My 15 months old DD has this problem of only recognising pictures but not words. I show picture of cat, she can say cat, when i write CAT, she don’t know how to read. Any tips to improve this situation?
i have to admit that normally i only flash pictures to her. should i flash words from now onwards? how should i do it? thank you!!
If you show her words often and quickly and clearly say the word (doman method) , she will soon recognise them. i.e within about 15 repetitions of a word over about a week.
I came across the same problem with DS before we started using LR program. I bought quite a number of flash cards from local book stores and started using them to DS when he was about 3 months old. Those flash cards are designed with picture and word on the same page, i.e. with picture of an object at the top and then the word at the bottom. He was able to recognise almost all the pictures but not words. Thank God that I found this forum and learned from all the amazing parents here. Then I started to change my whole approach in teaching DS when he was about 16 months old. For new words (words that are new to DS), I flashed the word and clearly read the word to him and then followed by the picture. For words that he already know, I will just do away with the picture. However during that time DS was learning to walk, so to get him sitting still and looking at the flash cards was quite challenging. So, I did the flash card session during his milk time (as he would lie down quietly)… :biggrin:. I know this may sounds weird …but he was entertained and at the same time enjoying his milk lol . And being a full time working mum, I only manage to do one flash card session with DS during the weekdays. Besides, LR is really of great help to me as it save a lot my time in sourcing/preparing the flash cards. It provides a structured curriculum to DS and many parents here do share their resources for download. Most importantly, DS really loves the program 
. Other than LR, I also used Your Baby Can Read, leapfrog letter factory and words factory. DS started to recognise few words (without looking at the picture) and read them out when he was 19 months… 
There seems to be a point in a babies life where words (and especially nouns) start to take on meaning - “mummy” is really that person who picks me up “ball” is that thing they roll back and forth to me. Then later they start to understand that a picture of something represents the same thing - and this happens as you read books to them and as you point out real objects to them - so the “spoon” you showed them when you stirred your tea is also a spoon in their book. With written language you need often to do the same thing. I am teaching my 12 month old words with 3d objects at the moment - so I have a farm animal set and show her both the word and the object and let her touch both. She possibly doesn’t “get it” yet, but I am still introducing both (and I hope when we go to the farm soon that it will all be even more clear to her). If you are constanly showing her pictures but not words she cannot possibly read them - you will have to show her the words too (and separate from the picture too)
Picture recognition comes first and why not. Cats are fuzzy. They move and do funny things. They are fun to pet. Even if your child is looking at a picture they know animals are alive and interesting. So much more sensory and emotional impact than that offered by letter symbols. Typically parents make flashcards with CAT under the picture or on the back. This is good but time consuming. You can write the word CAT on a post-it and stick tags of animal names in all your picture books, much easier, less expensive and just as effective as flashcards.
I find that the key is in focusing your child’s awareness on the letter-sounds. I took animals and had them illustrated twisted into the shape of the letter. Ape in the shape of an A, a Dog in the shape of a D. The child remembers the letter symbol and its sound because of the animal. Not only did we create an animal mnemonic for each letter of the alphabet but one for each sound, about 46 sounds in English which need to be learned and how they are spelled. After they know the letter-sounds one moves on to sounding out words. When discussing accelerating the learning curse of a child, nothing compares to teaching them the letter-sounds that allow them to read and the number-quantities that allow them to do math.
Referring to a comment by Tanikit, the point when words take on meaning is when the cerebral cortex is activating. By regularly using words with our children we help activate the cortex early. Can be done! Parents on Brillkids do it all the time. Let me know if you want me to send info on the Animal Alphabet mnemonics for learning English.
Dear Dr. Jones, I’m interested thanks everyone for replying!!
I could set up a free online demo that would focus on the use of animal mnemonics to teach letter sounds. Would that be useful?
Yes please! Very interested- thank you.
While we all wait for Dr Jones to setup the online seminar…
Have you tried the Alphabooks? http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/cr/0786819073/ref=aw_d_cr_books it’s a boxset of 26 small boardbooks. Every page there’s a picture and the corresponding word on the opposite page. 3 pictures and words per book. The books are quite sturdy, sometimes I used them to build towers with my son:)