Signah?

Originally posted 09/11/2008
N. was doing some reading the other day. I was sitting next to him on the couch listening as he carefully read me a story. At one point, things came to a halt and I could hear him quietly trying to sound something out. It was evident by the way he was wrinkling his nose that he wasn't having much luck. He'd wanted to read the whole story "by himself" so he was reluctant to accept my help. Finally, he relented and showed me the word he was stuck on, "sign". I explained to him that the g was a silent letter. He'd learned about silent letters and after that he was able to sound out the word just fine. He looked at me and grumbled, "I don't why there even are silent letters. It's like they're only there to trick you when you're trying to learn how to read."