Tips to Help your Child Learn the Alphabet Letters and Sounds

"How do I help my child learn letters and sounds?" As an early childhood educator for 23 years working with preschool, kindergarten, 1st grade, and 2nd grade students I have been asked this question countless times by parents not sure how to start teaching letters and sounds or frustrated that their efforts seem to not be going anywhere. One of the most common errors in teaching children letters and sounds that I have heard many, many times is expecting children to learn letters and sounds all at once. By this, I mean many letters/sounds are often shown to the child all at once. Even if this is done on a daily basis, it is too much for most children to learn all at once. Often it takes a couple of weeks of daily repetition to learn a single letter and sound and likely takes even longer if the child has learned the letter/sound memorized incorrectly. Teaching a child to learn letters requires time, patience, and lots of enthusiasm (if you want your child to enjoy learning which of course we want!).