At what age could you read/write... and what are your academic/professional qualifications?

[wonderingwondering]

And do you think reading young is generally linked to greater academic/professional achievement overall? Whether that is because of intelligence, nurture, an innate love of or aptitude for reading/learning? Or are the two completely unrelated?

I did not learn to read until my final year at primary and got the highest mark in my year for degree and MSc. Husband read fluently at 3 has a Phd.

I could read before starting school - mum tells me I was in demand by the other kids for identifying coat pegs etc for them. I have always read everything I could lay hands on. I have an BSc, PhD and 3 other post-grad degrees (it's in the nature of my work).

DH couldn't read before school - his parents were afraid of 'doing it wrong' by teaching him at home, so actively discouraged it. He has a BA and an MA, and is far, far brighter and more creative than me.

On teaching children to read early - I'd be wary. I read something about early sucess academically being linked to a 'brittle' learning style, where the child is scared to try new ideas because of the possiblity of failure. I absolutely identify with that, and feel it is a deep-seated part of my personality that is really, really holding me back in my career.

I don't know when I learnt to read, not in preschool, certainly. I was in the American system so I started Kindergarten just turned 5. I was tested as having a reading age of about 10 when I was 6; I got labeled gifted soon after that. I read almost incessantly as a child & now read about 3 books/month. Everyone said and I intended that I would be a writer when I grew up. I don't have a career now, too exhausted with childcare!

I got a BA degree with highest honours (so-so Uni, mind). I have a PhD from an English University in an interdisciplinary area (computers and social sciences: lots of geography and writing and statistics and the kitchen sink thrown in for good measure ).

It is very noticeable to me that DC's achievements at school have closely followed their ability to read; good literacy skills have a positive knock-on effect in other subjects, for them.

I have dyslexia and didnt click with reading until nearly 7. I got a first (BA) and a distinction for my MA.

I was taught at about 3 - my mother asked a teacher friend whether she should teach me or wait for school since I was wanting to know what the marks on the newspaper meant. When I started school at about 4 (summer birthday) I was reading normal size print Alice in Wonderland and Heidi. I remember my parents taking a pile of books I had read into the school to try and persuade them that I didn't need to learn from the beginning. I think they agreed a compromise where I would go through the Roger Red Hat stuff to prove I could do it and read my own books as well. In the end I was put up a year mainly due to my reading ability although I was also pretty good at maths and other subjects. My younger sister was taught at 2 (because I was trying to teach her and my mother wanted to prevent mis-information!) We both have bachelors and masters degrees. My grades are a bit better but I think that is due to differences in our work ethic rather than our IQ. I remember reading everything and anything as a child and I still read fast.

I agree with comments about correlation with supportive families, family expectations, innate aptitude and love of reading which makes learning so much easier etc. I also agree with comments about the importance of emotional intelligence, and valuing non-academic traits in children.

I started teaching myself to read on my 5th birthday (2 years before I started school)- I now have a doctorate in Latin and work part-time as a research fellow.

My brother did not learn to read until 6 or 7, but now has a doctorate in Classical Greek and is a professor.

so rather more impressive than me

Before I went to school, according to my mother, although not sure exactly how old. Reading age was always way ahead of chronological, basically was left to help myself from the school library.

Have O and A levels, a batchelor's degree and post-grad professional qualifications.

I remember learning to read, or rather I remember fighting with my parents about not wanting to have to sit down and do my reading books, I must have been about 4 then. But was competently reading by 5. Same with writing. I fought everyone who tried to teach me anything, I didn't want to learn
Was quickly years ahead and quite bright, top of the class through secondary school, until I was about 15, when I got bored with it all and stopped trying. Got good GCSE's but then left school and never had any further education.
So I agree is nothing to do with how early you read but how motivated you are.

I remember the first moment I knew I could read, if that makes any sense. In the car with my mother and sister, driving through a town centre, and suddenly all those mysterious signs and adverts made sense! I was soooo excited that I could decode absolutely everything around me, I read it all aloud. Must have driven my poor mother nuts.

My mother said that i started to read at the age of 4. Apparently, it came as a great surprise to her as she had not taught me how to read and i had not started school. I have a Bsc, Postgraduate qualifications in Law,LLM and various teaching qualifications . I am a voracious reader and will read anything from glossy celebrity magazines to World War 2 poetry. I believe that reading at a young age gives you confidence which may well result in greater academic achievement I do however think that reading at any age is beneficial, as it introduces us to different experiences.

