A free 3-minute check that shows where to start
Not knowing the letters at four or five is common, and it can mean different things: only a few letters, big letters but not small, or look-alikes mixed up. Do this check together. It takes about three minutes.
Already sure this is the problem? Skip the check and see the 10-day plan: Know Every Letter
How to do it: do not teach and do not correct. Just listen, and tap what your child could do. Nothing you tap is sent anywhere.
Point to each letter and ask: “What is this letter?” Tap it if your child says its name.
The same with the small letters. Tap each one your child names.
Tap each one your child names right. These are the letters most often mixed up.
When your child does not know a letter name, what happens?
Many letters are the same shape turned or flipped: b, d, p and q; n and u; m and w. A child who sees all 26 at once, in a song or on a poster, has no time to tell them apart, so they blur together. Children learn the letters at very different times between three and six. A few letters a day, with the look-alikes kept apart, gives a child the time to know each one.
It is not a test for a learning difficulty. It only shows which letters to start with. If your child is in kindergarten or older and knows very few letters, or nothing changes after daily practice, tell their teacher what you saw.
More help: Why can’t my child recognize letters? A guide · Alphabet worksheets · The free letter sound check
