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.

@NumberNineTwo

Hyperlexia can be a sign of autism.

It is also a sign of a really high IQ the symptoms of which overlap with autism and ADD sometimes. So it’s probably best if you don’t armchair diagnose just because your child did it a few years later.

I think it's very unusual... and wonderful! You have a very bright little boy!

Seems a bit of a late developer to me. I thought this was usually around 18 months or so.

For comparison, my youngest DC is 4.5, just started reception and has just learnt to write her name since starting school. Older DC was the same, is slightly ahead of where she needs to be but no idea of how that compares to her peers in her school. Proud of both of them and just pleased they're enjoying learning, that's enough for me.

@OldScrappyAndHungry

I love it when people come on these threads and say “it’s normal” or “most 3 year olds can do that”!

Are you guys educational experts? I guess not. It’s not normal - it’s very unusual.

Possible autism, possibly just bright. Definitely something to be monitored OP and raised wish future educational settings. Do they notice anything else for example?

Depends on cultural background I guess. In many parts of Europe and India a 2 yo who wasn’t potty trained and able to hold a conversation would be considered to have developmental delays. Similarly in some countries and cultures it is normal for a child to recognise the letters of the alphabet and short familiar words by 3.

DS is nearly 2 he can recognise the letters of the alphabet and can spot ‘dog’ and ‘cat’ in a sentence. We read all the time and he genuinely loves it - books are treated as just another toy.

Hyperlexia sprang to my mind too.

@Viviennemary

Seems a bit of a late developer to me. I thought this was usually around 18 months or so.

At 18 mths they start recognising words / letters but wouldn’t be reading them.

Seems a bit of a late developer to me. I thought this was usually around 18 months or so

My eldest learned the alphabet at that age because I loved watching Countdown on the TV.

If you Google "hyperlexia", you will see that there are considered to be 3 types of hyperlexia (precocious reading ability).

DS2 was a type 1 - could read fluently ( eg the Times) a few months before he was 3, with no tuition/encouragement from us. He was also a very precocious speaker, but his motor skills for writing were really nothing special. Now, in his late teens, he's very bright, but also very " normal". I was exactly the same. It's unusual, but nothing to worry about IME, if there are no other causes for concern.

@SoniaFouler

Can’t most 3 year olds do that?

No HTH

Just because he makes eye contact and is affectionate, doesn’t mean he isn’t on the autistic spectrum. Nor does a good vocabulary.

My ds could read Roald Dahl by his third birthday. He got his autism diagnosis a couple of years later. The reading was completely self taught and nobody believed that.

I don’t think it’s that unusual for a 3 year old to be sounding out simple words and writing their name, but more can’t than can.

Can’t most 3 year olds do that?

🙄 No, they can’t, especially at only just turned 3.

DD was very similar-early talker and huge vocabulary, reading and writing from 3, talk of accelerated programmes etc.

Some kids are just information and skill sponges and constant repetition breeds retention. DD is a bright kid but she's evened out now that her interests have diversified!

Engage and encourage, but don't obsess. Don't look for meaning in it unless accompanied by concerning behaviours. Some kids just love learning and, like anything else, kids progress at their own pace.

Ds was able to write his name when he just turned 3. He was reading independently by 4. That trajectory was maintained all the way through school and university. I’m so pleased that literacy and reading has been and continues to be such a huge pleasure in his life.

Hey OP I was very similar come from a bilingual family and English wasn’t my first language so it really stuck out to the helpers of the play group I was at then. My family were close to our English speaking neighbours and they read a lot of books to me. I have always been academically advanced and my reading level was off the charts pretty soon after starting school. I’ve always remained very bright but as school went on I became more of a normal bright child. I think nowadays I would have been in a gifted programme these didn’t exist when I was younger. Plenty of As and A* and a good redbrick degree. I stood out at my school as it wasn’t a great school (no longer exists!). However as life has gone on I’ve met many more like me. We are in high end jobs but we’re not exceptional we don’t stand out in society. I think those that were encouraged/coached/caught early would have been.

PS I’ve also met many people a lot cleverer, intelligent, practical and with infinitely more common sense than me!

John Stuart Mill could read Latin and Greek at 3. I think these days Mandarin is more popular......

DS is very affectionate, kind, generous, but he seems unable to read, write, or even speak.

I'm not too worried though, apparently it's a developmental stage that most 16 year olds go through.

The only child I know who was that forward with spelling at that age was later diagnosed with hyperlexia and then when he was a bit older, autism. I’d be investigating that further if you feel it’s an issue. He may well need help to get along with his peers as this boy that I knew really didn’t like other children’s company and therefore found preschool and then reception very hard.

You are drip feeding in ASD signs

Is that deliberate?

You’ll get a lot of different opinions and some aspects of jealousy on here with your posts. Averages are just averages - some children like certain things. Eldest was talking really well by aged 1. And just reading and writing by 3. When to reception just turned 4 and rocked along as top of everything and still is. Had a reading age of 18 by the age of 9. I nurtured and encouraged. Supported her with the things she found hard eg some aspects of social behaviour etc at aged 13 they did some GCSEs (level 9) and happily doing a level in those subjects. She’s happy, sociable, highly academic at everything. Good god the green eyed comments suggesting she is being bullied or pushed (absolutely not). Yes I believe she a high functioning autism (currently having assessments) as do the school. She came home today as her early entry gcse french class (they are all sitting it a year early) had a competition and ‘blue’ team won and the others teams said ‘it’s not surprising you had ‘her first name’ Ronaldo In French - when the teacher asked what the pupil meant he said ‘I wasn’t aiming to be rude but put mini Christmas in a group that group is going to win so the fight is actually for second place’ but we are mindful of the stress this expectation creates and try to help her with mental resilience and living with gifts.

So nurture support, encourage and ignore those that might be jealous. Reading is fantastic. Find a school that won’t hold him back (plenty do - daughter could read properly at 4 but no she had to read 40 books in each level …..until the head intervened)

Ask mumsnet to move it to the gifted section. Lots of other braggy mums on there :)

Hyperlexia. It could be ADHD/ADD as well as ASD. I have ADD and my hyperfocus has always been reading. I was addicted to books as a child and was also able to read and write by age 3. I started reading text-only novels by age 7, and would do bizarre things like read encyclopaedias and dictionaries as a kid. Even as an adult I struggle to find enough satisfying books because I whizz through an average novel in a few hours.

The upside is that I accumulated loads of random general knowledge just as a side effect of reading, and I also did well at school.

Myself and my older brother could read and write really well before we started school but my younger brother who is by far the brightest out of us siblings struggled, it turned out he had dyslexia. I had read virtually every book in primary school by the time I was 7 but I was and still am thick as pig shit when it came to Maths. So I didn’t end up a genius but I am very well read and hopefully your child will be too. Always a good thing!