In which stage of decoding do children typically identify words as visual objects?

In the Pre-Alphabetic stage of decoding, children typically identify words as visual objects. During this early stage of literacy development, children have not yet begun to fully associate letters with their corresponding sounds. Instead, they rely on recognizing familiar visual shapes and memorizing specific words based on appearance. This recognition often involves recognizing a few key words, such as their name or frequently encountered words in their environment, without any understanding of the alphabetic principle.

At this stage, children may differentiate words based on characteristics like length, color, and unique features rather than the sounds or letters within the words. For instance, a child might recognize a stop sign as associated with the word "STOP" by its shape and color, even if they cannot read it phonetically. This highlights the visual aspect of their recognition process, as they treat words similarly to objects they recognize in their surroundings.

As children progress through the stages of decoding, they begin to move into the Partial Alphabetic stage, where they start connecting some letters with sounds, and then into later stages like Consolidated and Full Alphabetic, where the understanding of the alphabetic principle becomes more sophisticated.