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Behaviour/development

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Original poster

Learning to Read at 24 months

46 replies

Grizzy · 04/08/2011 19:37

My daughter has just turned two and is beginning to read. Is this exceptionally advanced?

She recognises the words, queen, fox, frog, oh no and splash. This has been in the last week or so.

Would love to hear your views.

Many thanks.

OP posts:

MogandMe · 04/08/2011 19:42

Does she recognise them independently and in a range of contexts?

When DC was 2 he could recognise an E where ever we were but wouldn't have been able to read a word.

MogandMe · 04/08/2011 21:02

Octaviapink · 04/08/2011 21:17

It's not exceptional, no - sorry. Also sorry, that's not actually reading. Reading is decoding using knowledge of letters to spell out words. Your daughter is good at recognising some words, that's all.

triskaidekaphile · 04/08/2011 21:30

Sounds very advanced to me. Are you excited about it?

CristinaTheAstonishing · 04/08/2011 21:31

Clever girl & mummy.

CristinaTheAstonishing · 04/08/2011 21:32

Above not meant to sound sarcastic, sorry.

Taila · 04/08/2011 21:43

Octaviapink- its called 'sight reading' or 'whole word recognition'.

Its used to teach dyslexic's to read; they use it to identify the whole word instead of trying to decipher the individual letters.

I sight read. I have issues with identifying the sounds/letters because of the way my brain translates. If I dont know a word, I recognize it as the way its spelled but can not actually say the word verbally. Once heard, I put into my memory bank. Ive passed all my reading exams with high marks.

Grizzy- Whether she is exeptional or not, encourage her development by supporting her pace and see where it takes her.

elisadoeslittle · 04/08/2011 21:43

My friend's sister's great aunt Fanny knew someone who translated the ancient sea scrolls at 18 months. So I'd have to say no.

stupefy · 04/08/2011 21:46

Elisa, that was my ds! Say hi to Fanny for me won't you :)

festi · 04/08/2011 21:47

is she actually reading or do you point to the same word on the same page and say what does that say, and she remembers it becaquse you told her thats what it says. or is she actually understanding her knowledge of sounds and letters and putting them together to decode. that is what reading is. I dont think you will do her any justice getting her to memorise longer words without first starting with sound blends and tackling cvc words before moving on to cvcv etc. as she will still need to learn these when she starts school.

elisadoeslittle · 04/08/2011 21:49

Stupefy, thats wonderful! Give your DS a pat on the head for me! Also if he wouldnt mind having a look for the Lost city of Atlantis for me, Id be very grateful. Silly me went and misplaced it.

LawrieMarlow · 04/08/2011 21:53

Am trying to work out what story has queen, frog, fox, oh no and splash in it.

Children can learn to read very early and two is perfectly normal. But it is hard to tell whether your dd is actually Reading at the moment.

Greenwing · 04/08/2011 21:56

It shows she has a good visual memory and she sounds quite bright. By all means do encourage her and carry on reading to her, showing her the words as you go. Being good at reading, and enjoying reading, is a huge advantage at school (teacher speaking here). Learning to recognise words will help her.

Exceptional - is hard to say at that age and doesn't matter, so long as she is stimulated, happy and learning. I taught a boy who in Reception class could read Harry Potter and write a story covering a whole A4 page with pretty good spelling and punctuation. Yes he won a scholarship to an independent school but he is only one of many bright kids in their top set and not the best at everything.

carlywurly · 04/08/2011 21:57

According to family folklore, I apparently did this at 18 months, but I'm afraid I'm really no Einstein these days so it's not always a sign of great intelligence, I'm afraid. Someone suggested it was a condition called hyperlexia, if that helps.

One of my dc's was a really early reader but turned out to be mildly ASD, so I think in his case it was connected to that.

exoticfruits · 04/08/2011 22:06

Just enjoy books with her-DCs can pick it up at that age-just take your lead from her.

WidowWadman · 04/08/2011 22:27

Does it matter whether it's exceptional as long as she enjoys it?

