Questions for parents of children who were reading etc well before school

[PaintingRainbows]

Apologies for posting here but I felt people on this thread were likely to be able to give advice from their own experiences.

DD is 3yrs 9 months. Last September nursery called in a teacher to assess her and she was scoring a reading age of 7yrs 9 months (she was 3.1 years). Obviously it is higher now. She will be starting school in September as one of the youngest.

My questions are about how you prepared your child for school. Did you tell your dc in advance that other children were probably not going to be reading in the way they could? If you didn't tell them, was it a shock to them when they realised this or did they just take it in their stride?

At the moment, she has no idea and I think assumes that others at nursery are reading when they are looking at pictures in books etc. I like her 'innocence'if that's the right word but don't want her to feel like an 'odd' child when she does realise.

Hope this makes sense. She clearly is bright but is definitely not 'gifted' so handled right she should fit in just fine. A bit worried about posting in case people think we have 'hot house'd her but we discovered almost by accident when she was two that she was starting to recognise letters and was begining to blend 3 letter words words.

Thanks in advance

[SmugColditz]

I was an incredibly early reader, my mother gave me no preparation for this when I started school at 5 I had to go and get books from the Juniors. I can't say I either noticed or cared what the other children were doing. I read in my head ... I assumed they were doing the same, and by the time I had enough Other-Awareness to notice the disparity, I had the Other-Awareness to keep my mouth shut and be tactful

[avenanap]

To be honest, he never noticed. The other children would tell their parents though but it never bothered him. I did encourage him not to say anything though because the other children might be upset that they could not do this aswell.

[tigermeow]

DD is 3.1yrs (reading age 10.6yrs+) and is at a Nursery connected to the main school. She wont start in Reception until Sept 09. She still assumes that everyone else can read. She also assumes they can read the same books as her...she is reading those 'Rainbow Magic' books now.

At the moment she is loving 'letter of the week' as there are so many other activities connected to the letter.

We did pull her out of being the narator at her toddler group nativity as we didn't want her being 'shown off'.

Have you spoken to the school she is going to? They may have some suggestions on how to help. Good luck.
I'll be interested to see the other replies.

[ProfessorGrammaticus]

No need to tell her anything - in fact I definitely wouldn't. She'll realise in her own time and deal with it in her own way (one that will make sense to her but which you as an adult wouldn't think of). just let her be. And take her to the library a lot!

[Janni]

I would agree, don't make an issue of it. As long as the teacher knows that she is a proficient reader, it is up to him/her to deal with the class dynamics.

[Piffle]

dd (5) does not notice. All of the class are fab readers she says!
But a child as far ahead as your dd will find early readers excruciatingly dull. This will need addressing.
she sounds ace!

[PaintingRainbows]

Thank you for your posts. Very reassuring to know your children have taken it in their stride

tigermeow - That is amazing reading! oh yes, dd loves the rainbow magic books too. she also likes Dick King Smith - especially the Sophie books but anything a bit quirky and humorous.

I think the school will handle her ok. Really pleased with school she has got into as the alternative choice school said 'Oh don't worry, we differentiate, whilst other children are looking for a letter in the classroom, your dd can look for a word!'

[tigermeow]

I agree with Piffle, the early readers will be so dull. DD was bringing home ORT level 5, she enjoyed them for a few weeks and then got bored. Her teacher has now deemed her a 'free reader' so she can chose her own books from the library.

I would just make sure the class teacher knows she can read and at what level, they may want to 'double check' for themselves. Maybe find some Oxford Reading Tree books in Borders/Waterstones and get a rough idea of her level. She may be able to read the higher levels, but also look at the content of the story. I was worrying that the storylines in ORT level 7 were going to go over DDs head.

[PaintingRainbows]

tigermeow - dd has read a couple of the ORT treetop books (i think stage 11 - 12) with ease (picked up in a charity shop) and was reading some of the stage 7/8 stuff last year but as you say, its the content you have to look out for, although her comprehension is quite good. Don't know what the reading scheme will be at her new school but do know it is not ORT. I do check content suitability and don't let her read scary books etc. Last year someone bought her a book about wolves coming out of the walls at night - with her over active imagination I censured that one straightaway.

