Learning to read - he remembers the stories and doesn't read them

[PassTheTwiglets]

DS (4.5) is just starting to read. I show him a new book once and he can read most of it but a few days later when I show him the book again he remembers the story almost word for word and so just recites it parrot fashion and isn't actually reading the book. Does this matter?!

DS1 (now 12) did this in Reception and i was all worried. But i mentioned it to the teacher and she wasn't worried at all and everything was fine in the end. I wouldn't worry.

My nephew did this, he got very excited one day about a book from school, and announced to me he was going to read me the story without looking :o
I don't think it's unusual and nothing to worry about.

That's a relief, thanks!

ds does this too - sometimes he takes great pride in 'reading' a story with his hands over his eyes!

It's a cute trick but is a " minor" problem that is fine if you are sharing a story and he wants to recite it afterwards but isn't helping him to learn to read and isn't that common IMHE.

Just sharing a story from my own teaching experience; day one of the new academic year,(year 2) I'm listening to each of the children read, next up child C, holds his Biff and Chip book and 'reads' the book with expression, dramatic pauses and a pretty plausible story, except the 'real' words did not match his version at all.....later in the day I take another book, same level or easier and cover the picture - he can't read, not one word....

Later in the day I go to find his report (he is new so needed his report from his old school) under the title of Literacy it read 'Child C enjoys reading a wide range of genres'

I think you have done well to spot it now, at 4.5 I would n't be concerned but would check with the teacher or at home to see how your child's confidence with letters/sounds/words are without the pictures, as it may like the story above be a albeit, very bright 'coping strategy' but simplistically early reading is 'reading a scene to interpret the events' so there is nothing wrong with reading images and memorising stories they are all a part of the 'reading' picture.

hopes first post in this section is/was helpful

Mine does this. I go back and point at words and get him to read them, or ask which word says 'everyone' or 'sad'. He does word strips no bother - it's the pictures that distract him!

My son did this in reception. There isn't much you can do about it - you can't exactly force them not to remember. It shows he has a good memory especially if it's a few days gap. My son would also use the pictures instead of reading at any opportunity he had.

However, since the start of year one, his reading (that is, proper reading!) has just got better and better and he is one of the best readers in his class now so it didn't seem to do him any harm.

That's how beginner readers do it. They recount stories to start with It's not a problem. The pictures are there as cues too- they provide clues as to what the text means.

DS did this in P1 I spoke to his teacher and she said it was fairly normal and not to worry. He's now 7 and is an amazing reader.

I get my DD to read her books backwards to combat her prodigious memory for Chiff & Bipper inanities

It's quite funny and she now sometimes does herself it 'just for laughs'

My DS did this when he was in YR. He only had to read a book once to remember it. There were times I thought he was reading the words but then noticed his eyes were looking up at the ceiling and he was just reciting what he had previously read

We just changed his books daily, we would only reread a book if he had struggled with a number of words in the story. If there were only a couple of words he had been unable to decode we would just go back and look at those particular words. Obviously these were the very basic books, once he moved up the reading scheme levels this ceased to be a problem, and he moved up the levels pretty quickly so didn't seem to do him any harm either.

It's not a problem. It's one of the foundations of reading skills.

Whoever told you that Whateveryousaymustberight?

Thanks again, everyone. He isn't at school yet so haven't mentioned it to a teacher yet - he's due to start in September. As Idril said, it's not like I can force him to forget the story! I can obviously provide him with lots of new reading material each time so he will have plenty of reading practice but I wondered whether it was helpful for a child to re-read something they already have a vague memory of (rather than a word for word memory!)

DD1 did this never occurred to me it would be an issue before school.

Once at school did find she remembered the school reading books after reading through once- so found reading chest useful so she actually got some practice at decoding - local library was very difficult to find right level phonic books.

mrz I am a primary school teacher, have taught reception classes and have grown up children of my own. I have never come across a child who doesn't retell stories in the way described to begin with. So, if teachers are reassuring parents that it's nothing to worry about, it's because it's not.

Whateveryousaymustberight I'm also a primary teacher and taught reception for many years, currently literacy coordinator, SENCO and mother of grown up children since we are swapping background.

Dd did this, the school didn't seemed to bothered, at least not enough to actually do something about it. So I started to only ever make a book once, I got lots of early reader books for home, we would read the sent home book (1 per week in reception) once then one of my books a night. The teacher wrote something along the lines of 'make sure each book is read at least twice' which i ignored. It made the learning to read process more bearable for both dd and I.

I did mention that dd could recite books in the back of the car without getting them out of her bookbag a few times. I still think they held dd back a bit to rty and keep class at a more even level, but she is in yr 1 and reading ok now so I'm not too worried about it.

I didn't say it was anything to worry about but frankly I'm shocked that you are a teacher and encouraging the idea that children should use pictures to read . Some young children do memorise whole books word for word (some parents IMHE seem to think this is why reading books are sent home) but it isn't a useful skill when learning to read words ... unless of course you are still using look and say in your class and even then it has huge limitations.

In school I would always select a book they hadn't previously read/seen when listening to them read to determine if they are actually reading rather than reciting.

Well then, we'll have to agree to disagree. It sounds like we have similar professional backgrounds, and we have both taught plenty of children to read. I am quite surprised that you didn't come across many children whose early reading skills included memorising a simple book, but hey, what does it matter? It sounds to me like twiglet's child is well on the way to beginning reading.

I've come across many children who memorised simple books. What I can't understand is how you regard this an early reading skill

ds is in P1 and they are told to look for picture clues to help with reading. He is good at reading and decoding new words but did also recite books without looking at the words when he first starting reading and the books only had a few words in them. It doesnt seem to have hindered his reading in any way.