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Original poster

In the interests of research, can I be really nosy

58 replies

saadia · 03/12/2006 12:49

and ask what age reading clicked with your dss and/or dds?

Ds is in Reception and will be five in two months and he is struggling with blending letters even though he knows all the letter sounds. He has a good memory and knows several words by sight, but is not yet able to read new words just by sounding out.

OP posts:

lulumama · 03/12/2006 12:51

DS- 7 ....at the beginning of year 2....just 'got it' overnight.......and now reads everything..not faultless, but whatever process his brain needed to click with, it has clicked! and DS is one of the oldest in the year....DD 16 months, she eats books! LOL!

aliceband · 03/12/2006 12:52

my dd3 was almost 7 too. her older siblings were younger so i was worried, but needn't have been!

7swansaswimmingup · 03/12/2006 12:53

7 here also, seemed to happen overnight, now hes above his reading age

TinsellyRhino · 03/12/2006 12:54

dd1 was 5 and a half when she started school and by christmas she had mastered reading and now reads everything

HumphreyCushiONtheFirstNoel · 03/12/2006 12:54

DS1 - 5
DS2 - 8.5

Original poster

saadia · 03/12/2006 13:11

thanks everyone, that's really helpful. I'm not the world's most patient person and reading with ds I expect him to be able to figure things out but it probably means he's just not ready yet. It's great to hear of children who love reading .

OP posts:

singersgirl · 03/12/2006 13:13

DS1 - 5 (end of Reception before he was really reading fluently)
DS2 - 4 (reading fluently at start of Reception)

In DS2's Y1 class I would say there are 5 children reading completely fluently (ie could read pretty much anything even though they might not understand it all), another 8 or so reading fluently and well above age level (Y2 or Y3 scheme books), 6 or so reading around age level (ie simple sentences, know 50-100 words by sight) and then another 6 who really can't read at all and may not even be secure with all of their letters.

Children also vary in how they pick up reading - some move steadily through the stages at an even pace, some have spurts and plateaus, some just suddenly go from not reading to reading seemingly overnight.

Your DS sounds as if he is about where my DS1 was at the end of the first term of Reception. At 8 DS1 is an excellent reader. I focused on building up his blending skills and used some simple phonics books (the Ladybird ones) at home as well as his school books. I taught DS2 at home with phonics when he was 3.5, so his reading was artificially early.

Original poster

saadia · 03/12/2006 13:16

singersgirl that's really helpful, and good to know that ds1 is an avid reader.

OP posts:

Miaou · 03/12/2006 13:26

dd1 - 4
dd2 - just before she turned 8. Obviously, dd1 being my first child, I thought that was normal and dd2 was really struggling! But she wasn't, just normal . She turned 8 in November and had just started to read for pleasure. Dd1 on the other hand was reading Just So Stories at 4

Judy1234 · 03/12/2006 18:44

Varied between the 5 children. One the earliest was reading at 3. The oldest at about 5 or 6 and found it very hard at first (not later). The 3 boys all during their reception year 4/5. They learnt their letters at nursery school 3/4. Abroad children are often taught to read at 6 or 7. I don't think the age they start matters much although it seems to matter when they're your children and they're that age. When I look at me now with 3 at university you wonder why you worried so much about particular things when they were little.

I definitely thought the twins were taught to read better than my older children in the 1980s because they were taught better to work out the sounds of words they did not recognise as we'd got over by that stage as a nation the previous prevailing view that it was better they just learnt to recognise the sight of the letters, although some children may learn by different methods better than others so I suppose those of us helping them need to experiment a bit with all methods.

ChristmasCaroligula · 03/12/2006 18:57

About 7 for my DS

Glitterygookwithchocsonthetree · 03/12/2006 19:06

Ds1 - very early on in reception so he was 4.5 - he became pretty fluent very rapidly. He's now in year 1 and 5.5 and is just moving on to the year 3 books.

