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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To be a bit freaked out about some of the reading levels some children have

103 replies

theWomenInTheWoods · 23/08/2015 21:14

DS was very slow to take to phonics and reading. He's nearly 6.

I was feeling pretty pleased as in the last month he's gone through book 1 to 4 of the Peter & Jane books and were starting on book 5 tomorrow.

He can also use his phonics to sound out a lot of phonic based words

However sometimes when I read threads on mumsnet I feel like maybe he isn't making such good progress. I saw one post where someone said their child was done with all 12 of the peter & jane books by the time they were 3 and a half. DS started school just before he turned 5 and he didn't know a single letter. I would have taught him letters if he seemed interested but he was too busy playing - and didn't seem to naturally absorb them or have any interest.

When people say their children are reading books like Harry Potter at age 6 are those children still sounding out words or do they somehow know a huge amount of words by sight?

OP posts:
SouthWestmom · 23/08/2015 22:50

Bit mean to refer to someone else as a pushy parent when you did the same with your first dd!

SouthWestmom · 23/08/2015 22:54

And op just to reassure you, this thread has followed the pattern of all the others, although you do have a significantly large amount of neutral, helpful posts. Of those that couldn't resist, there are sixteen advanced children or parents and half that who are either behind their peers or on target. Pinch of salt? Grin

steppemum · 23/08/2015 22:56

can I just also say that Harry Potter is not appropriate reading material for a 6 year old. It is a book for kids aged 9 plus really.

unlucky83 · 23/08/2015 23:05

Noeuf - I guess but I wasn't really pushy in the same way...I used to work with children who had been taught by 'sight' reading alone and saw the problems it caused...I didn't want DD1 to be the top reader but I desperately didn't want her taught like that - wanted to get in there first and give her a grounding in phonics (I thought if she did both at the same time she might get confused) but she actually took to it amazingly well -much better than I was expecting...I was surprised.
This parent had her DC on the school reading scheme and doing the maths work books at home ....just before they did them at school...Hmm to me that is extremely pushy!

RhinestoneCowgirl · 23/08/2015 23:09

I didn't learn to read until I started school, but then progressed rapidly and was reading all sorts at age 6. I still love reading now. I'm just an ordinary bod now, it didn't pave the way to fame and riches.

But I have read a lot of books.

RhinestoneCowgirl · 23/08/2015 23:12

Oh and I would definitely recommend comics. You can get a lot of the story from the pictures, use phonics to sound out the onomatopoeic stuff like 'oof', 'thwack' etc.

DS loves anything Marvel (they have ranges aimed at younger children) also has subscription to The Phoenix and enjoys Tin Tin, Asterix etc

SouthWestmom · 23/08/2015 23:13

Unlucky - I'm just being mean Grinsorry. These threads make me laugh whereas when I first joined Id be a bit stressed - my now 12 year old was a very late reader.

TracyBarlow · 23/08/2015 23:22

Why, oh why on these threads do people always have to chime in with the fact they were reading Dostoyevsky aged three? It's hardly helpful to the OP is it?

Genuinely OP, he's got his whole life to do work. He'll more likely be a much happier and rounded child for spending his pre-school years having fun and playing with his mum rather than being forced to read and write (not that all pre-schoolers who can read are forced into it, obviously. Some enjoy it I assume).

noblegiraffe · 23/08/2015 23:26

The OP asked what people meant when they said their child could read Harry Potter at 6, re sounding out etc.

That's why I answered, not to show off.

unlucky83 · 23/08/2015 23:26

Ok Noeuf - and I'll stress that I really believe they will get there in their own time...
(If they are really behind, not made any progress by age 8 or so I would approach the school - actually I would hope the school would approach me! - to make sure they haven't got a learning disability (dyslexia) or even just need glasses!)
Being a good reader in the early years really is no indication for the future.
(And I am not crowing about DD1 - just trying to show how 'advanced' she was, how it has made no difference in longer term...and how it was in hindsight not really a good thing anyway...)

Witchend · 23/08/2015 23:40

It does even out, and it also depends on what they're interested in. Dd1 discovered letters at 20 months, and was delighted by them and was desperate to know more.
However she didn't know her colours until gone 3.6yo. I had got to the stage of thinking she was colourblind because she seemed to have no notion at all of colours. She could read the names of the colours before she could identify them. Which is kind of weird of you think about it.

