Learning to Read at 24 months

[Grizzy]

Hi

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.

G

I haven't really read the above posts in detail, because I just got confused by the mention of a supposed distinction between actually reading and word recognition. I learned to read at that age too, and I remember doing it. I asked my nanny what each word was in a book and after a couple of months I could read any book going without needing to ask for help. I was clearly starting via word recognition, but I worked the rest out for myself, and I'm sure that if your DD is a self-starter whose brain is just at the right point in time to pick up reading she will too. It was a happy and natural experience for me and enormously increased my ability to think independently, amuse myself and be creative. Please don't be put off by the people who suggest it migt be isolating just because your child isn't average! No way could this ever be the case.

I don't think that it is isolating-lots of DCs do it. My DH just picked it up at 2 yrs by following the words when his parents read to him. He was very bright all through school-well above average-but not exceptional.
You nearly always get a yr1 DC who is reading Harry Potter. They all do it in their own time. Just encourage, without 'hothousing' and labelling.

Well my ds is a few months younger and barely speaks so um, yeah, I'd be happy with that!

They are all different-when they get to 10yrs no one knows (or cares) if they became a fluent reader at 3yrs or 8yrs! You can't possible look at my DH and know that he started to read at 2yrs. Many very successful people didn't do well in the early years. Some DCs read early, some are a whizz with numbers, some are riding a bicycle at 3 yrs, hit a tennis ball early etc etc. Just give them time and space.

2 year olds are amazing with the stuff they pick up.

IME DD1 went through phases of being really interested in words and letters, among other phases of obsessions with other things.

"Exceptional" is really a silly word to use about a toddler.

Just encourage her to have fun, and enjoy her.

What would impress me in a 2 year old, would be if they were good at sharing :o

my DS isn't particularly bright, his vocabulary is exactly on a par with his age and he can do word recognition. Gives us something else to do which isn't sat in front of the tv.

My mum taught me to read and spell (she'd point at a clock, I'd pick out the individual letters and spell the word out) by the time I was 22months, she's kept a diary and by that point I could spell out more words than I could say.

I am not exceptional by any means, but she was bored and stuck in Sri Lanka with nothing better to do than teach her toddler to read!

Just encourage and show her what she enjoys. Keep reading to her, but please don't try and teach her to read. As it stands she will probably read before she starts school anyway.

I think it's great! 24 months is quite young and she's already recognising words.

I had a quick glance at the posts here and some people have said it's not necessarily a predictor of future success. Even if it isn't, it's definitely a great step in the right direction!

All the best with your precious baby!

I've been teaching my 2 1/2 yr old to recognise words on flash cards. She knows 16 now. It's just word recognition. My mum taught me to read before I started school and it was something I was always good at. One thing tho, I was so far ahead of the other kids I was sent up 2 classes to do reading at primary. My headmasters etc all thought I was destined for greatness, but I never went to university. Your daughter is probably pretty bright - mine also speaks very well for her age, but I wonder if it will just mean she'll be harder to keep interested in schoolwork when she starts.

I read before starting school and I had to skip a year altogether. I went from nursery to year 2( not in the UK though). My parents kept stimulating me, I did go to uni and I'm doctor now.

My ds read before starting school, he's starting year 3 now and is still very much ahead of his peers and is enjoying school. He also enjoys being 'smart'

My point is every child is different and being bored in school or not succeeding is life is NOT because they read early. There were probably other things contributing to that.

I'd say, if she enjoys learning, please nurture it, and expose her to lots of learning opportunities. She'll be fine and thank you for what you're doing.

my dd was like this, and always had a ridiculous reading age. In all other ways her academics were average, or below average (numbers). Now she is 13, & I can't get her to read anything other than vampire books. She is not exceptionally bright at all, but I was glad of her ability when she was little, because it meant she could read to herself while I ignored her while I got on with other things. It seems to run in families; my brother and I were the same, as was my Dad.

Thanks for all your comments everyone.

Yes I had worried re hyperlexia/ASD/receptive language impairment, etc. She seems to always have had an exceptionally long attention span that, reportedly, young children are not supposed to have.

Yes, 'gifted', is not always a gift and a worry in itself. I think, the magic word, 'normal' is something most parents would be most happy to hear about their child.

