People whose kids can recite the alphabet before age 2

[newmum234]

And counting from 1-20 too - do you actually do regular sessions teaching your DC how to do this? My DS is 15 months and only says mama and dada. There’s no way he’s even close to learning the alphabet or saying numbers!

Please don’t worry, they all pick things up at different stages.

Our eldest could recite the alphabet (could also do a pretty good job backwards), recognise numbers and letters, count etc. at a very early age. We didn’t teach him (I suspect YouTube did )

Our youngest is 4, due to start reception in September. Has zero interest in anything remotely academic, I’m not sure she can even count past 20 and her alphabet is all over the shop. I’m not worried though, she’s just focusing on other things right now and will catch up.

Don’t put pressure on yourself.

My son is 4 and has known the alphabet, numbers, shapes and colours for a good while now. He watched things like that on YouTube when he was younger as I thought if he was having screen time it should be educational rather than Peppa and Paw Patrol. This has of course now changed, but he does still enjoy watching things like Binkie TV.

Don't worry about it.

DS doesn’t watch TV or YouTube, so should I be actively teaching him to learn the alphabet and numbers using books and toys? He just seems so young to be learning that kind of thing!

My DD learned the alphabet and numbers watching YouTube during the first lockdown (she was 20 months in March 2020). I have always counted with her (eg when going up stairs) and she had a wooden alphabet puzzle that she liked, but I'm pretty sure most of her learning came from watching videos. YouTube can be really useful if you can find decent videos on it.

As long as you’re talking, singing, playing, it really does not matter a jot. If you go into the local high school you won’t be able to tell that Jordan recited the alphabet at 7 months old while Amy didn’t count to 10 until she was 6. To be honest, having worked with children for years, a child who can recite the alphabet or count confidently before two is unusual. Even those who can usually don’t have any meaningful understanding of what they’re saying (eg that numbers can signify an amount of objects, or that letters correspond to a sound we can hear.)

The most important thing at a young age is a happy and confident baby.

DS learned to count around 2 just by us counting the steps of the stairs as we walked up them, by counting his cars (“1-2-3 red cars, 3 red cars” etc), pieces of food, etc etc. Just integrate it into everyday chatter - they soak it up.

I used to count the stairs to his creche room to distract him because it was three flights and I had SPD so couldn't carry him. So he had counting down.
The alphabet he seems to pick up from the ether.
his sister is 18 months and is making the right sounds for both counting and alphabet but she's taking her time to speak so I'll just let her go at her own pace.

@newmum234

DS doesn’t watch TV or YouTube, so should I be actively teaching him to learn the alphabet and numbers using books and toys? He just seems so young to be learning that kind of thing!

He is two. Don't sweat Just incorporated in your day. Sing the alphabet song to him. Count the peas on the plate. Sing nursery rhymes

But don't dwell on this
If you talkkng to him during the day he will learn things

But cbeebies is great for picking up counting letters colors.... YouTube alphabet songs etc

It will also vary with the IQ of the child. My DD could recognise all the letters of the alphabet in random order, both upper and lower case, by 18 months, and was reading by 2.
She wrote simple stories at 3, by which time she could also add, subtract, multiply and divide. But her IQ was measured at over 160, and she later aced straight As in her Advanced Highers (Scotland) and got a maths degree.
It would be unrealistic to expect that of a child with an average IQ, and also they develop at different rates, boys often being slower than girls.

Most parents who say this are either a) lying or b) have taught them to say the letter names and not the phonic sounds so it's pretty useless for teaching them to read anyway.

@Babdoc

It will also vary with the IQ of the child. My DD could recognise all the letters of the alphabet in random order, both upper and lower case, by 18 months, and was reading by 2. She wrote simple stories at 3, by which time she could also add, subtract, multiply and divide. But her IQ was measured at over 160, and she later aced straight As in her Advanced Highers (Scotland) and got a maths degree. It would be unrealistic to expect that of a child with an average IQ, and also they develop at different rates, boys often being slower than girls.

Sorry but this made my LOL

Such nonsense

Gracious no. Just read to him. And singing games, rhymes and so forth.

