to teach. The more vocabulary that you |
| pronounce sounds, and from there they have the vital | | | | introduce; the more confusion and the more |
| components to pronounce words and then sentences | | | | overwhelming the situation will become. According to |
| and so on. A child can generally start to learn the | | | | some lines of academic thinking it is suggested that |
| alphabet at around 4 years old, and then they can try | | | | there are only 400 words a child needs to know in |
| writing what they can read soon after. Many parents | | | | order to be able to communicate effectively. |
| are concerned about trying to introduce their child to | | | | When your child starts writing much the same applies |
| reading at too young an age, however this is not | | | | as with reading. You should not be too concerned with |
| something to worry about - the truth is that it can only | | | | a lack of firmness or preciseness in how they write - |
| help. | | | | much of that will come with practice. The key is to |
| When you are starting to teach your child how to read, | | | | teach your child to associate a character with a sound, |
| you should not concentrate on pronouncing capital | | | | and therefore to be able to graphically represent the |
| letters first. The reason for this is that learning lower | | | | spoken word. |
| case letters is easier to aid learning how to read. This | | | | Teaching your child to read and write is something |
| is because lower case letters represent how one | | | | which should go beyond preparing them for going to |
| speaks, and through combining lower case letters you | | | | school. You should continue to do reading and writing |
| start to understand how you can formulate words | | | | with your child out of school as they may wish to |
| stemming from them. When your child tries to repeat | | | | clarify points with you that they do not want to ask |
| lower case letters you may find that they are slightly | | | | their teacher. Further more, through making reading a |
| off in how they say them. This is not a concern, and in | | | | fun and recreational exercise for your child you can |
| actual fact does not relate to intellectual capacity. You | | | | ensure that their reading skills and ability to digest |
| should also not be overly concerned with grammar | | | | information will be much greater than it otherwise |
| either; this is something they will learn over time and | | | | would be. |
| should not be prioritized from the outset. | | | | |