Originally Posted by jillio

Exactly. When the spoken word is processed to meaning in the brain, it is not processed phoneme by phoneme, but employs bottom up processing. It is perceived as a whole sound. Like wise with the written word. When we look at a written word, it is not processed letter by letter, or syllable by syllable, but as a shape made up of the different letters. When we process a sign, we do not break it down into each individual handshape, placement, and movement, but pprocess it in its entirety. When we force a child to process phoneme by phoneme, we impede not only speed of comprehension, but overall comprehension as well by overloading the system.