When should a child know his ABCs?

All kids are different and learn on a different level. My son never even tried to know anything before he went to kindergarten. I thought he was LD(learning disability). I was shocked when the school contacted me and wanted to test my child's IQ because they felt he was borderline genius. I was sure they had the wrong child or they were not telling me the correct reason for the test. I allowed the test because I was curious of why they thought this of a child who could and did not read, who did not know his alphabet, Who had problems even holding a pencil and would not write. To my surprise, they were right, he had an extraordianary high IQ! He was just lazy. So wait and let the schools decide and let them deal with your sister. It will be too stressful for her if she thinks her own family thinks something is wrong with her child. You may also be surprised when she starts school. Kids are amazing at times.:)

There was a time where kids weren't expected to know all of their letters until 5 or a little afterward, and for many children knowing their alphabet before that isn't possible. The alphabet is repeated over andover again in kindergarten for that very reason. If your children knew their alphabets early then you might be pushing them where your sister is more content to let her offspring develope along a more natural course. I have worked with children who knew alot before they came to school only tohave emotional problems in the classroom. For some children, learning basics is fine, for others, learning or being pushed to learn that which is part of fromal education, sets them up for burn out an behavioural issues whent hat information is repeated over and over again when theyenter school at their appropriate level, which will be the same level as your sisters children. A child entering kindergarten and knowing letters and numbers doesn't fair any better than the ones who need more work on them. The child who knows letters and numbers will not be seen as gifted until it is proved with assesments..and most, even though they know alo, are not gifted. Relax about your sisters children. Her approach might be a great benefit to their emotional well being. The acceptance of them as they are, is more importatnt then how they perform.

Each child learns at their own pace. Please do not compare your children with your sister's kids. It is not good for the kids nor for you and your sister. My daughter didn't know how to read when she entered kindergarten-- they brought home baggie books each night- The same one for an entire week.. They were taught to read by memorization. And this was in the later part of K. I think if the teacher in K thinks she has a problem they will talk to your sister about it. There are many many forms of extra help in the ealry years of school.

You are right to be concerned and have you tried encouraging her mother to start to teach her them properly? My oldest daughter is 5 and she is in grade 1 and will not be 6 until may! My oldest could count to 3 at the age of 10 months and knew like 30 or more 2 to 3 word sentances before she was 1! However my baby is now 2 and she is just starting to talk better now so she will not know hers for another year or so! I do believe that all kids progress at their own pace but your niece will only suffer if she does not learn the concept of her ABC's!!

My daughter is 4 and she knows he alphabet forwards and backwards. She can identify every letter and write it. We are now in the process of teaching her to spell and read she can do simple words like cat, dog and pig but I have spent countless hours teaching her this. Your sister just needs to spend more QUALITY time with her kid. She can spend hours a day with her and it still wont matter unless its quality time. I dont know how you can approach your sister with this. For most people this would be a very touchy subject. One thing I can say is dont compare your kids to hers that will just make her feel worse.

Well, my son is 2 and I don't know if he really knows his letters or just recites the ABC song. He's really good at some letters though and can identify them on the keyboard. I would have her talk to her pediatrician and see what the doctor thinks. My friend is a kidnergarten teacher and each child is put in a different category for learning. If they surpass that group, they are put into another one. Is she in preschool?

When my son started kindergarden last year he had a pretty good basic concept of his letters from working at home and two years of preschool. Many of the children in his class did not know any of their letters. I think that it is dfferent for all parents and if the child's teacher thinks she is behind I am sure that the school will work with her parents to fix the situation.

I highly doubt she will be taught how to read in kindergarten. I don't think your niece is abnormal. She's not "advanced" though. Children learn at their own pace regardless of how much teaching or encouragement they get from the outside world. Who knows what might be going on in her brain. Maybe she does know what the letters look like, maybe she doesn't. That's why a good kindergarten teacher doesn't assume that each child already knows the alphabet backwards and forwards and takes the time to see where the class is as a whole and individually so that he/she can start with the basics if need be. I wouldn't worry your sister over your concern. See how things go in kindergarten and in the meantime do your best to help your niece learn how to identify the letters.

I think the moment the child steps into school they should know the abcs by that time. I think right before that, they should already be singing it since its easy and everyone knows it. I think your sister should concentrate more on her child or else her child will have trouble in the end in coping with school.

this is a case which varies frm a child to child for eg, my son is gonna be 2yrs in may n he still has a small vocabulary of say 10-12 words thats it! we've been tryin to get him to speak more but in vain he isnt , he understands everything n we even consulted a doctor , n he said some kids are slow n not giv up hope , but to keep tryin...well in this case probably u cud just hint ur sister abt how things usually work n ask her to just visit the pediatrician once to check things as her daughter is gonna be 5.

my son is 2 years old now , but still can't say many words. when i was pregnant i hope my baby can be more inteligent than other babies ,but now i know it is only a dream ,so i don't ask for much now , just hope he can be happy, be healthy, that is enough. when he can learn ABCs just up to him.

My children (that are already older than 2) all knew their alphabet, could sing the song and also do letter recognition before they were 2.5-3yrs old. A lot of schools seem to be now expecting children to know at least the ABC's before coming into kindergarten. It's not that uncommon now with so many in preschool earlier and earlier. I wouldn't worry though... They're still taught in school for those that don't know them.

HI B , I know how concerned u r , but if u want to know then my m-i-l says that my hubby couldnt talk untill he was 4 yrs old .He turned out to b a brilliant student completed HIS mtech frm a premier school n rightnow is wrking in a blue chip company , give her otr year atleast, everything wl b fine dont worry.

How you guide your child is a big factor to consider. Even if you start inputs on the later parts of the first year, it would be that your will learn as early on the 2nd year. Aids will help like that electronic educational toy.

The important thing to remember is, children learn and master things at different times..not all children learn them the same way at the same time. I'm sure your child knows the alphabet but doesn't know all that your niece knows things your child does not. A lot of children by the age of 5 cannot identify letters, however, they really should be able to identify the letters in their name. I've worked with children that had a hard time identifying letters on a regular basis, that's why it's important that children are constantly worked with to identify letters.

I think they should know there abc before there 4

you got to get ur sister to fix this it will cause nothing but problems for her child all through school if not forever how is she going to be able to read if she cannot tell one letter from another? if she does not do nething you could always spend more time there and help ur niece to read

well im not really sure. my cousins are 4 & 5 and they know their ABC's. but my son is only 4 months. i would think that by age 5 she would know them, maybe she does but she is just shy and wont say them. some kids are like that.

My son is 4 and he doesnt know his abc's. He does know some of them but not all of them. The doctor says he isnt behind she actually says he is ahead of where he should be but sometimes i wonder whats gonna happen when he goes to school if he doesnt know his letters yet

he/she should know their letters by 4 or 5 but that doesn't mean that they are gonna remember them all the time. just keep on practicing them with her and she will remember them well in no time