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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:
HollyandMistletoeforever · 04/12/2006 12:28

Cross posted with Mumblechum & Northstar - Just to say my DS1's handwriting is absolutely appalling - we have had to have meetings at his school about it - and it always has been. For such an early and avid reader, go figure! Although I agree it does seem to be a boy thing. My handwriting is bad but at least it's legible.

northstar · 04/12/2006 12:28

thanx mumblechum - how did you know it was a ds i was worried about lol!

jampots · 04/12/2006 12:30

dd was about 4 she picked it up instantly. Ds however was about 6/7. Boys are generally slower with reading though so please dont worry and whatever you do DONT LISTEN TO OTHER PARENTS IN TEH PLAYGROUND l

notagrannyyet · 04/12/2006 16:47

DS1....5
DD.....3 She seemed to somehow pick it up watching her brother read.
DS2....Was always behind in reading. Left primary school with a reading age of 7. It eventually clicked in year 8. He went on to get A levels in the sciences. Don't think he as ever read a book for pleasure .
DS3 & DS4 Also struggled and needed lots of help, but are fine now (aged 13 & 11).
DS5....4 was reading well before he started school.

TreeFuses · 04/12/2006 17:06

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Piffle · 04/12/2006 17:08

ds very young 3
dd is 4 and sounds like your ds saadia - dd was 4 in October
she recognises words like up and then if you show her cup she will say kah up not cup.
I figure when it clicks it will click pretty well though
once they start though... in a yr or so you can hardly tell the difference tbh

joelallie · 04/12/2006 17:14

DS#1 - basically literacy just passed him by in reception and yr 1. He saw the light dramatically at the start of yr 3 but it took about 6 months for his reading age to reach his real age. Now at 9 he has a reading age of 10.4 or something like that. He is still a reluctant reader although quite fluent but getting keener.

DD was 'reading' to herself I
(ie telling herself a story from the pictures) from the first time she could hold a book the right way up. She was desperate to read and was reading properly half way through yr 1. At 7 she reads better than her older brother.

joelallie · 04/12/2006 17:15

PS I agree with jampots. Close your ears to the siren calls of the other mummies! Their kids are not the same as yours.

Issymum · 04/12/2006 17:18

I'm not sure I could say that the 'click' was a one-off event. DD1's progress in reading (she's in Y1) is uneven (it plateaus for a while and then accelerates), but I'd expect her to continue to make that uneven progress until she is reading War & Peace.

Original poster
saadia · 04/12/2006 17:43

thanks everyone for your info, and you're right it really shouldn't matter what anyone else is doing. I really don't want ds feel he has to compare himself to others. But I am glad to know that there is a massive variation in when children learn to read and that it has no real bearing on their ultimate reading skills.

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HuwEdwards · 04/12/2006 17:58

She's recently worked the sounding out - and she's 6. The 'Group/Guided reading' that is done in Yr1 really clicked with my DD, where the 1-2-1 reading in Reception never did.

alison222 · 04/12/2006 18:38

DS was about 5.3 when it really clicked. He could painfully - sound out words beofre then but found it a chore and had a very good memory so he could recite the stroy back parrot fashion after one go with the beginners books.

Something really seemed to suddenly click and his reading took off at high speed.

Another child I look after sometimes is in year 2 and he can read - slowly and painfully. He can work it all out so has the skills - but that "clicking" thing clearly just hasn't happened yet. He is 6.5 at the mo.

Glassofwine · 04/12/2006 18:38

our school don't tell us a 'reading age' - how do you work this out for yourself?

alison222 · 04/12/2006 18:39

Mind you if you can read what I just wrote then it would seem that I can't write

Original poster
saadia · 04/12/2006 19:01

alison222 ds is the same in that he can recite entire books so memorising those ORT ones is no problem for him. He therefore recognises certain more difficult words but would probably be flummoxed if presented with them in a different context.

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DoesntChristmasDragOn · 04/12/2006 19:07

DS2 by the end of reception so 5.5. Probably was a bit earlier than that but I guess that's when it took off, he was reading easy chapter books by the end of the summer hols anyway. DS1 went into Y1 barely able to read anything and within 6 months was reading fluently (Flat Stanley etc, had a damn good stab at the Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe).

Their school doesn't do anything about recognising words, it's all phonics. They teach them how to read rather than to read words IYSWIM. Once it clicks with the child, they're off and running as all the techniques are in place.

alison222 · 04/12/2006 19:16

Is is definatley just time then it will click sooner or later and it seems to be a very different age for each child.
Are they sending reading books home with your DS yet?
I had to ask for 2 each week of the really easy ones because of this memeory -reciting problem.
It was a struggle to sound them out for him at first. It is a new concept and takes a while to "get"

Now the books are so long because his reading has taken off so well that I have trouble getting him to read out loud for long enough. (The latest one has 56 pages and they are not short pages either).He will read to hmself but then we don't pick up on the things he acan read but doean't know the meaning of -vocab and expressions.

They all get there in the end so it will happen . It just seems painfully slow at first.

hannahsaunt · 04/12/2006 20:19

Ds1 - just turned 6 - reading age of 8/9 (inc comprehension).

Ds2 3 (nearly 4) - learning his letters and can read numbers to 9

binkacat · 04/12/2006 20:34

DD is six in March and she is just beginning to get it. Not clicking overnight though. But the last week she is looking at signs when we're out and about and "guessing" the word - sometimes she gets it right, or if notthen quite close. So definetly now thinking about sounding out the words.

EmmyLou · 04/12/2006 21:04

DD1 - 9 (God, that was hard work - poor thing)
DD2 - 4.6 to 5 (like falling off a log)
DD3 don't know yet - she's 3.

ChristmasisComing · 04/12/2006 21:17

My dd was fluent at 4.5 (Christmas in Reception) and now reads for pleasure (I have to go up and turn her light off or she would read all night lol)

My ds learnt from watching her so he could read at 2/3, but does not enjoy reading as she does. He has just started Reception and I am happy he is enjoying reading at the same level as his classmates.

It didn't really 'click' with either of them - they just read more as they learnt all the sounds and off they went, so it was more of a progress, but I do rememebr when the 'blending' clicked with ds.

MrsMaloryTowers · 04/12/2006 21:19

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cat64 · 04/12/2006 21:31

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Original poster
saadia · 04/12/2006 22:02

cat64 what a lovely post - I would certainly wish that for all children.

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Dottydotthehalls · 04/12/2006 22:05

ds1 is 5 on Thursday and nowhere near reading yet. He knows most but not all of his letter sounds, but loves being read to and has got tons and tons of books - every night when I go in his room to switch his light off, his bed is covered in books!! So I'm sure it'll come and I'm not worrying about it - we're learning with ds1 that being laid back is the way to be, otherwise he gets really stressed that he's not doing something well enough, so we're leaving school to it at the moment!