By the time my children were 2 they could recognize at least 20 words in a variety of situations. They loved reading and were keen to learn. When other parents heard about this, they also wanted their children to learn to read, so I started a preschool reading program at a local licensed preschool. However, local schools complained that they did not know what to do with the children who were coming to school already reading, so the preschool abandoned my activities.

If you would like to teach your own child then it is within your reach. You can begin as early as you like with activities that produce reading readiness. These include talking and reading to your child. With some of the books you can point at the words as you read, but don't just point to the words in books, point to words in the word around you, such as those on food packets and shop windows.

Learning the alphabet can be easy too. I made a wall chart with pictures of things that began with each letter of the alphabet and pointed to them as I read the chart. I found a range of alphabet books and number books and read them each day. My children loved to bring them to me with other books and we would read them together. You could buy a range of alphabet books or create your own. Try making a scrap book with photos or images of things that begin with each letter. You might like to start with the first letter of your child's name and glue in as many image as you can that also start with that letter.

When my children were 18 months old I started writing down one word at a time on a card. I used large lower case letters. When they could recognize one word, I introduced another. When they learned to say a new word I wrote that down for them too. I made little books with much repetition of words for repetition is the key to remembering. One booklet had a sentence on each page with an appropriate picture: "Here is my cat.", "Here is my house", "Here is my mother" etc. When I saw the word "Here" in a story book I would ask my child if they could see the word "here". If they couldn't, I wouldn't wait too long but showed them where it was. It was fun!

One day I came into the computer room and found my 2 year old had logged onto the computer (in the days before graphical interfaces) and was playing a computer game we had for our 6 year old. She must have watched and remembered what to do as we had not shown her how. The game was one of matching letters with pictures. In one afternoon she taught herself the phonetic sounds that letters made!

There are many computer games of great "educational" value today that can be sourced online or created using programs such as Macromedia Flash or even Dreamweaver. This year I took two of my classes to a special school where they observed what the children were capable of doing and then made simple games to teach them basic concepts. You can view and use some from my site below or try doing an online search to see what free game making programs are available and make your own.

Make the learning fun. Seeing a word in different situations can be fun and will help a child to remember it. Remember the key is repetition and fun is the way.