Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

My friend's son can sing the alphabet...I was surprised! My DD is almost 18 months and no way close to that...which is fine, I just was wondering if that was normal or kind of "advanced" for that age. TIA!

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

I think that's advanced, but my brother had taught himself to read by that age, so nothing surprises me!

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

Umm I think it is a memorization thing honestly.

DD has been able to sing the alphabet since about 15-16 months (she would leave letters out but knew most of them), butttt we sing it all the time so she just copied it. She desnt get what the individual letters mean or anything at all.

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

Singing the alphabet song and "knowing" the alphabet are 2 very different things...
Also, there is a tremendous growth in learning in general between 18m-22m so you may be suprised ! DD turned 2 yesterday and if you would have asked me at 18m if she would be able to sing Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bell Rock and SC is coming to town I would have laughed...She rocked all of them at Christmas at 23 months

I don't know whether its normal or advanced as there is such a broad range of "normal' but either way its very cute to listen to !

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

My son has beed singing it since about 18 months, knowing it..im not sure what that even means really. He doesnt know each letter and hes 3. he can count and add using little things. I am really not sure of the norm though...either way yay for your LO

ETA my son went from not counting/knowing shapes to knowing all of them within a week out of the blue..

Message edited 1/7/2011 6:43:26 PM.

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

Message edited 1/7/2011 6:43:33 PM.

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

Yeah I guess that makes more sense, he's probably repeating what he hears but doesn't really KNOW it. Gotcha.


And I don't know if I made it clear above, but this is NOT my DC, its my friend's son. If my DD was talking this much I'd be singing from the rooftops

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

Posted by Bops

Singing the alphabet song and "knowing" the alphabet are 2 very different things...
Also, there is a tremendous growth in learning in general between 18m-22m so you may be suprised ! DD turned 2 yesterday and if you would have asked me at 18m if she would be able to sing Rudolph The Red Nose Reindeer, Jingle Bells, Jingle Bell Rock and SC is coming to town I would have laughed...She rocked all of them at Christmas at 23 months

I don't know whether its normal or advanced as there is such a broad range of "normal' but either way its very cute to listen to !

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

At 22 mos my son could sing the alphabet (he started doing this in its entirety about 19mos I think) and knew all the upper case letters (by 21 mos). I'm not sure if its normal or not. I was impressed though and videotaped it for posterity

Message edited 1/7/2011 6:56:03 PM.

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

my niece is 15.5 months and can sing the whole thing. granted, it sounds like a 15.5 month old singing it but she knows it!

i dont think its abnormal!! she also counts to 10. no exaggeration.

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

DS is 21m old and not close to knowing the alphabet. He does sing along with the song but does not recognize letters at all.

Kids develop so differently. We have met 18m old girls who know all their colors, numbers and letters and we know 22m old boys who say just 2 words. I don't know if it makes a difference but the brain power of the parents don't seem to make a difference in how "advanced" the toddlers are.

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

I think it's possible, but as a PP poster said a lot of it is memorization and practicing and enjoying it. My DD is 15 months and LOVES letters (has always loved books). She can now identify about 6 letters and learning more everyday. I'm constantly asking her "what letter is this though" b/c she really really enjoys the "game" lol. This morning I put MOM in her word builder (by leapfrog) on the fridge and she spelled it out, on camera with DH. She can also count to 3 and again, loves to count so I think that's part of it.

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

Posted by brownie

Yeah I guess that makes more sense, he's probably repeating what he hears but doesn't really KNOW it. Gotcha.


And I don't know if I made it clear above, but this is NOT my DC, its my friend's son. If my DD was talking this much I'd be singing from the rooftops

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

I think every kid just learns things differently.

My DS knew how to sing the alphabet by 18 months, but didnt KNOW his letters until after he was 2. Yet he was talking like a 3 year old by 2.

My friends DD is just about 23 months, she knows the ABCs and can recognize the letters (I actually "quizzed" her hte other day and was shocked) yet she really doesnt talk much, no 3 word phrases, if you ask her to repeat something unless its a word she REALLY knows she will just ignore you.

So I think its not necessarily advanced its just how each kid learns and retains....

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

Since 23 months my sons have known all the letters by sight and how to say them, but they don't know how to sing the whole song, just bits and pieces.

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

My son was able to identify all the upper case and lower case letters, sing the song, and know most sounds by 21 months. I am also a teacher though LOL

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

I don't know what's normal. When my DS was that age, he was able to identify all the letters correctly, but couldn't sing much of the alphabet song (he had a speech delay so that could have been a factor). Now my DD is 23 months, she can totally rock the alphabet song but can only identify a few letters. So who knows? :)

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

mine has been saying it since he was before he was 20 months but it's because we always sang it to him. I woudn't say it's advanced, just repeated a lot

he knows almost all his letters and can "read" his name and several other words. it's really just memorization, the kid has an incredible memory

Message edited 1/7/2011 9:04:56 PM.

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

Just because it's "memorized" doesn't take away from the child's accomplishment, IMO! Regardless, it's an important skill for kids to have. Is it advanced? Who knows. But, props to the kid.

ETA: The ability to memorize is a skill in itself! So I wouldn't brush it aside as insignificant.

Message edited 1/7/2011 9:08:04 PM.

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

Charlie knew her letters at that age - she could recognize them and even give you what sound most of them make. At 30 months she is just now getting the alphabet song down Which I find kind of backwards, but, whatever lol

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

Erik has always had a healthy obsession with letters & music. He def knew the alphabet song (though often reversed LMNO to LNMO), and could identify most individual letters and some sounds by then.

I think he had the advantage of having an older sister who was learning those things, and he loves leapfrog letter factory. Ella did not know her letters as well at that age.

as for if its "normal", I don't think there is a normal for toddlers.

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

DS could recognize all capital letters at 22 months. He's 2 and still only sings a few of the letters. He knows a lot of songs, but only sings a word or two at the end of each phrase.

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

Posted by InShock

Just because it's "memorized" doesn't take away from the child's accomplishment, IMO! Regardless, it's an important skill for kids to have. Is it advanced? Who knows. But, props to the kid.

ETA: The ability to memorize is a skill in itself! So I wouldn't brush it aside as insignificant.

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

Yea, but I don't think it means anything special. My son could count to 20 and sing his ABC's at 18mths, and now at 2 1/2 he knows every letter in the alphabet. I don't think he is "advanced", I just think it depends on what you spend time teaching them. If you sing a lot of songs, they will know more songs than something else, etc. Development really doesn't mean anything until 3 years old. Delayed/ahead...they all catch up.

Re: Is it "normal" for a 22 month old to know the alphabet?

not early IMO. DD could sing the alphabet song at 15 months and even before that, she could recognize (point and tell you or tell you when asked) bunch of letters and numbers at 18 months. she also knew lots of nursery rhymes and songs at that age and could count to 20 in English and to 10 in anotehr language at 18 months. She also knew few shapes and colors by 18 months.
So it really depends on a child and how much one on one time they get.

Message edited 1/8/2011 6:03:41 PM.