My daughter is pretty good at whole-word recognition and we support her by reading lots of books with her (she will recognise the words she knows also if they're written down on a piece of paper, it's not just memorising stories). Just before her second birthday the nursery nurses noticed that she recognised the names of the children in her group on flashcards (just the names, no pictures to support, and also could distinguish between Jacob and Jakob). Nursery nurses found this pretty impressive.

We're pleased that she has such a love of words and books, and that's all that matters, not whether it's normal or unnormal it is for her age.

llmills · 04/08/2011 22:52

My daughter loves whole-word recognition she started at around 18 months with flash cards, it is amazing how much she can recognise. She loved received the reward and praise that we gave her when she got it right. At 24 months she could identify all the words in her little "That's not my...." books in the right order.

She is two and a half now and loves books - she can now point to the words in the right order and understands the words she has 'read'. I have on occasion found her sat down and 'reading' the words of one of her books.

She does not have the skills to decipher new words on her own, but she knows that if it starts with a letter she will start the sound and try to guess the word.

Her brother is 16 months and so now can recognise about 5 words on flash cards - eyes, nose, toes, hair, mouth. He seems to think its a neat party trick - can't get the smile off his face!!!

We think it is fun - it is nice to see children enjoying books and helps to be a good focus for them as well as being a nice family thing to do. If she enjoys it, then encourage it.

vanimal · 04/08/2011 22:59

I am impressed - DD2 is 26mo and showing no signs of reading (and has only just started speaking in full sentences).

DD1 is 3.5 and also would not recognise those words (although the does recognise individual letters now)

SpottyFrock · 04/08/2011 23:09

Dd1 was reading exceptionally early but she was phonetically sounding words out as well as remembering them by sight.
At school she is labelled gifted but I don't think it's a gift at all. She is incredibly challenging and spent her preschool years frustrated and endangering herself by trying to do things a 5yr old would consider challenging. She is also never going to be the content happy girl her (average ability) sister is.

festi · 04/08/2011 23:23

I think that is par of the course with educationaly gifted children spotty. my dd in reception so luckily not labeled gifted and probably wont be, she is very bright and like yours at 3 put herself at risk, still does at 5 with her firce indipendance. At school she works alot on her own as she has excelled alot of the other children and gets targeted alot by some of the other close nit girls who in thier only 4 and 5 yr old way for what they see is her being set apart and in actual fact she finds it difficult to find anything in common with many of the girls so plays with the boys or alone.

luckily she is going into a mixed class next year with year 2 and so will hopefully be mixing with other girls a little more like minded, I hope in a way she will be considered more average ability in comparison to some of the older children. she is perfectionist and struggles to comfertably and confidently do sit down and do any "work", I can her hands clenching and face distort at the even thought of doing any writting etc.

working9while5 · 05/08/2011 06:48

Are these words from books that she is very familiar with and that you read a lot, in which she anticipates e.g. a word at specific junctures in the book? This is quite normal at this age but it is not reading.

If she is "reading" them independently, e.g. pointing to the word and saying it on her own when you are not reading the book for her, does she understand what all of these words mean e.g. can she point to the fox, queen etc? Does she use these words in her own vocabulary? How advanced (or otherwise) is her language?

Learning to read very early can be a sign of a gifted child or it can be a sign of neurological difference e.g. hyperlexia/ASD/receptive language impairment. It is not always a good thing and given that gifted children often need to be separated from their peer group for educational reasons can be socially challenging, some would argue that giftedness itself can be a stressful and lonely thing for a child to experience.

working9while5 · 05/08/2011 06:49

Sorry, I meant "learning to read very early spontaneously/independently" as obviously it is different if you have been drilling her in these words e.g. using flashcards with pictures.

exoticfruits · 05/08/2011 07:27

She is obviously a bright DD-just don't go labelling her far too early and expecting great things.

exoticfruits · 05/08/2011 07:28

Sorry-intended to say don't pressurise her with great expectations.

SpottyFrock · 05/08/2011 11:17

Thanks, festi!
I hate the term 'gifted' because I don't see it as a gift at all. DS is very bright but not exceptionally so. DD2 seems, so far, to be of average ability. I would far rather DD1 was just 'bright' as I think that would make for a far happier child.

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