Souns

My sister, currently in grad school for speech pathology, recommended that I look into Souns for my children. It is being adapted in many countries primarily in libraries and early education programs. What I like about it is that is designed to be introduced to infants and toddlers (5 months to 24 months is the opportune time to introduce it). Here is a summary of the approach taken from their website-


Souns places specifically designed and sequenced letters of our phonetic alphabet into the hands of infants and toddlers at the most crucial age, between 5 months and 24 months. The hand reaches out to hold, play with and explore the letters. Since each letter is given only one name - the most common sound of that letter - the child slowly builds a base of phonics for the early stages of reading. Learning becomes incidental, natural - and fun. Souns is about early learning, and the hand is essential to this process.


Current early literacy materials for infants and toddlers are almost entirely based on auditory and visual learning. The eye and the ear are clearly important, but the hand is at least as important, particularly for early learning. Considering that special needs children are seldom identified by 5 months of age, and that research determines there are windows for learning that, when missed, cannot be reopened, Souns needs to be in the hands of every infant.


To me, it seems very similar to the Montessori moveable alphabet (except much larger) but with Montessori you typically start with sandpaper letters and at a later age. I plan to start using the sandpaper letters with the children at age 2 and up. From what I understand, though, many Montessorians are adopting the Souns approach into their curriculum! 


Hooray for Early Literacy!