As it happens, many of the delightful board books intended for this age have things like Colours and Counting, though I always wished they'd have things I didn't actually know, like Breeds of Dog or Trees (first page obviously The Larch). We had a Richard Scarry Big Word Book which S1 loved, and he was - ooh, no idea. maybe 22 months? - when he saw a "5" on the front of a house and said "look it's an S!"

NB son got excellent maths results and is now studying engineering so not being able to recognise numbers before he was two obviously hasn't held him back. He was practically two when he started counting up to about five. At the beginning of Reception he was assessed as having a "reading age" of seven.

Actually I'm not convinced that either of mine ever learnt to recite the alphabet. They ensure the DVDs are in alphabetical order so it must have gone in somewhere

I've got one like that and one the total opposite 🙈 don't sweat, no idea how this will pan out over the next 20 years!

@Queenie6655 I don't know Babdoc's daughter, but it could be true. I could read at 3 and was writing (dreadful-but-perfectly-fluent) stories at 7. Never had my IQ measured but my sister got 159 and reckoned I was the cleverer. There are people much more able than I am.

She isn’t saying her daughter wrote stories at 7 though, she’s saying her daughter wrote stories at 3. If true, this would make that particular child utterly exceptional.

My son is 23 months and can count 1-20 but I've not done anything with him, he must have done it at nursery and for sure has no idea what the numbers mean, he just knows the sequence. I wouldn't worry it all comes eventually - you don't know any neurotypical 30 year olds who don't know their colours or numbers.

Primary teacher here - I have no idea what child could recite the alphabet at two! Nor do I care, especially in early primary years it's not the most useful skill. As for numbers, I also don't care whether a child can count to 7, 70 or 700 - having a concept of what number is is what matters.

Don't sweat it, most children learn to say the alphabet in their own good time.

I don't know that DS1 could record the alphabet, but he definitately knew all his letters before he was two. He wasn't "taught", he watched Countdown with my Dad and used to play at being Carole with letters in the fridge.

He got very average GCSEs and now at 20 is working at McDonalds, but we love him

Mine learned from a Sesame Street song - it was on at 6am (after starting with 5am OU maths) and she sat at the end of the bed watching, whilst we fought off the morning.

Despite being and articulate and eloquent GP now, she still says zee instead of zed. I don’t think reciting the alphabet means very much at all. It’s just a rhyme in most cases.

I read a lot of books with my toddler, and he picked up the numbers 1-10 from stories that include counting and from me counting the stairs to our flat out loud to him every day. It’s just background chatter to me, I wasn’t actively trying to teach him to count. He was 20 months when he started this. First he linked the number symbols to the words, then started to put them in the right sequence. For a week or so, ‘4’ was ´four’ ´5’ was ´five’ and everything else was ´three’. 2 months on he can count fairly consistently to 10 and can recognize the symbols for the each number. He is obsessed with numbers and counting and keeps pointing out numbers to me that he sees on objects. And he lines up toys and food and counts them. I’m not convinced he really understands what numbers mean yet though - he can count crayons, but I’m not sure he gets that 4 is more than 2 if you see what I mean. And he keeps looking for the number symbols on the stairs as we count them. The stairs don’t have any numbers written on them but clearly my toddler thinks they should. It’s really interesting to watch, and I was very surprised by how complicated learning to count actually is.

There's nothing particularly clever about knowing the alphabet. It's just like memorising a nursery rhyme.

At 4.5 dd1 had very limited vocabulary, similar to an 18 month old at most (she's autistic) it turned out she could already read, still amazed at how she taught herself without being able to sound out words. Not all kids learn at the same pace. I've never met a kid that young who can recite letters

My kids could both recite alphabet and count at least to 20 by the time they were two. I never taught them, they learned it ALL from YouTube, Blippi was a great teacher, as was Cocomelon.

Honestly do not worry about it!!!!!

DS1 did not utter a single word - not even mama/dada- until he was 2.5 years old.
When he went to school aged 4 he was talking fine and was assessed as having a reading age of 14 years old.
He is now 14 and has always been extremely clever, predicted A* for all his GCSEs (we are in wales where it’s still grades not numbers)

Don't worry at all about reciting the alphabet because it honestly won't help when he starts school, and can actually be a hindrance.

Just read to him and play op. Count building blocks as you stack them and get some with letters on so that you can teach phonics sounds when he's ready. It's all about having fun.