Are lots of pre-reception 4 year olds reading ?

[flowerpowersd]

My DD is 4, she starts reception in September.

I've been speaking to a few parents who said their child is so ready for reception.

One today told me that their child was ready because she was already reading.

My DD likes phonics and can recognise some words, is making the first attempts at blending sounds and ' reading '.

Should I aim for her to be reading by the time she starts reception ?

Is this quite common that children can read this soon and is this what parents mean when they say they're ready for reception?

Another mum told me her son was also reading and he was not even 4 yet at the time.

Should I invest in some very basic reading books and try to teach her so she can ' read ' when she starts reception ? Or can my DD also technically 'read '?

Or when people say they can read, they actually mean they can read books for their age independently?

She's been going to preschool nursery so far. She loves it and I'm not sure I would say she's ready or desperate to go to reception, although I could be wrong.

My 3yo can read and write, use cutlery, dress herself, go to the bathroom herself and all of that stuff. But her staying power is awful. So our current prep for reception is that every day we choose an activity and then set a timer, and she has to sit and do the activity until the timer goes. We've slowly gone from two minutes to 15 minutes. I couldn't give a stuff if the activity is reading or just banging some drums to be honest 🤣

My eldest was entirely different, and would sit for hours doing arts and crafts, playing with playdoh etc, but couldn't read properly until half way through reception.

My point is that all kids have their strengths and weaknesses. I wouldn't worry about it.

A handful can, but it's not standard. Both of mine could, as could I.

But they're both hyperlexic, autistic and have ADHD. Academically, speech, comprehension wise, they're wildly ahead. Socially, not so much! Same as me.

I would say if a child actually can read before school age, as in properly read not just have some words memorised/recognise some etc then actually it's often an indicator of more 'going on'.

Encourage your child to enjoy books and stories as a pleasure, regular storytime is the most positive thing you can do here. Don't worry about the technicalities of learning to read, that's for the teachers to sort out with your support and encouragement at home.

@Didimum Yes, I appreciate that many parents might be unaware of phonics, but there is plenty of information for parents online and on school websites etc for people to learn. Many schools have online videos etc to help parents. As likely, they will need to learn in order to support their child with phonics as they progress. Some parents will choose to learn and involve themselves, others won't. This is ultimately parental choice. I'm a secondary teacher and low literacy levels are a huge barrier for many, so as a family we prioritise literacy and numeracy in an age appropriate way.

DS is going to school in Sept. At the parents meeting we were actively told not to teach the kids to read. They said it takes longer to unpick poorly taught technique than starting from scratch. DS can blend phonics to make v simple words eg (h-o-t…hot) but is a long way off reading. I think he’s slightly ahead of his peers in what he can do so I think being able to read is definitely an outlier.

My DS turned 4 last month. He is quite clever and is academically ready for school.

He can identify every upper and lowercase letter and give the correct sound phonetically, but doesn't always apply those sounds to words correctly. He can "sight read" certain words that he sees frequently. He can count to 100, and backwards from 20.

Emotionally, I think he will struggle. He does not handle transitions well and tends to get overwhelmed when changing activities. He clings to me, his preferred nursery teacher, and closest friends. He is also being assessed for ADHD, which comes with its own struggles.

Swings and roundabouts. Every child has different strengths and weaknesses, but they nearly always adapt to school in the end!

Mine was reading competently at 4. He started school at 5 (we are not in the UK). He was able to read the parental instructions that we were given with the school readers. The school were brilliant with him and allowed him as much reading time as he wanted when class work was finished. 20 years later he still reads avidly.

As a reception teacher. Please don’t.
It is literally my job to teach children to read and it makes it a lot harder when I have to unteach a lot of mistakes and bad habits that children come to school with when they can ‘already read’.

Sure, but it’s not necessary pre-reception. Low literacy pre-reception is not indicative of low literacy in later childhood. It’s also not necessary to get defensive.

@Didimum I agree.There is no 'standard' or checklist for what is necessary. Other than the EYFS curriculum as guidance for development. But parents can and do teach their children to read before starting school. This is parental choice. And perhaps also led by a child's interest and curiosity. The national curriculum isn't perfectly designed. Parents have the freedom to choose what to teach/engage their kids in outside of formal education. The op asked a question and has had a range of responses,which is perhaps indicative of the range of ability that children have when entering reception. You responded to my comment, and I have back. My ideas are only based on my experience. But low level literacy is a barrier to success and so encouragement and engagement with reading, from an early age, is in my opinion an essential foundation for young people.

I have 3 children. DD and DS2 couldn’t read before going to school.
DS1 however could. He was assessed by Ed psych when he was in reception and had a reading age of 14, he had hyperlexia and high functioning ASD.
So it is possible for a 4 year old to be reading but not usual and often a sign of something.
every child is different. I don’t think now DS1 is 17 you could tell who was an early reader and who wasn’t because once everyone gets to a certain level of reading there’s not much further you can go!
mon the other hand DS1 didn’t utter a single sound apart from ‘uh’ until he was 2.5, in fact I’m fairly certain he could read before he could talk. I know I’d rather have a NT child who couldn’t read until they were in primary school than an early reader with other difficulties.

@BrieAndChilli I asked this upthread - is hyperlexia (true hyperlexia, where a child is a self taught extremely early reader) always an autistic trait?

Hyperlexia is very strongly linked with Autism but not always a sign the child/adult is also autistic. I did a course once which partly focused on it and I'm sure it was mentioned that about 80% of those who had hyperlexia were also autistic.

Goodness. Obviously people can do whatever they like. I’m just saying it’s not necessary as the OP is fretting that it is.

We have 3 children. 1 read before reception class. On her own.

I wouldn't worry about it.