So many parents set out to teach their children the ABC's as early as possible. They feel that knowing how to recognize the names of the letters is an important skill. They begin by singing the ABC song before their first birthday and they point out the letters to them. It is necessary to know the names of the 26 letters that make up our alphabet, however, there is an even more important first step.
Since the English language is 97% phonetic, it is critical that we teach our children the sounds of the letters. It is even more important than teaching them the names of the letters. When we teach children the sounds first, they are able to decipher words. If we only teach them the names of the letters, they may be able to recognize them, but without the sounds, they will not be able to read the words.
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If you want to give your child a firm foundation in literacy, begin by teaching the sounds. Instead of calling the letter A by its name, you can call it by its sound, aaaa, as in apple. If you call the letter N by its sound, nuh, and the letter T by its sound, tuh, just by saying those sounds your child will be sliding these sounds together to form the word ant. Your child will be able to read hundreds of simple three and four letter words, just by learning the short vowel sounds and the sounds of the consonants. Imagine how this will open the door to reading for your child.
Once your child has mastered the sounds, you can begin to introduce your child to the names of the letters. It is important to know the names of the letters, but they are not important as a first step in learning to read. Instead of singing the ABC song, make up your own version that focuses on teaching letter sounds.
If you are teaching your baby to read, your baby will be learning many of these sounds in through exposure, by seeing them in words. It is not even necessary for your baby to know the alphabet in order to learn to read.