[tigermeow]

Rainbows- thank you. As you said in your original post, her reading wasn't down to hothousing. At 18ms she just started asking us to write words for her on her magandoodle, so we did and didn't think much of it. By 22ms she was reading Spot/Maisy type books...and then she took off!
We haven't tried the 'Sophie' books yet. What else does your DD like to read? DD is eyeing up the 'Magic Kitten' books and some 'Animal Ark' books! She has tried a 'Magic Tree House' book but the subject content was a little over her head.

[tigermeow]

We must have posted at the same time!
Wolves in the Wall...that is one scary book! I would place that book in the older reader section!

[snorkle]

If she reads silently it's a good idea to tell her that teachers always like to hear reading out loud and also make sure that she does so at a good speed to listen to, rather than the speed she is reading at if you see what I mean. I think I would mention to her that all children learn different things at different times and most children learn reading at school so that she's not too surprised and doesn't say anything hurtful by accident.

[PaintingRainbows]

tigermeow - although she is developing reading stamina, dd still likes pictures and we are happy for her to read anything she chooses as long as its not scary or teenage type subject material. She likes Alan Ahlberg, still loves dr suess stuff, oh and Anne Fine. I think she identifies with Dick King Smiths 'Sophie' as she's described as 'small and very determined'! The same with Lola and her 'Beetles bugs and butterflies' book!

She went through a lot of collections like sprinters, banana books, corgi pups, colour young puffins etc. we have quite a few young hippo books and have also been given lots of animal boooks eg sheltie stories and animal ark too - although she wouldn't have the stamina for the animal ark books.
She loves books with good picture details and has a huge collection of books that parents usually read to their children which she still reads.

Presently, she is enjoying the usborne puzzle adventure books as well as the rainbow magic books and her favourite book in the car at the moment is Arnold Lobels Pigericks - limericks about pigs of all things!

[PaintingRainbows]

Snorkle - yes, the reading out loud was an issue when she was younger and she only wanted to read in her head because it was faster but we have worked on that so she does compromise and reads her bedtime story out loud to us! Thank you for the other tip too - will keep that one in mind.

[tigermeow]

DD loves Charlie and Lola...and like your DD, she enjoys reading picture books....her books for in the day. At night time she reads her beloved 'fairy' books. In the car she has a stack of DK EyeWonder books...does your DD like non-fiction. I highly recommend the EyeWonder books if she does.
Thank you for the pointer on 'Animal Ark' books...her reading stamina is up to the 'Fairy' books, but I think she would be overwhelmed with longer books. I'll steer her away from those for the time being.
I must say, it has been really good to swap ideas with you, thank you!

[Piffle]

have to admit. Ds1 was an avid early reader much like your dd ave. For that reason I've not let dd race on so much as it can cause issues at school. But that's me.
plus she is happy to read whatever, not the same book demolishing ability of her older brother.
got to say his love of reading has endured. Compared to his peers he is well read and this means he is excellent at English!

[PaintingRainbows]

tigermeow - she has a lot less non- fiction books although she's really interested in her childrens atlas's and has a couple of basic french vocabulary books which she likes to test me on . She only knows french numbers, colours, months and a few odd phrases, nothing serious.

Basically, apart from the rainbow magic books (bought from the book people online), we don't buy her new books so it tends to be what we've picked up secondhand or others have given her. I daren't go into a new bookshop!!! I think dd thinks everyone gets their books from charity shops! We really have built up some nice collections this way either as sets or by author. Sometimes can't believe books haven't even been read by previous owners

We have used the local library but as its only a small branch, dd generally had a better selection at home plus the librarians kept asking her if she was choosing for an older sister! I'm sure we will be frequenting there a lot more in the future though... (and might have to go and have a look at the dk books you mentioned )

Piffle - hi, glad to hear your son is still a keen reader. how old is he now? I kind of expect dd to level out as time goes on - she never had any of those early 'gifted' signs and all milestones etc were very average. I think we have stopped dd racing on to a certain degree by stockpiling books at the same level once she gets into a certain type if that makes sense. I've been surprised how good her spelling ability is (her memory is excellent) she is also very interested in the language side eg homophones which she keeps pointing out to me and suffixes etc - often when I'm just driving up to a busy junction .