Also I would say by half way through year 1 you wouldn't have been able to pick out those who had been reading before school and those who knew nothing before starting. Yes some at the top stayed at the top. And some who had arrived without a clue were as good by that stage.

As far as I can tell early reading is just that. It's something they're interested in and so learn quickly-same as the 3yo who discovers football and chooses to spend their tome kicking a football about. They arrive at school better than the child who hasn't done it before. But it doesn't mean that they are going to make it professionally, or even the school team in year 4 because when the others get interested and have the opportunity they may well improve to be better.

SzeliSecond · 23/08/2015 23:45

I'd read all the peter&jane books at nursery, there wasn't enough books for me at school so I slowed dramatically and my dyslexia really took hold.

My brother couln't read a thing until 7. He went on to do a maths and chemistry degree and is the far more academic of the two of us.

Your DS is progressing and that's the important bit, he is doing well for him, other children are irrelavent and in the long term it won't really matter as he is getting there and before long he'll have cracked it. keep doing what you're doing

sleeponeday · 24/08/2015 00:00

Leaving aside what kids can and can't do (which truthfully is not a good predictor of what they will or won't be able to do in a decade), I think the most important thing is to source early readers that will genuinely interest him - think about what he enjoys, then get googling.

They have Star Wars, Marvel and Angry Birds Dorling Kindersley reader sets which are ace for small boys - lots of pictures, and graded from level 1 to 4 (more like 2 to 10, IMO, but it doesn't really matter). There are also Lego comic book stories for Ninjago and lots of other themes whose names escape me!

The Star Wars ones were on Book People for a tenner not so long ago - same with the Marvel. School reading books are dull. Spark an interest - show them what reading is for. To offer an escape every bit as much fun as a TV show or DVD. IMO if they did that with French at school, we'd have less of a linguistic shortfall in this country.

JohnCusacksWife · 24/08/2015 00:15

Is there a school in the country that still uses Peter & Jane books? I thought they went out with the ark?

TheRealAmyLee · 24/08/2015 00:36

My eldest 2 both have an insanely high reading level but my youngest is below average. Other stuff he does better. Dont worry about it. He sounds totally fine.

UterusUterusGhali · 24/08/2015 00:47

I learned to read and write at 2yo.

My reading levels at 10 were that of an adult.

I left school with 5 GCSEs.

It's all bollocks. :)

TakeMeUpTheNorthMountain · 24/08/2015 01:11

When I was almost 4 I read little house on the prairie. .I understood it too. I'm a voracious reader.

But I'm shit at everything else and work minimum wage so it's no indication of how I would be. If your son is improving that's fantastic, the only way is up!

pomBearPooPouffe · 24/08/2015 01:15

I too was wondering about who still uses Peter and Jane books... presumably they're not the ones from the 1950s-60s that I had in the late 1970s?

OP, seriously, it all evens out in the end. Conversations I've occasionally had round high table in oxbridge colleges establish that among some of the country's leading academics (i.e. whose jobs depend on reading, writing and comprehension skills more than many others) there is a spread from hyperlexic ASD reading and writing at 2, to learning to read and write at school, to needed lots of help to be reading and writing at 10. They all turned out OK in the end (even if some of them clearly spent more time on reading and writing than on acquiring social skills). Your son sounds like he's doing absolutely fine. My niece was very similar when she started school, and now 2 years later is an avid reader and has very legible handwriting, and can spell.

What makes the difference between an avid reader and a competent but uninterested one, once the reading is beginning to gather steam, is how many really interesting books are put in front of the kid, and read with a parent.

What's he interested in? How many really cool picture + words books can you find at the library or online secondhand booksellers? I'd second the suggestion of comics, though might suggest Asterix or Tintin or something (where stuff actually happens) rather than the ...er ... less cerebral ones (where not much really happens and all he's going to learn is standard superhero behaviour).

There's a huge amount of really good stuff out there - practically none of it sold at great expense in the high street bookshops. I'd maybe start with looking at lists of who's won things like the Carnegie Medal back to when it started (and there are loads of other children's book prizes too) - almost all of those are easily available via secondhand places online.

Original poster
theWomenInTheWoods · 24/08/2015 07:51

Yes they are the old fashioned peter and jane books. DS is ok with them as he asks questions about things that are different in them -he finds it funny when they go off working on the farm without their parents etc - and they are always going to sweet shops and toy shops which he likes.

