Let me first begin by saying how much I tend to push against this type of learning!  I have used SWR with both of my other children along with Phonics Pathways (sparingly) to teach reading.  However, my 5yo was just not learning her ABC's.  She could recognize her name and the sounds of those letters but when it came to the rest, it was hit or miss and nothing was sticking for more than a day.  A friend of mine suggested the Leap Frog Letter Factory and Talking Words Factory DVD's and at the point we were at, I was willing to try anything.  Both of my older dd's knew every sound a letter made and every letter by the time they were 4yo so I was getting frustrated. 

What I like about these dvd's is that it takes into account both the visual aspect as well as the auditory aspect.  Each letter has it's own 'scene' and something memorable attached to it.  DD 5yo is very bent toward auditory function.  After one viewing of these dvd's, she could name almost every letter, as well as recall her past learning of every sound, for instance A says the short sound /a/ as in apple, /A/ as in grape, and /ah/ as in want.  After three or four viewings, she had every letter and every sound down PAT!  She went from the very first pages in Phonics Pathways that we kept having to repeat, skipping into three and four letter short sound blends.  She also read three of the Series 1 Bob Books this week!

What to know if you're a phonics nazi:  this video only teaches the first sounds a letter makes.  It also teaches that Q says /kw/ which of course it doesn't...Q always needs a U...U is not considered a vowel when combined with Q.   

If your child is stuck learning his/her ABC's, these are a great trick to have up your sleeve!  We had many cheering parties here this week as we watched dd succeed!