[merryforge]

It's lovely that your little DD is reading early, it opens up a thousand different and wonderful worlds to a child.

Both of mine were reading in similar fashion to yours at the same age, and to be honest not much provision was made at school for them, so I just made sure they had access to lots of books at home to extend and foster a love of reading. One is still an avid reader, the other doesn't read much for pleasure (she always preferred non-fiction and is pursuing science as a career.)

Funnily enough I was having a discussion about this the other day with DP and we both remembered being very early readers (I'm certainly not 'gifted', he certainly does have a very high IQ) and were reminiscing about what we read when young. He turned to science-fiction from the library while enduring Janet and John in school, while I was at a private school from the age of 6. It was a not-very-good private school, but even so I was recognised almost straight away as out of step with the class and given books the head teacher chose for me instead of the reading scheme. The books, I suppose, were slightly 'difficult' for me but I can still remember the absolute joy of Wind in the Willows and the E. Nesbitt books, the delight and magic of those worlds unfolding to me as I read on and on.

Is this ever done today? Would a very precocious reader be given such 'challenging' and extending books in school as if it were the obvious thing to do, or would they simply be bumped up the reading scheme a bit in those early years? I hope it's the former.

Good luck to little Rainbow - there are wonderful worlds and magic places waiting for her between the covers of a book. Who wouldn't want to be starting over, and being transported to Narnia, or the Shire, or into a Faraway Tree adventure for the very first time?

[quickdrawmcgraw]

I haven't read most of the posts but ds has never been aware of what other children are capable of in school. He would be surprised to hear that they couldn't read like him. He is however tired of having to learn 3 letter words in school and complained that it was 'boring'. I spoke to the teacher and now in addition to the early reader he gets to read at home he also gets another one which is a good standard for him.

[globaljen]

As a very proficient reader (I could read the newspaper at 3, and at 7 had a 15+ reading age), I think the most important thing you can do is make sure the school handles it correctly. Ensure that they are giving her interesting books and are not 'squashing' her into a reading scheme necessarily. I was made to read all the scheme books 'because that is the scheme that we use' and ended up hating school. At home I was reading the classics, and Nevil Shute, which was probably not suitable but very entertaining, and great literature.

I think your daughter will figure it out for herself, but you might warn her when she is a bit bigger that some people will find it intimidating and may not be kind to her, but that she should understand that they are just sad that they can't read as well as her, and that everyone has things that they are good at and that they should be proud of their abilities regardless of what others think.

[SugarBird]

I was a very early reader (can't remember not being able to) and so were both my DSs.

DS1 has Asperger's, and had absolutely no interest in whether or what other kids in his class were reading. He was 'hyperlexic', or so the SENCO said - but I think he was zooming along with reading because he wasn't doing all the social things that kids of his age would normally do.

DS2 read extremely early because he wanted to be like his big brother (!) and he was more aware when he went into nursery that other children weren't necessarily reading. But he sort of assumed that everyone has things they are good at and things that take longer to grasp (he could never hold a tune, for instance!) and it never seemed to be an issue.

If the school handles it sensitively and doesn't make your DD plough through beginner books just for the sake of it, she should be fine. DS2 joined in with the group readers, as the whole class did lots of related artwork, circle time etc, but for his 'free choice' books he read whatever he wanted.

Don't know how it would have panned out later on as we now home educate, but it wasn't a problem when he was little.

Hope your little Rainbow enjoys school and continues to love reading.

[indignatio]

ds accepts my statement that people learn things at different times. He is not given a hard time in class, rather the other kids come up to him and ask "What is this word ?" or "whats 5 x 8 ?" He is happy to answer.

Has your DD read Matilda yet ? Highly recomend the RDahl books.

[ahundredtimes]

I don't think he noticed to be honest, and I certainly didn't talk to him about it. He seemed quite happy colouring in a jolly phonics letters and things.

The only thing to look out for is when ability outstrips either comprehension or 'world view'.

Personally I wouldn't give RD to a 3/4 y-o - I think they'd find them too scary and alarming. But that might just be mine?

[indignatio]

I have a bit of a wuss - but not in reading materials. OP to decide when the time is right. It is probably less scarey if the film as been seen before the book is read