My baby can read

[MamaTuska]

I am new and this is my first post. I just want to know your opinion. My baby is recognising words by following what is written such as she claps when seeing a word. I assume this is ordinary. My DD is 13 months (she is my first), we speak to her in two languages and I use flash cards as she enjoys playing with them a lot. We do not use them everyday but she plays with them quite often. Is there anything else I can do to boost this ability.

This has echoes of Bettina and Max from Ab Fab. Showing flash cards to babies...pfft. It isn't a competition.

(I am a parent btw...I just read normally to both of mine)

Singing is great for learning vocabulary. I do a lot with my own DC. It's fun and there's just no pressure for children to learn. Let them be and best not rushing their development. They grow up too fast as it is!😂

They're horrible @Hollywolly1 - they are just bitchy.

There's always a star reader in the class at nursery and sometimes they continue being the star all the way through. My dcs have all had one in their class, and they've never been weird, or with weird parents, or hothoused.

Psychologist here....it is far more important to talk and read stories with children as MEANING is crucial. Word recognition used to be known as 'barking at words. In the end it's about learning what meaning is encoded in language and being able to manipulate this. That and social skills.

If your baby were reading (quod non), you should NOT be handing them flashcards, you should do whatever you can to draw their attention away from symbols to humans. Hyperlexia and early reading just take attention away from learning to read social cues. Spoiler alert: social relationships are what make for a happy life, and yes, even for career success.

👍

Forget flash cards, read her books, lots of books. Talk to her about the things you see together. Respond when she attempts words herself. Even if you have managed to teach her to recognise a few words, there is really no merit in this.

She could well be recognising the word, but recognising it as a picture, if that makes sense. My youngest did something similar. So it's great if she's enjoying it, but not the same as being able to read, as she's not decoding it.

Fucking chinny reckon.

My grandmother was told I could read books at 3. She did not believe it. She thought it more likely that I was so familiar with the books I had at home that I simply knew them off by heart and recognised the pictures and the shapes of the words from memory. She believed that I did not yet have the capacity to relate the words I was reading to the ideas in the story until someone told me what they meant.

So she bought a new book and gave it to me on her next visit. I can still remember that the story was about a little boy having a nightmare and walking through a forest. He had on a funny pj suit with a hood and ears. The forest was full of huge dark trees and creatures with big eyes and lots of teeth peering out from among them. Apparently I read the book perfectly except for a little help needed with the longer words. And when my grandma questioned me about the story I was able to tell her what had happened.

My grandmother then admitted she was wrong. I was always well in advance of other children at reading.

leave the poor thing alone… and no she can’t read!

It deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a toatl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe

You can read by whole word as well as phonics. If she's seeing the word and understanding enough to do the action surely that is better reading than the child who sounds it out, and says the correct word but doesn't connect it to an actual word.

Is this a zombie thread?!

@FairyPrincess123

I'm an ex child prodigy myself. Didn't work out well...

Let it go.

What is the average age for children to be counting to 10 and knowing letter sounds? I’m thinking I might have a child with hyperlexia readying this.

You can read by whole word as well as phonics

Yes, and firbscriots such as Chinese you have to, and you have to learn every single character by rote - essentially barking at script.

With alphabetic languages, the traditional (centuries old) method is to use the phonic code so that you do have to learn by rote. It is deep familiarity with the phonic oide that lets us unscramble typos, rather than have to guess them as an unfamiliar word and try to get something plausible from the surrounding text.

When truly fluent, you don't realise you use phonics - but brain scans show which parts light up and that indicates that it is rapid phonic recognition, not words as pictograms (as it is with Chinese)

🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤢

[quote Sparklfairy]@Takemetothe90s why do you assume it comes at a cost for every child? I certainly had no trouble making friends, and the OP hasn't indicated this either.

It's like people here get defensive about their own children so make this weird presumption that intelligence 'must' be offset by terrible social skills or a miserable home life. It's not always the case, but if it makes you feel better to make shit up in your head, crack on. It just makes you look bitter.

There's nothing wrong with encouraging your child, hell, some kids actually enjoy excelling believe it or not.[/quote]
I’m making nothing up, just telling my experience in life. My child is excelling as I’ve said in many posts, and I do encourage her, I’m just not obsessive about it.
I’ve nothing to be bitter about.

@winterisaroundthecorner

You mean Hyperlexia, Fancy?

Yes! Sorry - got name wrong. My brother was hyperlexic - he was reading quite complicated books (Ladybird history books) by 3. It was basically his special interest - he doesn't have a diagnosis but I am sure he is on the spectrum - he has turned it into a career as is now a university professor of history. He had a terrible shock when he was 4 and arrived in Reception hoping they'd be discussing Henry VIII etc.

Some children do have more ability to match words and sounds to the symbols for them than others, and some children match them faster. I'd assume your child is starting to get the link quickly, but it might be premature to asume too far. DS was really advanced talking, but proved to be very dyslexic, like his father and grandfather.

Hyperlexia and early reading just take attention away from learning to read social cues

Interesting. I was a very early reader and writer but have always been shit in social environments.

Also I spent all of my time reading- cornflake packets, books, fiction, non fiction, magazines, absolutely anything. But couldn’t be arsed at school, i just wanted to read, and would often have a book under the table in class. I got into trouble for reading an awful lot.

@Takemetothe90s your experience of one bright child struggling to make friends, that automatically means, in your words "it usually comes at a cost". Well, that's conclusive then...

After 2 years on mumsnet and you’ve still not realised that this post and subsequent update would go down like a lead balloon?!

Based on the posts from the OP, I expect that it won't be too long before the baby is more intelligent than her mother. Perhaps it has already happened.

PFB or what ?