My just turned 3 year old can read and write

[Rockean]

This isn’t a brag post, although. I’m pretty sure it’s going to come across like one.

My son just turned 3 and he can write his name, write basic/familiar words that he can sound out (the letters are recognisable) and he can sound out words when we look at books together. He loves playing with his magnetic letters and puts them together to create words, he can tell me what they say too.

He’s taught himself this through watching Alphablocks and reading books with us since he was tiny, particularly a phonics book that had all the sounds and alphabet written out with pictures of each letter of the alphabet next to them,

I’m just wondering if this is unusual?

He also doesn’t really play with toys, even though he has plenty of them, he'd much rather look at books and line up his alphabet letters or make words out of them. He’ll also sit with his magma doodle or white board and pen and just write things out. He’s done it at soft play when other kids are playing and I’ve bought his magma doodle.
I want him to play with toys too and I try to encourage him, but obviously I don’t want to discourage him from the books/letters and phonic sounds , but equally he’s going to know much more than most of his peers when he starts school, so I’m worried it’ll be boring for him.

I was similar as a pre-school child, my Mum was an avid Countdown watcher and I think I picked it up from there and her reading to me a lot. I was diagnosed with dyspraxia as an adult. Fairly confident I also have dyscalculia.

I was decidedly average academically, like many people with dyspraxia I have a very spiky profile. I was good at English, history, geography, classical civilisation and RE. I was ok at French, German and science. Terrible at maths, PE, IT, art, music, DT and Latin. I couldn't tie shoelaces until I was 11 or tell the time until I was in my 20s. My DH who learned to read much later than me is much more academic than I am.

I've always been a good reader though and can read very fast which is a useful skill, especially at work. Being able to lose myself in a good book was something I was very grateful for as a child - having undiagnosed SEN when going through the school system isn't much fun.

I think it's pretty incredible. I also thought the video on Facebook I saw yesterday of a baby getting dressed was incredible. Why can't we just smile and say "wow"!

My children's "wow" moments include going skating for the first time - being utterly crap - and getting back up off the floor 100 times. It was remarkable and I was incredibly proud.

Children are diverse and fascinating with such a wide range of ways of being amazing. Why not celebrate those things. Whatever they may be.

The "normal" range is pretty vast (which is why dyslexia isn't investigated until about 8) and this is on the very early end of that range.

I was recognising letters at 2 (Sesame Street & Countdown) and seemed to work out how to turn them in to reading very easily. Reading newspapers and the Highway Code at 5 Not so much of a writer though. The great thing about early readers is that it opens up so many books and stories. I have the opposite issue with my two and their dyslexia and it is tough to find interesting, accessible books for them to enjoy. I did well at school, not the highest achiever, but generally an A-B type and was just generally interested and bright in an unremarkable way.

At school, the reading levels will be used to check across the reading skills including comprehension so they may not automatically be placed up with material that they'd read themselves, and patience may be needed.

DS does have ASD and the focused range of interests that are so often a trait. It's important in any child to feed their interests and give opportunities for a wider range of experiences too.

With DS it took a long time to build up the list of traits and out of synch development to be worth a referal. The traits that OP describes could be something or could be "nothing" and just a more sensitive child that develops within the usual ranges.

It's not usual but it's also not a massive deal.
DS is 4.5 and cannot read or write, yet. He can recognise basic letters (m, a, s, t) but cannot blend or write them, yet. He doesn't need to. He'll start school next year when he's 5.5 and will start to learn Phonics from around January in his first year at school.

However, his fine and gross motor skills are very well-developed. He's been dry since the age of 2.5, has excellent social skills (according to nursery...he can still be a right little stroppy monster at home). He likes numbers and cannot count to 20 and add two and three single-digit numbers below 10. He's bilingual, and while his English is at an age-appropriate level, I've already spoken to his teacher for next year because he will need to focus on his second language a bit more to catch up there. (I teach at the same school and we just had a chat, so I'm not some overbearing ueber-mum, who goes pestering staff a year before their kid starts school.)
If your DS can read already, then that's lovely and he can focus on other things in that year.

Can count to 20.
Why is there no edit function to fix the autocorrect mistakes my phone puts in?

Isn't this just like the babies who talk early or stand and walk at a really early age. It's great at the time and you feel very proud of your advanced baby. However it means little in the scheme of things as most children will catch up with each other at some point. The early walkers don't become marathan runners necessarily and the early talkers don't become actors.

My eldest was a late walker, but once she did walk she was just as good at it as any other toddler.

It's absolutely fine to post threads like this, but I hope other parents aren't discouraged by their own children's averageness. I'm not saying that op is a competitive parent, but it can be hard when parents are competitive about their children's abilities.

