Reading?

[yummymummy84]

At what age to children tend to start reading? Average obv...

my twins could both read basic sentences before they were 5, but they start full time school in the September before they were 5 in the December.

they startED school - past tense

reading a book with help obv small words the cat dog etc She is 3.5 and can read her own name. I dont expect her to read yet but wondered when she should normally be able to?

Bob books you can get them from Amazon

Oh sorry thought you were askin for books.

DD started school at 4y5m. By then she knew all her basic letter sounds and 1 or 2 others such as sh/ch. She'd started picking up on letters and sounds from being 2-3y gradually building them up. We just read loads together and she loved her books. She loved games like I spy

When she went to school, she was at the point where she could see c a t, say the ounds and start to blend them together.

Within days of starting school she was blending more and ore words using sounds, and learning sight words too. TBH I think DD learnt a lot by sight reading (I know this isn't the prefered way, just how she did infact learn). She just went from there and it really took off TBH.

Whenever she's ready - there's a huge variation. I know kids who were reading at 4 and others who didn't click 'til 7. All are bright. Just read to her and make books fun. If she's not reading by school she won't be anywhere near the only one.

For most children it depends what age their parents and/or playgroup sit down and start teaching them. Friends who wanted to start their children early started at 3, my son didn't start until he went to school at almost 5. They are all reading at a similar level now 18 months later.

Loads of practical advice on helping children to read and on Oxford Owl website. Even has free ebooks to share.

It varies hugely. My DD has just turned 6 and is in yr 1. I would say that it is only in the last month or so that she has really been able to 'read', by which I mean she really can do it. It happened almost over night (or so it seemed), one minute she could just about say c-a-t cat and then suddenly everything was within her grasp. She is probably about in the middle of the reading ability in her class. She now is invaluable in reading to her two younger siblings so I don't have to! Her cousin (3 months younger, i.e. almost 6) has been able to read fluently - chapter books, newspapers etc since well before she was 4. Long term - everyone reads, it doesn't matter when. I was a terrible reader when I was little. My mother was very worried about me. It didn't fall into place until I was about 7 and I really remember getting frustrated and angry and just not getting it. I ended up reading English Literature at Cambridge so things must have worked out somewhere along the line!

In Scandinavia they don't start teaching kids to read until they are 7. By 8, they have already overtaken UK kids in their reading skills and by 15 they are getting some of the best results in the world!

The human brain is not actually designed to read; educational psychologists tell us that all the different skills you need develop slowly and 'come together' at about 7 yo (although of course all kids are different). The big disadvantage with the UK system is that it's known to put some kids off reading altogether, because expectations are set too high, too early.

So the answer to your question is, it's really best not to worry about this until she is at least 7. Absolutely the best thing you can do for her development, at this stage, is reading to her and talking with her to develop her vocabulary. She will pick bits and pieces up at her own pace, and school should do the rest when she starts.

Very good further reading on this, if interested, is Maryann Wolf's "Proust and the Squid".

agree with smee - its really great if you can get your children to love stories and books!

I was reading before 3 and was a 'free reader' on starting school (no teaching I just picked it up) but DD is 3.7 and not reading. She recognised letters very early but she has always had trouble with lots of letter sounds when speaking (cat would be dat, etc) so I deliberately didn't introduce any phonics. Her speech has now caught up to average and she's just about really starting to get interested. She's a summer baby so I very much doubt she will be reading by the time she starts school.

No idea what my point is just wanted to add my tuppenceworth experience :o

I keep hearing about this Proust squid thingy WTF is it? :)

A very interesting book about 'the reading brain', how humans developed the skills of reading and writing over time, how kids learn to read, dyslexia and various other related things. A difficult read in places but totally fascinating!

BTW, I was also reading before 3 without being taught. Of course everyone was very impressed, but actually there are some big disadvantages to very early reading - namely, your ability to read the words is far in advance of your ability to understand the full meaning of what you're reading. Also, because you can read to yourself, you miss out on the important experience of being read to and talking about the content with adults.

I think many of us get fixated on reading itself whilst forgetting the crucial importance of pre-reading skills: speech, vocabulary, and comprehension.

Totally agree. Another reason I've held back with DD. She really wants to read now though (don't actually think she's 'up to it' but we will do some letters etc)

Will look up that book thanks. :)

Yeah, they all differ. But the advice not to push it is good. If they teach themselves then fine, but as pp said the brain isn't really designed to do it before 6 or 7.

The whole idea of giving UK kids reading tests at 6 must make the scandanavians think we're crazy. I used to teach young kids the piano, involoving note-reading which is similar to reading in lots of ways. The interesting thing was that the kids who started learning in Year 2 would catch up those who started in Year 1 (so had learnt a year longer) within a term of starting.