Do really bright early readers always stay ahead of the game?

[imaginaryfriend]

I suddenly got curious as there seem to be quite a number of mums on MN who describe their children as reading chapter books before the age of 5.

Equally there seem to be a lot of people who say their child (often boys) are verys low readers in Reception but by Y1 / Y2 are reading anything / everything.

So ... do the early readers stay ahead of the others who are catching up? Does everyone end up on roughly the same level? Or do the early readers 'burn out' and start to slow down at some point?

You mean you don't discuss structuralism and critical theory with your dc, ssb?

Actually ds (off school for the day sick) was offered the chance to watch The Cruel Sea on DVD (dh's choice, natch) and said, "no thanks, I'd rather just watch random trash on CBBC'.

Methinks his path to greatness is likely to be a long and low one.

LOL - I attended Terry Eagleton's lectures out of a sense of 18 year old glee at being able to subsequently bandy around phrases such as "of course, when I was in one of TE's lectures..." I did not think for a moment that actually understanding - or indeed even listening to - him was required for that Weltanschauung (if we are casually throwing around German philosophical phrases) .

(Bink: my tutor had previously taught him and had a reasonably low opinion of him, although I think partly out of a sense that doing so made himself look smarter!)

Myself, and DS1 are still way above our peers both in the speed we can read and the ease of which we can read unfamiliar styles/texts etc.
He's 13 and I assume he'll always have an above average reading ability like myself and my brother.
Dd is 9 and her reading is still well above average in her class with her reading aloud being very advanced for her age and better than her older brothers. But her taste in books is so baby chick lit and cringy that I wonder if she'll be a good reader as an adult, I think she'll be one of those children who gets caught up to, unless she starts reading proper literature (curse the inventor of those ruddy Rainbow Fairy books!)
DS2 only learned to read this year, halfway through yr 2 and has caught up to alot of people in his class, but not to the 'good' readers and I don't think he ever will.
None of us are genius but DS1 and I do have high IQ's, our lack of mathematical brilliance keeps us out of Mensa for sure though!!!

I can't track down the proper term (in French this time, we've exhausted German, no?), but - Issy - I think your dd1 might more accurately be described as experiencing the Barthesian joie of reading. (What did he call it? c'mon all you people who actually attended these lectures)

I am AgonyBeetle, previously frogs. SSB is/was dino.

I've never really done namechanging before, suddenly got into it. And since I have a large black exoskeleton on my broken leg and work in bed surrounded by drifts of paper and random stuff it seemed appropriate.

Bink -- just had to share with you that I'm doing a case in which the defendant's surname is Descartes. His defence (to GBH-type crime) as summarised by the police officer on the submission form was: "Isn't me, wasn't me, don't know what you're talking about."

Not such a great thinker, perhaps...

Kaso - how do you know you're way above your peers in your reading ability?

PMSL at Descartes's defence to the police officer

The litcrit discussion is bringing me out in a cold sweat though.

Please change your name back Frogs, Kafka makes me shudder.

I will probably change back once my life has taken a less Kafka-esque turn. Nasty fractures are the pits, and I speak as one who gave birth to a 10lb baby with no pain relief.

Am getting severely fed up, but hoping to make it to Carnevale on Fri for some light relief...

I was reading and writing at 3 and a half. Dont think it was a sign of any massive intellect, but it did allow me to always take school in my stride. I was near the top of the class of my local comp and very average at a choosey posh girls school, ok A levels and a degree but definitely no academic.

frogs - you are so enjoying that exoskeleton word, aren't you! (So am I.)

Oh - before I leave this, just one more German-technical-concept anecdote (which I've probably told before, in which case just accept it's worth a re-tread).

Arriviste woman, in California, showing off about her therapist to the mother of a friend of mine: "Of course, he studied with Gestalt himself."

Bink -- loving the Gestalt one!

Exoskeleton is rather a fine word -- it was your ref to kafka that put me in mind of it, since my beetle ref was rather more lowbrow than that.

The alternative word is brace, which sounds either like dentistry or truss.

Would quite like my endoskeleton to grow back together though.

KaSo are you seriously worried about your girl reading Rainbow Fairy books?

They may not be great literary works, but your daughter is 9. What do you want her to read? A Tale or Two Cities? The complete works of William Shakespeare?

Just be grateful that your DD can read and can more than keep up with her schoolwork. Some parents on this board would be delighted if their kids could/would voluntarily read books of any description on their own.