When preschoolers begin writing, how do they select letters?

When preschoolers begin writing, they often select familiar letters without considering the sounds associated with those letters. At this early stage of writing development, children are typically more focused on the shapes of letters and their memory of the letters they recognize, rather than the phonetic sounds they represent. This means that a child might choose to write letters they have seen frequently or that hold personal significance, such as the letters in their name or letters they recently learned, without necessarily applying them according to the sounds of the words they intend to write.

This aligns with the developmental understanding that preschoolers are in an early stage of literacy where they explore writing as a form of expression. Their comprehension of phonemic awareness and how sounds correlate to letters comes later in their development. As they progress, they will begin to make connections between letter sounds and writing, but initially, their selection of letters can be more arbitrary and based on familiarity rather than phonetic accuracy.