Once children are confident about counting in multiples of small numbers, repeated addition can be introduced as an extension of standard addition using the multiple-type counting as a repeated addition strategy. The section Introducing Repeated Addition on pages 10-13 of Harris, A. (2001). Multiplication & Division St. Martin's College, explains how this should be taught to children.
Notice how the level of abstraction gradually increases from using real objects (all of which can be counted) to using abstract numbers (with intervening numbers absent). Recording at these early stages is initially largely either practical or pictorial and then a mixture of pictorial/practical and repeated addition equations (which may be scribed by the teacher to begin with). Most teachers delay the introduction of the standard x symbol for multiplication until repeated addition has been firmly established.