I was reading before I started school, thanks to being in a house of 4 adults/teenagers. I think this also helped with starting to talk at 10 months (DS has pretty much only just started at 23 months ;) I was always ahead in reading and writing but put in the remedial class for maths at primary school.

I have a 2:1 B.Soc.Sci and an MSc, and I ended up with an A in GCSE in maths so it just goes to show that early education doesn't always reflect future achievement. Couldn't do any maths now though, of course ;)

Love reading, and I'm very good at academic writing - never quite made the leap into making this into anything more accessible/better paid ;)

I started reading at the age of 7 in Switzerland, Now I read in 5 languages have a Ba in fine art, teachers qualification, architects qualification and more.

I started reading at the age of 7 in Switzerland, Now I read in 5 languages have a Ba in fine art, teachers qualification, architects qualification and more.

read early but mainly remember finding it very easy and having my hand up for the flashcards continuously!
had a test at about 8 or 9 and had the top age for the test,14 I think.
have MBChB degree

I could read before I went to school at 4y8m. And do a bit of writing.

I have an MA (Hons) in Geography, a PGCE (Distinction) and a BA (Ordinary) in Theology, as well as some other professional bits and bobs and have just completed the first year of Spanish undergrad with the OU. Planning on starting a Masters in Development this year.

8 we moved country alot, i was in holland and germany til 7 and they had barely started reading and writing while we were in germany as it's done later there, i coulc barely speak german so admit it evaded me and when we moved here they dropped me right into 2nd class with no reading ability at all.... i learned quick though, was reading at the same leval as the rest of the class just after hallowe'en and writing not long after.

read the hobbit at 9 and went on to do leaving cert and got into uni... droped out though and did a diploma course instead which i hated and didn't finish and am now about to start a degree.

i have a high IQ though (mensa leval apparently although i wes fecked if i was spending money to join a club based on 'look how clever we are' )

i've always firmly beieved that later is better for reading, it's taught too early over here and in england.. the european system is better.

that said ds1 is determined to learn with or without my help... he's 2 and has learned to recognise every letter of the alphabet both upper and lower case and the sounds they make... dd who's 4 hasn't the slightest bit of interest though thankfully

I was seven or eight.

I was, in the end, taught by my mother.

I have two or three degrees....matter of definition but certainly two. I read a lot. I have a social skills deficit.

Does this help in anyway....

I'm still learning...but started when I was 3. I have an A.A., B.A., and M.A.

I learnt when I was three (two English teacher parents) have a lifelong love of reading, 2.1 in Eng Lit from top five uni, postgrad diploma in journalism. I think reading early teaches you to love reading - but then it depends what you do with it.

The bits in primary school where everyone else learned to read were very boring - I found the books everyone else was reading too easy and I had to sit at the back and read something else entirely. I still read too fast - I sometimes have to go back because I can't remember what happened a few pages back. And there are vast numbers of books that I've read but can remember nothing about at all. I spend far too much time on MN when I'm supposed to be working.

If you can read early you also get into books that you don't really understand - you are able to read the wordsw but you don't really get what they're saying - I remember scaring myself stiff reading the Lord of the Rings at six ... and because I read a lot and very quickly I've read loads and loads of rubbish as well as the classics. I will read anything - from the back of the cereal packet at breakfast to acres of newspaper print (when I'm supposed to be working).

DH (failed A-levels first time, humanities degree from polytechnic, postgrad diploma) also learned to read at three - and he positively suffered at primary school because he was bored and I think possibly quite disruptive.

I think DS, now two and a bit, could read early - he loves books - but I'm making a positive effort not to push him to - much more interested in him looking at pictures and thinking about the narrative and looking at the details - and slowing down generally.

As I've got older I've developed more intellectual curiosity - and that's what I'd like my DS to have early on (though of course it may be something that only comes later anyhow).

I was reading and writing before i went to school, so was probably 4.

I have 11 GCSE's no A levels and no degree.

I still love reading now, and i don't think i'm particularly thick.
The job i got into was a physical one that i was good at and enjoyed, but wouldn't have even needed to spell my name to do.

I didn't start school until 5. (In Bedford where I spent my early years there was no 'rising fives' or reception classes.) This has a very positive effect on the Private sector because many parents couldn't face having their children at home until they were 5!

Therefore, I probably wasn't reading until at least 6 but by 7 was enjoying Enid Blyton books.

I have a first class engineering degree from Cambridge and a Masters degree. I don't think when you start matters...you just pick it up more quickly if you start later.

Now I read a couple of 'chick-lit' books a week or one 'proper' book a week.