In answer to others queries:

She has been able to point to and recognise any letter in the alphabet since about 16 months and say what they are. (Mostly due to having been completely obsessed with the Alphablocks for about 8 weeks solid).

She recognises words within a well known story. (Whole sentences now - since my last post. I know this is mostly from memory but have read that this is the 'start' of reading). I also play games with flash cards where we have them face down and I ask her to find the 'queen' or the 'frog', etc. (The cards have just the word on the back - the picture being on the front). She absolutely loves this.

Yes, she has yet to understand fully the use of phonics and how to piece the sounds of each letter together to read an unusual word.

Thanks everyone. Sounds like she's normal (ish). So fine with me!

It was great to hear all your other stories.

My god, DS2 must be thick as 2 short planks. He's 18 months and basically says ooooh, points at everything and runs about like a nutter. No sentences, reading, maths, nothing. Mind you that might just be because he is a baby.........

Yes, she has yet to understand fully the use of phonics and how to piece the sounds of each letter together to read an unusual word

Seriously? DS1 is nearly 6 and only just learned to do that

Hi Grizzy. About the end of last month I started a thread regarding my daughter's unusual abilities (and received similar sarcastic remarks ) as a friend had expressed concerns. By this I think she was inferring autism or hyperlexia.

After some sound advice from other parents here I felt reassured that my daughter was not and is still not displaying symptoms of autism or hyperlexia and is just an exceptionally early developer. Your daughter sounds similar.

DD now recognises well over 100 words out of context, ie. in a library book she hasn't seen before. We have never used flash cards and I don't intend to get any soon as DD enjoys stories so much and picks out words on her own without being asked. I didn't teach her letters until a couple of weeks ago when she asked what they were so I can only assume she recognises the shapes of words.

As others have said this probably doesn't mean anything in the long run but to answer your question for now your child probably has more advanced word recognition skills than the average child of the same age.

I remember DS1 could recognise words by the time he was 2, mainly words that interested him (JCB was the first ) But he was actually the latest of my 3 DC to learn to read (i.e. decode), he didn't properly get the hang of it until he was almost 6. He still tends to sight read rather than decode. DS2 decodes rather than sight reads, and learnt to read much more quickly and now reads better than his older brother (they are 7 and nearly 9).

Enjoying books at 2 is good though, and is the first step towards being an enthusiastic reader.

Forgot to say, my DD also has an unusually long attention span (for a 17 month old) and will quite happily sit with me looking at books for an hour. This is great from my point of view as hopefully (if all goes to plan this time) she'll have a baby sibling late in April so I'll be able to breastfeed the new baby and entertain DD at the same time :)

I think she sounds exceptional, I don't know many toddlers that can do that. I know one little girl that could read anything at 2 and now at 4 can compose prose and write clearly. I find her amazing because I don't know any other little ones like that.

I find it weird on these threads that so many people come out the woodwork saying how normal it all is - not in my obviously limited experience.

Ophuchi, thanks so much for your comments. Our DDs do sound quite similar. Does your DD also like jigsaws? Mine loves them and she's very good at them too!

Also, this was my first ever post on Mumsnet and I was quite shocked at the amount of sarcastic replies to be honest.

It took us 6 years to conceive our DD and I have spent a lot of time posting on Fertility Friends prior to this. There were never any sarcastic remarks there. It made me feel quite sad that there are so many lovely caring kind ladies out there that can't have children and what appears to be quite unkind ones that do have them.

You're very welcome Grizzy. Funnily enough, DD is also very fond of jigsaws and peg puzzles.

I'm fairly new here too and was also a bit surprised at the sarcasm. Yes, a wee bit of poking fun is fine but sometimes people can be nasty and there's no need for that.

Our DD was also quite a few years in the making and I must agree that on fertility forums people are very kind and supportive. It's sad that cloaked by the anonymity of the internet, some posters feel the need to be unkind to others.

Your DD sounds lovely. Just enjoy her and don't take any unkind words to heart.

I must also agree with moomaa who has made an excellent point. I personally have not encounterd enough toddlers to comment but a family friend who worked with toddlers for over 30 years recently told me she'd only ever come across one other child like my DD (in the 70's) It's little wonder that we as parents ask questions on the internet when in real life our little ones seem so different!