Could your child read before starting Reception?

[imaginaryfriend]

Dd (5 in 2 weeks) has just started Reception and they're learning basic words like 'is' 'it' 'in' etc. My mum said to me on the phone last night that I could read the first stage Ladybird books before I went to school and suggested dd was behind.

To be honest I always thought she was pretty bright. She can recognise and write most letters of the alphabet (slower with numbers) apart from lesser used ones like 'j' but she's nowhere near being able to read words yet. She can write my name, her dad's name and odd words she's written a lot on cards like 'me', 'to' and 'love'.

I'm wondering now if she's actually behind her peers at school. I haven't asked the teacher as it seems kind of wrong to ask about what stage your child is in comparison to the others. I'm not competitive, she'll get there when she's ready, just curious.

so I thought I'd ask you guys instead.

I've tried a couple of times today with dd to get her to read the simple 'is' 'it' 'in' 'an' words she's brought home but she gets very frustrated and now I feel a bit bad, like I'm going to make her feel like a failure that she can't 'get it'. I think I was a bit pushy today. I'm going to ease up tomorrow for sure. Just let her do it in her own time.

Good idea IF. And when DD starts sounding longer words out, don't worry about helping with the sound if she's been staring at the word for too long. And they are allowed to use the pictures in the book too.

It can take a long time. If it does, don't get downhearted, especially if her friends merrily wave their ORT Stage 8 books at you after school. It will click eventually. .

I couldn't read a damn thing when I started school. I read Wuthering Heights when I was about six. Neither Inferiorette could read a damn thing before starting school either (well, DD2 won't start till Jan); DD1 is now six and is reading stuff like The Worst Witch when she can be arsed.

She's only just started Reception after all, poor lamb!

When DD1 - my PFB - started (in January, aged 4¾) they didn't get books at all for a couple of weeks; then they had books with pictures and no words; then they got some dead simple Ginn or something - this was pre-ORT - and she was still verrry slow and hesitant by the end of Reception (and I was very twitchy so I do know where you're coming from).

Y1 not much better, slow progress until about Easter, when she turned 6 and got the click - after that she never stopped reading (still hasn't)

So yes, fend your mum off for a bit and give DD some time

dd's just started reception - she's 5 next month so one of the older ones. She loves books, loves having quite complicated chapter books read to her (we're in the middle of Black Beauty at the moment, yawn, as she's going through a desperately horsey phase) but she can't read independently yet. She knows letter sounds and can immediately got the hang of blending simple CVC words but no more than that as yet. And you know what? that's absolutely fine and way ahead of where my boys were at the same stage - now at 10 and 7 they devour books and have reading ages light years ahead of their chronological ages, but they couldn't read AT ALL until half-way through Y1. It WILL happen - the really key thing is to keep it fun and avoid making her feel she's 'failing' at something at all costs

Yes, I think that's right, keep it fun. I've been getting a bit worried and probably putting on some pressure. She's got enough on her plate already with starting Reception.

There seems to be some kind of teaching scheme this year though in which they're not being given reading books immediately, just doing this phonetic stuff.

hi

my dd is 4yrs old and was reading "read it yourself"(Ladybird)level3 and ORT level 7 before starting reception. she has started working her way through DR Seuss books at home and has just started New Wave - yellow level reading scheme at school

Ds1 was reading at the level of an 8 year old when he started school
Ds2 was confused by the difference between letters and numbers and wouldn't have been able to identify all the letters of the alphabet.
Ds3 is only 2.7 and likes to be read to but I don't get the feeling he will be reading before school.
BTW ds1, despite his early reading has been described as G + T but also as having ADD so doesn't perform all that brilliantly in school despite his good start with reading!

All the people with kids reading before school - were your kids atypical in their class or were there lots of other readers?

I think your dd sounds fine. Like many have already said, like with everything, some children are better than others at different things. Not every child will enjoy books, a lot of this depends on how their brain develops. Some children develop speech, language and writing better first (more towards girls) and many develop spacial awareness and problem solving, maths first (usually boys) None of these are specific to a gender though and there are variations from the norm. They do level out eventually. Again it also depends on the practice they have had before going to school.

I.f. none of mine could read before they went to school, a friend was doing flashcards with hers from about 1 yrs and they are exactly as clever as mine - both mine and her dd got same 11+ score. All mine love books and picked up reading within a few weeks at school and we have always read bedtime stories to get them into books. Your dd will be fine

I've just remembered something one particular teacher did for parents of new starters - she produced a tiny booklet of words made up of hieroglyphics, to impress on us how utterly strange and foreign and hard to recognise letters are to a new reader.

She could have used Greek or Cyrillic I suppose (or even Welsh ) but hieroglyphics served the purpose.

