Q: How can I help my daughter learn to sound out words?
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One important step in learning to sound out words is recognizing the names and sounds of both the upper case and lower case letters of the alphabet. LeapFrog has some great toys to help children with phonological and phonemic awareness including Letter Factory Phonics and Scribble and Write. LeapFrog also has literacy-focused DVDs, like The Amazing Alphabet Amusement Park and The Letter Factory and games like The Letter Factory, Letter Factory Adventures, and Get Ready for Kindergarten: Ozzie & Mack ABCs that make letter learning fun. Other ideas to help your child learn to sound out words is to read rhyming books, practice segmenting sentences into individual words (i.e., count the number of words in a sentence), and teach your child how to count syllables in a word.
Jennie Ito, Ph.D.
Child Development Expert
Jennie Ito is a mother of two and a child development consultant who specializes in children’s play and toys. Before becoming a consultant for LeapFrog, she was an intern at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC, and later worked as a content expert for the Association of Children’s Museum’s “Playing for Keeps” Play Initiative. Jennie earned her doctorate degree in developmental psychology at Queen’s University in Ontario, Canada.