Check out this website for hyperlexia
alphabetchildren.com/

I certainly wouldn't have posted about on the internet though. Very odd. Clearly you can't brag in real life, so are doing it on MN. I understand it's joyful to have a child who is excelling. But not all children do excel - some are middle of the road, some struggle and some are disabled - and all your post does is make those people feel bad.

Your medal is in the post. Meanwhile in the real world OP is allowed to post whatever she likes on MN, whether it's a brag or a genuine concern about whether her son's early reading is masking another issue.

My DD learned to read at 2.5 through flashcards not phonics, she definitely hasn't got ADD.
Her reading speed is at least 4x of mine, we joke that this is her superpower.
Her exposure to reading (and she read lots as a child, much less now), I think, contributed to her grammar, writing and comprehension skills.
She works now as a content editor and a marketing specialist.
Her brother was ot interested in reading at a young age but now he is 22 and reads much more than her, and has ADHD.

It’s normal. My daughter started school the month after she turned 4 and she could write and read basic stuff and had been doing this at nursery from around 3. Some kids can and some can’t.

I certainly wouldn't have posted about on the internet though. Very odd. Clearly you can't brag in real life, so are doing it on MN. I understand it's joyful to have a child who is excelling. But not all children do excel - some are middle of the road, some struggle and some are disabled - and all your post does is make those people feel bad.

And all YOUR post has done is try to make OP feel bad. Congrats.

It's all within the realms of normal... but can be an early-ish sign of high functioning autism.

I say this purely anecdotally though... I'm a Reception class teacher, and have taught around that age group for 14 years. In that time, I've had 6 children start school, already reading. Of those 6, 5 of them went on to show various levels of ASD.

How are his social skills?.......

@Zeropointzero

Many clever kids have good social skills

I think it sounds like he is doing really well with writing etc. Sounds more "advanced" (I hate that term) than many three year olds in that regard.

Ah but can he drive an HGV? That would be both impressive and useful right now.

To answer some questions, he is very sociable with other children, he makes friends very easily when we are out at the playground or playgroups.

He doesn’t have any siblings, but he goes to nursery twice a week and we go to playgroups often.

What you have described with linning up blocks and not playing with toys etc sounds like autism

Two of my children didn't play with toys in conventional ways and still don't at 7 and 9. Neither of them have any diagnosis but I'm neurodivergent so time will tell, and it possibly hinders my ability to recognise some stuff because I see it as normal. Third one does play like that and it's interesting to see. I never had any imagination growing up so watching him act things out is cute.

The two of my children mentioned above have friends and have never had trouble making friends, however the 7yo is just this year starting to show problems in this area. I think he's still liked though as he gets party invites and things, but he will often walk off on the playground to be alone because people get too much for him. He also has rapid mood swings but he has epilepsy so it could just be that.

I could read at 3 - like read a book, read the newspaper. I’m normal in every other respect other than the speed at which I can read and assimilate information. Both my kids sound like yours, they’re now 8 and 10, very able but not exceptional. Doubt you have anything to worry about.

@Rockean

To answer some questions, he is very sociable with other children, he makes friends very easily when we are out at the playground or playgroups.

He doesn’t have any siblings, but he goes to nursery twice a week and we go to playgroups often.

My DS always seems to be making new friends and he has an ASD diagnosis - so I wouldn’t read much into having friends.

He’s an extrovert who loves chasing games and larking around. It’s just that people get a bit much for him, especially when they’re in large groups, and he needs to recharge.

It’s a real myth that people with ASD are anti-social. It’s a sensory processing condition - not a social disorder. It’s just that the sensory input processing issues often make body language and social cues overwhelming and hard to interpret, especially when there are lots of people around.

You make it sound like being autistic makes you a genius! My 7 year old is autisic,can't read or write,still unable to potty train and has limited speech. All kids are different whether they are on the spectrum or not and most three year olds are where yours is at. I have three more children who could all read and write well by ages 3 and 4.

My DD was the same at that age.
We thought she was just remembering the word when she would sit and read picture books to herself and loved Rhyming.

To be honest it was a burden when she started primary school and she was bored, frustrated and hated school with a firey passion for the 1st 6 months and struggled socially.
She’s now 7 and still loves reading and language.
She’s in her schools giftedness programme but still isn’t that keen on school.

Everything you have said about your child, I would have said about one of mine at the same age - ability to read and write, lack of interest in toys and games, great speech and memory, affectionate, sociable etc. Around the age of 4, I began to explore autism as a possibility and he received a diagnosis at age 6. His sister can also read and write at 3 but it feels different - she also plays and imagines - she doesn't fixate on letters like her brother did.

most three year olds are where yours is at.

Oh yes, ask any reception teacher. Most children come in to school having been able to read for a year

Only on MN can most 3 year olds read while at the same time early reading is a dead cert indicator of autism!