Why Test Your Child's knowledge of the alphabet? Your child could be five years old or starting first grade. Maybe your child is in third grade, and hates his or her class and teachers are suggesting help.

Could it be a reading problem?

If your child does not know the upper and lower case letters of the alphabet, and initial sounds, it will be very difficult for your child to succeed in school. Make it fun for your child, since you have special time when you are sitting down together at a comfortable table. You can even sit at your child's play table. Make it a game. Use a thin watercolor marker for your child and one for you.

Write random upper case letters on a piece of paper and have your child point to them and say to them, "Point to the letter and say the letter, and the sound it makes." If one or more are unknown, record those letters in a special parent notebook that can record what the child knows, needs to know. Do the same with the lower case letters. You can write " Alphabet Page " at the top of three columns. Label each column with "Knows", "Needs to Know" and Learned." You may be surprised at how many letters your child might reverse.

You can also ask your child to say as many letters as he or she knows and circle them on an upper case index card, randomly written. Make upper case and lower case index cards. You can keep track of what is known and unknown on another index card and file them. You can keep two colorful index card boxes for you and your child to keep activities recorded. Your child's "What I Know" box could be decorated with stickers or artwork.

Always use what the child knows to start teaching your child to read. Never use unknowns. Positive reinforcement will make your child eager to work with you and begin to read. After testing the alphabet, give your child a colorful piece of construction paper and fold it like a fan. There will be folded columns. Say, "Can you write all the words you know here in this space?" Slide your child's finger down the first column. Give your child about five minutes to write words. Ask," Do you know color words? Do you know how to write your name? Do you know animal words? Do you know your high frequency words? ( a, to, where, like, the, how, I, when, there, their, on, at, what, why, etc.) Ask your child's teacher for the words.

If your child is very young, can your child show you a word? Use one of your child's books and choose a sentence. Have your child point to a word. You will have an idea where to go next if your child does not know the difference. Show him or her that there are one letter words like, "I", or "A".

You may find that you have to use alphabet flash cards. You have to say the name of the letter and then say the sound, and have your child repeat. Making this activity fun by keeping the folded alphabet fan until it is filled with words or letters, and then staple it into a word fan that your child will love to show to friends and family.

Only until your child has a good command of letters and their sounds will your child make progress in the life long journey of reading!

Mary D. Bogin is a 30 year veteran teacher. She combines art, reading, and writing as her method of teaching literacy. She is an avid whitewater kayaker, and has hiked the Grand Canyon and the Pennsylvania sections of the Appalachian Trail. Visit http://www.mdbogin.wordpress.com for more articles about reading or life.