It doesn't matter though, it's just one of those things that takes longer to click in some than in others. It'll be interesting for me to see how ds2 and ds3 get on with it.

buktus · 03/12/2006 19:08

my ds1 is the only one at school presently and he is in year 1 and i am very proud of him he is currently reading books for 7 and a half yr olds and he has just turned five, but he has seemed to pick it up so quickly when he first started school i was in a panic about him being the youngest but he has proved me wrong and more

Glitterygookwithchocsonthetree · 03/12/2006 19:09

It's a similar pattern in ds1's year 1 class as in the class Singersgirl describes. Ds1 and two other boys could probably read anything - ds1 can read most of what he comes across and the books he is reading at school are not challenging him at all really but he enjoys them (same for other two boys).

There is another chunk of about 6 who are reading pretty fluently but not as ds and the other boys.

Quite a big chunk who are the stage you'd probably expect.

Then another few who are still struggling to blend and read anything at all.

Still a huuuuuuuuge range of ability when it comes to reading at this age.

Original poster

saadia · 03/12/2006 19:22

Thanks everyone, your posts make very interesting reading, and it's reassuring that there is such a huge variation but that even "later" readers are so enthusiastic. I always thought that girls read earlier than boys but clearly that's not always the case.

OP posts:

PrettyCandlesAndTinselToo · 03/12/2006 19:24

ds1 clicked over the summr holidays. He was very good at te end of Recetion,but something changed durig the summer and he's nowreading The Lion, he Witc andthe Wardrobe! he's just turned 6.

USAUKMum · 03/12/2006 19:53

DD -- about 5.5 yrs old, just after the half term in yr 1.

USAUKMum · 03/12/2006 19:58

BTW I am interested if my DS, now 2.4, will catch on a bit quicker. Only because DD was learning the phonic sounds when DS was begining to talk. He still goes around saying some of the phonics anyone have any experiences with a similar gap?

PartridgeinaRustyBearTree · 03/12/2006 20:06

DS learnt to read in about a week aged 4.3, because he wanted to be like his cousin. DD pretty much refused to read at all (though she loved books, but I had to read to her)until she went to school, she wasn't reading fluently till at least 6.5, maybe older (this is 10 years ago, so memory not too good!)They both had the same reading age in their first Junior school reports (end of Y3) though

frances5 · 03/12/2006 20:58

I taught Andrew using Jolly phonics and he learnt to blend simple 3 letter words just after his fourth birthday. I dont agree with using mixed methods to teach reading and I wanted to school proof my son.

However it depends on what your definintion of being able to read is. Andrew can blend and segment most words, at the age of four years and 11 months, but he is very slow, There is no way he could read a book like The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Also although he can "read" almost any word, he doesnt know what some words me. I been surprised at some of the words my son doesnt understand but at least he does tell me. For example he didnt know what the word "risk2 means or the difference be "Peter said" and "Peter says".

Development is a journey not a race. Playing phonic games like phonetic I-spy or a game called Fred Speak where you say "Touch your l-e-g" or "where is the p-e-n". We also found the Jolly Jingle CD helpful for learning sounds.

Original poster

saadia · 03/12/2006 21:28

thanks again for all the replies, they really are very interesting and reassuring. frances5 that is so true about about the difference between reading and comprehending. And also agree that it shouldn't be seen as a race but I'm afraid I am guilty of getting sucked in when other mothers tell me how advanced their kids (the same age as ds) are.

OP posts:

mumblechum · 04/12/2006 12:14

4yrs 8 months (taught him before he started school)

northstar · 04/12/2006 12:17

I'm glad to read all the variations in reading development but here's a quick question if anyone has time.......
Did your lo's writing ability/development match their reading skills?

mumblechum · 04/12/2006 12:19

def. not! Our ds's reading age is 5 years above his chron. age, but his handwriting is shite.
He knows perfectly well how to punctuate and spell but can't be bothered. I think that may be a boy thing, tho.

HollyandMistletoeforever · 04/12/2006 12:25

DS2 is starting to click now and he's not yet 3 and a half! Nothing to do with me - I'm inclined to agree with the European ethos of leaving them alone until they're at least 6. Nursery are teaching him though and he goes on about it all the time and has just started to put letters together to read the words.

It was the same with DS1 (although not quite so early!) - I left him alone, just answering him if he had questions, and he did it all by himself. At 14 he still loves his books and reading although being a rock guitarist appears to have taken over somewhat....

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