He likes asking about the 'olden days' when I was young and we didn't wear seatbelts like Peter when he's in the back of the car.

I think those books are very good for getting used to the most common sight words but I have phonic based books too.

I can imagine DS would be more excited by marvel books - I didn't know they did readers

OP posts:
Hulababy · 24/08/2015 08:02

So long as your hold is making progress for them, and it is consistent progress, and if falling a bit behind is getting support for school and home, then don't worry too much.

MNetter children often appear to be far more advanced than what is the norm in most classrooms. It's like Facebook too. You hear far more about those doing really well than those who struggle. Remember that what is posted is self selecting.

I would push for more phonics based reading materials than look and say. For the vast majority of children this will benefit their reading far more than memorising words.

And remember, just because a young child can read the words of a book aimed at set children, it doesn't mean they should be reading it or batboy is suitable. We have a tendency to try and push things like harder books into children without actually considering whether the content is appropriate or of the child would actually benefit from reading the book when older. A young child reading Harry Potter (just one example, lots more and some far worse when you have young children reading teen books) just won't pick up on a lot of the stuff in it; so what's the point?!

LilyTucker · 24/08/2015 08:15

Hmm I'm going to go out on a limb here and say I wouldn't give a hoot re other children as frankly many 6 year old Harry Potter readers( if they really exist)won't be comprehending what they're reading and yes some kids are made to race through books just because.

That said I would perhaps be concerned about your ds.Is he going into year 1 or year 2? His level does sound low.You say learning phonics has been slow so really I wouldn't be giving him key word books like Peter and Jane but more phobic based books. The Marvel DK books I'd give to more confident readers as add ons. How good is he as regards phonics? Does he still have some to learn?

If it was me Post on primary ed and ask for advice from Mrz et al then I'd read masses to him picking out or emphasising phonics now and again and then I'd go in to see his new teacher.Explain your worries and ask for extra books or recommendations to supplement what he is having at school and then read loads. Ditch Peter and Jane.

Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear.

BoskyCat · 24/08/2015 08:16

I remember the exact shock you feel OP. Our DS (our oldest) showed no interest in reading as a preschooler and seemed to pick things up very slowly. I remember going for a walk with friends and their 4yo DS was reading all the road signs correctly including really long words. I was like this Shock

A few years later, he reads fine. It's not his strength, but other things are (art, computers, etc.)

But what I've learned is you have to let go of comparing them to other DC. It will drive you bonkers. Encourage and support your child, in their reading yes (without putting loads of pressure on them) but also in their passions, the things they are interested in, even those things that may not be covered much at school. As well as making them feel valued and fulfilled, this helps with reading because eventually they will want to read about their interests and that's a big motivator. No one should have their worth measured in reading tree levels.

Original poster
theWomenInTheWoods · 24/08/2015 08:25

Last year was his first year in school - we're not in the uk. He's about to turn 6. First year in school here is probably similar to UK reception but obviously the children are slightly older

OP posts:
LilyTucker · 24/08/2015 08:33

Where are you? If he's being taught in another language on top of learning to read in English it will be a lot to take in. Also don't forget other countries push kids in early years less than the UK. I suspect the teaching of phonics differs from country to country. You can get good priced phonic readers from TBP and could find out the UK phonics system on line if UK levels are your ultimate aim. You'd get loads of in info in the Primary section on here.

JemimaMuddledUp · 24/08/2015 08:36

Children vary enormously in the age that they "get" reading, and as others have said it all pretty much evens out in the end.

DS1 and DS2 grew up in the exact same environment, read to every day, surrounded by books and taken regularly to the library from well before they could walk. DS2 could read in two languages by the time he started school and had finished Oxford Reading Tree up to Level 16 by the end of Y1. He was reading Harry Potter at 6. DS1 was decidedly average, he learnt to read perfectly well in his own good time but was never going to break any records.

Fast forward a few years and they are now 11 and almost 13. DS2 is still a more enthusiastic reader, but DS1 is equally capable. In their literacy tests their scores are pretty similar. The gap is closing between the two of them, and by the time they sit their GCSEs there will probably be very little difference if any.

What seemed enormously important when they were in the Foundation Phase really isn't now.