From a mom in Fayetteville, GA:

Molly, a 28 month old who has been actively engaged in the souns program for 4 months, has begun to talk about lower case letters as “my sounds.” Recently, while seated and playing on the floor with her grandfather, she noticed lower case letters on his shirt. She proclaimed, “Papa, you have my sounds!” Molly began to make the sounds that she knew as she saw them. When she came to “d,” she made the sound and then said, “Wait a minute, Papa.” She stood up and went behind his back and peered over his shoulder. Pulling his shirt so that it was smooth, she looked at the /d/ and said, “When I look at it this way, it’s ‘p.’”

Michael Olaf writes of the 0-3 year old in his catalog :

The Alphabet
A very young child whose older sibling is learning to read often becomes interested in learning about the alphabet. In order not to cause later confusion, we offer this child the sound of each letter and use only lower case letters.Think about it. When a child learns capital letters and the names of the letters, he is not at all prepared to learn to read and write. Almost all writing and reading is of lower case letters, "b" instead of "B," and the sounds are what we need to read, "sss" instead of "es," for the letter "s." Learning capitals and names of letters, although taught first for many years, is what makes learning to read and write so difficult for children.

The most important thing to remember is to follow the child's interests, and to keep learning natural and enjoyable.

Thoughts from a speech and language pathologist:

The Souns program falls right in line with the theories of language and sound development in infants and toddlers researched by speech and language pathologists. In my practice serving infants and toddlers with communication difficulties, I remind parents that the art of learning language is not in a drill, exercise, or memorization; but rather it is the incorporation of our language into our daily routines that fosters new vocabulary. The process of learning language begins in the womb. A fetus can hear the sounds of the world at 24 weeks gestation, with the mother's voice being the loudest (The Baby Human: To Talk). Only hours after being born a baby recognizes his own language over any other, and can even recognize content words like nouns and verbs over non-content words like prepositions. By six weeks of age, a baby can distinguish speech from other sounds (The Baby Human: To Talk). They learn through watching and interacting with their everyday environment. Parents are often surprised when their toddler will retrieve an item that they have never spoken with the child about, or "taught." That's because we are teaching them every minute of every day with our words and deeds that they are observing. Reseachers have found that the shape of items is what helps infants and toddlers to distinguish one object from another (The Baby Human: To Talk). Using the Souns program is an excellent way to begin the naming process of our sound system. The sound symbols are perfect for seeing and feeling the differences in sounds while hearing them appropriately named by others. Then, when it is appropriate for a child to start learning how sounds create words, there is a system already in place for them to learn easily. The earlier they learn the individual sounds that create words, the easier it should be to read. The most important part of the process is to keep it natural, indirect, and incidental. When children don't know they are learning is when they learn the most.

Coleen E. Stinson, M.S., CCC/SLP
Pathway Programs, Inc.
Peachtree City, Georgia

The Baby Human: To Talk. DVD. Films for the Humanities & Sciences, 2003.

From parents in Georgia: A one year birthday celebration! A present for her first birthday was the "m" as she has played with the "o" since she was six months. Our daughter likes to wear her "o" and her "m" as bracelets. Playing hide-and-find with her Souns has been a special activity for us all.

From a grandmother in Napa, CA:

The package arrived yesterday, and the 15 month old twins helped me open it! The "o" was a big hit and the more verbal of my two grandchildren started repeating the sound as soon as she heard it and continued all the rest of the day! Her brother, while he is not saying any words yet, went across the room and picked it up when we asked him where the "o" was. It was truly amazing.

This morning my daughter introduced my grandaughter to the "m"; she makes that sound as well, going back and forth between the two sounds upon request. She also claps for herself when we say, "That's right. Good job!" And her brother, true to form, brings the "m" to us when we ask and claps for himself as well.

From a mother in Fayetteville, GA:

The other day my 14 month old daughter and I were picking out her clothes for the following day and I held up her "m" shirt and her "o" shirt for her to make her choice. She pointed to the "m" shirt and said "mmmm" ; so, that is what she wore.

A Manhattan Christmas Tree: I suggested to my two year old that she get her shapes to help decorate the tree. She returned from her room with her basket of "souns" and insisted the wooden letters go on the tree in lieu of her geometric shapes. She also has animated the "t" which is now fed, diapered, and put to bed.

From a mother in Nashville, TN:

The box arrived Saturday afternoon. Bravo! Excellent color, beautiful design, great packaging, wonderful letters and what a great idea. I love the embroidery and how soft the letters are, especially. I have to tell you that it is a whole mindset to not say 'Oh' but rather 'Ah'. It is strange how trapped by the ABCs we are. Working on it here.