Why a child needs to be taught to read and write simultaneously

It turns out that the position of adults about that "the most important thing for preschooler is to know all the letters and know how to read, and the writing will be taught at school" is not quite true.

 

Psychologist and speech therapist of the "Vocational guidance for schoolchildren: Who to become" project Valentina Soroka explains why it is so important to teach the child writing and reading simultaneously.

 

Most parents who come to a consultation with a speech therapist believe that the ability to read refers to oral speech, and the ability to write is related to written speech. In fact, the concept of "written speech" includes both reading and writing and they are very closely related.

 

In order for the child to get a full understanding of the speech, he or she must hear the sound, see which letter it is designated in writing, and write this letter. Then learn how to combine letters in syllables, and syllables - in words. And finally he must read what he himself wrote.

 

For us, the letter does not seem complicated. We take a pen and we write, and no one ever thinks about how this process is going on.

 

For children, a letter with many elements that are differently arranged is a space.

 

Imagine what happens in a split second:

 

The child hears a sound;

He must distinguish him from others;

Recall what letter it is designated;

Remember how it is written (means, to translate the sound signal into a graphic symbol);

Synchronize the action of the muscles of the hand (large and small motor skills) to write a letter.

 

Only one letter!

 

In the process of this work, visual, auditory, tactile and tactile-vibration analyzers are involved.

 

And the following functions are activated:

 

• mental operations (analysis, synthesis, comparison, generalization);

• visual, auditory and mechanical memory;

• visual auditory and tactile perception;

• attention.

 

That means all cognitive functions.

 

Do we need to talk about how the development of memory, attention and thinking affects success of schooling? Therefore, the training must be approached responsibly.

 

If you yourself decided to teach your child to read and write, then try to avoid a few common mistakes.

 

Three major mistakes in learning to read and write:

 

1. Parents teach the children the names of letters, but not sounds

 

Call the sound (the letter "l", not "el", the letter "t", not "te" and so on). So you teach the child to hear the sound correctly and distinguish it from others. And this is the basis for the future correct reading and literate writing.

 

2. Parents do not focus attention if the child reads the word by the letters:

 

They think that it should be read this way. It is wrong when a child reads M.A.M.A. Correctly is MAMA.

 

Teach your children to merge letters into syllables, and combine syllables into words (MA-MA-MAMA).

 

3. Parents teach children to write not in print, but in capital letters

 

Correct is to teach to write only in block letters. At the age of 5-6 years, children have not developed fine motor skills to derive beautiful capital elements. And the written letters will be taught by the teacher at school.

 

Remember: learning is easier than retraining.

 

And if you are not sure of your abilities, it is better to consult a specialist.