DD (4.5) can recite 'stories' back from books we've read her. She cant read though. She enjoys books and stories though, and at her age I think its perfectly normal.

DD1 could read simple sentences before starting school and so could DD3 (she has just started year 1 and is a fairly fluent reader now)
DD2 could not read, though knew all her letters. She is now in Year 3 and has always been in the top literacy group in her class.
I would say in every class in our primary school there would be one or two like DDs 1&3 and of the rest, some would recognise letters, know letter sounds etc and the majority would be starting from scratch.
And by Year 2 it has all pretty much evened out anyway. Don't worry, she is not behind at all.

(or Hebrew or Arabic or Gujarati or any other language with its own alphabet! (I took some v basic lessons in Russian a bit ago and floundered completely )

Since you ask ...
DS1 reading chapter books (eg My Naughty Little Sister) before starting Reception, had to do literacy with Yr 1 kids, now G & T. But he was an only child until he was 3.5, and we had lots and lots of time to give him, and he was really into learning letters, and 'code-breaking' iyswim.

DD much less confident, but could read phonetic words (if she wanted to) before Reception, at the end of the year was ORT level 4. I think school gave her confidence to try for herself.

So HUGE difference, but both have enjoyed school for lots of other reasons than learning to read.

Lots of kids start not even knowing letter sounds, so certainly not behind.

My mum was a teacher and tried not to teach me how to read before school because she thought teachers hated kids at different levels, but I worked it out for myself apparently.

my other 3 were ort stage 7 when starting reception

dc4 montessori educated and i changed tack
he cannot read at all - noteven tried - we will see..i think he is soooo clever and philosphical for his age

all 3 big ones G and T - whatever that means for them

imaginaryfriend, AFAIK my ds1 was the only one in his class who could read to that level.

I think that thirty (or so!) years ago maybe more children could read before they started school. But there was less television, less other entertainment and fewer toys about.I was reading fluently at 5 - my children couldn't read before they started school. But they could do lots of other things that I couldn't do. They could use a computer for example. They had a much wider awareness of the word about them and much more general knowledge (largely through the late lamented Discovery Kids channel).
FWIW, in my DS's year 2 class of 29 I think there are about 6 or 7 free readers, 4 or 5 who are still dealing with the very basics and a wide spread in between.
Just keep reading to them. This keeps on coming up as one of the main contributers to achievement at school.

All three of mine learnt to read between the ages of 3 and 4 (New Ladybird "Tom and Kate" scheme with lunchboxes, crocodiles and less drippy kids than Peter and Jane but explaining the phonics as we went along).

DS1, now in YR1 could read quite well before starting reception. He had just picked up words as we did things, and we learned his sounds with the Leapfrog fridge magnet alphabet thing because he liked the song. DD is nearly 4 and in Nursery, and only now becoming interested in letters so I don't think she will be reading the way he was, although she is fab at the creative side which DS is not. She can recognise all the letters in her name and most of those in her brothers and is starting to see them in other words. Neither is brighter than the other, they are just different, and I will go with the flow for my youngest DS too.

DD couldn't read anything until the Christmas of Year 1. DS has just turned 4, so will be one of the oldest in the year when he starts school.

He said very sadly yesterday that he wasn't like the rest of us as we can all read and he can't. So I am going to have a go at teaching him.

Both DH and I could read pretty fluently by the time we started school. Mum recently found the entire set of Peter & Jane books she had for me which bought back a few memories !

Ds is just four and reading started to click for him just before summer holidays. (He goes to nursery school where they've been doing phonics but concentrating on letter sounds, not putting them together.) I don't think it matters whether they can actually read or not. Those who can just happen to be interested at an early stage; others have probably been busier developing other skills. They will all learn in the end, unless there are SENs.

My mother swears blind I was reading at age three but I bet she really, really encouraged me, being a bookworm and a bit competitive about her children being 'bright'. She found my sister really tricky - turned out years later sister is dyslexic (not something that was really known about until she was a pre-teen).

I was talking to my friend today whose dd is about to start Reception in January and we were both genuinely so surprised that so many kids could read before starting school.

And one thing we wondered more than anything is what is the benefit of reading so young? In the long term. Is there any real benefit?

if

My view is that a child should be given the oppportunity to read early but to withdraw formal instruction if the child is not ready. If a child is receptive to reading and keen to access the world of words then why hold them back. For my middle child (girl), reading has enabled her to have access to all sorts of things eg play Top Trumps, Cluedo with older brother and develop a love of books for herself.

My eldest (boy) found reading much harder, took a long time to derive pleasure from reading but now that he has "got" it is racing away.

Some read at 3, some at 9 - it doesn't matter which. There is no reason to teach a child to read before school if you don't want to, but equally no reason not to if you and the child are both keen.