Hi 2boyzofmine,

Thanks for using JustAsk!

I'm sorry to hear that your son is having trouble with the ABC's, but it sounds like he's in good hands! You seem very aware and active in his education, which is a great sign.

Another member asked a similar question, and received a bunch of responses - you may find some tips that are helpful to you.

The second link I'm including below is to an article entitled, "Recommendations to Foster Alphabet Knowledge." There is some valuable information included in that article, too.

Good luck!

Spend time with your son on letter and sound recognition. Look at alaphabet books and flashcards - you could make them. Also purchase a set of sand/fabric alaphabet cards and look at these with your son. You say the letter and then maybe have a picture of something beginning with that letter so he can relate more easily to it. Also as you look at each letter softly say the sound the letter makes and repeat several times so he says it with you.
Here are the sounds:
A - Ah as in apple
B - Buh as butterfly or ball
C- Cuh as car, cat, castanets.
D-Duh as duck.
E- Eah as in elephant
F-Fuh as in fish or frog.
G- Gugh as gorlilla or goldilocks
H- Huh as in huge hug!, hairy hatman!
I - Igh a sin igloo - dont use ice-cream as an example because Ice-cream says I not Igh.
J- Juh as in jumping, jug, juggler, jim, james etc.
K- Kuh as in kangaroo,
L - All/Luh - when using 'all' make the luh sound nice and long at the end as in Lucy Lamplady (letterland character)
M- Mmmm as in Mmmm Mummy, Mmmm Mouse
N- enn as in
O - Ouh as in octopus or orange
P - Puh as in puppy
Q - Quh as in qurrael or queen
R - Ruh make the R sound nice and long as red, robin, roses.
S- ssssssss - hissing like a snake - my 2 year old nephew can do this!.
T- Tuh as in Thomas The Tank Engine!, train, tree.
U - Uh as in umbrella and up.
V - Vuh as in van, violets, vase.
W- Wuh - as in water, witch.
X- no sound but as in box, fox, x-fay.
Y - yuh as in yellow, yo-yo, yuck!.
Z - Zuh as in Zebra and zig-zag.
Also I would purchase the letterland series of books these are characters of every letter of the alpahabet that have names using the sounds and letters a fun successful way to teach letters and sounds not only saying and recognising them visually but audiologically as well because their are stories.
When your son knows his abc's you need to move onto writing them.
Also teach letters slowly go through the alaphabet in order and have a different letter of the week every week - can repeat when you get to the end of the alaphabet. Display the letter around the house with pictures of things or small objects beginning with the letter can your son name them/find the letter?. Have fun!

The involvement of the parent is so important to the educational success of your child. Surround your child with letters and words. Provide activities that will expose him to letters. You might finger paint letters, build with pretzels, go on a hunt for animals with letters on them around the house, etc. Make it fun and play along with them! www.myhomepreschool.net  is a great resource. It is full of lessons that use things around the house to teach your child.