What age did your child start to read?

[StephanieByng]

Reading another thread just now about whether to teach your child to read or leave it to the teacher....my DS is 6 yrs 4 months old and he can't read - he's in year two.

he can sound out some words, but very very slowly; and if he comes across the same word a few words later, he still needs to sound it out, again painfully slowly!

His teacher has said that she feels he's making 'baby steps' of progress; when pushed she said she might consider it a problem if no more progress by the spring term.

He's read to daily, btw, loves being read to but HATES having to read.

I just wondered if I would be able to get a picture from here about how common this is, whether he's VERY unusual and whether I should be more worried than I am about his lack of reading?

Thanks!

TBE that's exactly DS' problem at the moment I think - he is able to understand so much more than he can read. He wants to be reading JRR Tolkein, Roald Dahl etc but he is reading

"Biff has a hat"

I feel for him. It's so much better if you're reading at that level when you're 3 or 4 rather than 6.

I also read at 3, my brother was 8. Both of us read fluently and to about the same ability now.

thanks Coldtits. And I really should give myself a slap; my own brother who read late and had problems learning, actually makes his living as a writer and editor now

I was born to worry...

Barrington Stoke I'd not heard of TBE - thanks! Will google!

I know I should have more faith in view of my brother's example, but I think I'm just so paranoid that DS has dyslexia or some such learning difficulty and I want to be on top of it and not find it some years down the line - I would beat myself up forever! However waiting one more term is not me being neglectful, I have come to see....

bless your DD - up till midnight reading! That's lovely (though can see worrying as well in terms of not enough sleep - but I remember doing this myself!)

I agree with the story tape / cd suggestion. The 'problem' with later readers is they might not develop their vocabulary / creative writing skills as fast as the earlier readers. Several posters have mentioned reading to dc's (which is essential) but story cd's give the child some autonomy. We are doing this for my dd (at her teacher's suggestion) and now I'll check out TheBookPeople (thanks Butterfly).

Also,Proust and the Squid has an illuminating chapter on dyslexia (the author's dd is dyslexic).

DD was 4y5m - she literally picked reading up int he first month of starting school. Before starting school I didn;t teach her to read. We shared books all the time. As a result she learnt all her letter sounds and knew the basics of sounding out simple CVC workds, and beginning to use blends and phenomes (sp?)

Se brought her first reading book home from school the first day and went great guns from there. It clicked really quickly and she really loved reading fromd ay one.

She is 6 now and n Y2 and still loves reading.

In DD's class (and also in the classes I will be helping with in January onwards) there are some chilren still in the first real stages of reading and who ind it more difficult. The abaility range varies so much.

See I wondered about dyslexia.

As TBE says, it has nothing to do with intelligence - a dx is more about finding strategies to help a child cope.

I don't know that much about it but I do know that it's very hard to diagnose before 7 anyway.

Keep on with the stories but don't push him to read if he hates it. Sounds like yr doing all the right things. Just keep an eye on it, as I am sure you would.

thanks for all these messages - didn't expect to get such a response, it has been really useful. I have been heartened by the amount of people who did have later starters. Hula how lovely for her to just be provided with a book and just - well - learn to read! I can't imagine that, it's been so different in this house. But I know he will get there, whether it's just a case of time or whether he needs a diagnosis of something and some extra help!

dd1 was reading by 4.I didn't teach her at home,but she was an August baby,so started school very,very early.

ds is 6yr,sept baby and in yr 1.
I would say he's just starting to click with reading and finding it easier rather than the struggle it has been.
Interestingly his teacher toldme that he had a habit of sounding out words that he didn't need to.
For eg. he would come across an easy word but he would painstakingly sound out all the letters.SHe tols us to remind him that he knows that word and to stop and look at the whole word.His strategy wasn\t wrong as this is how he's learnt to read but he was over using it and not moving on to the next stage.
Since her telling us and ds this he has come on leaps and bounds as he is a more confident and willing reader now.
sorry to ramble

Have you tried making 'flash cards' of the key words in the books he's reading. I know it sounds a bit dull and pushy but, maybe if he were to look at the words in isolation he might be able to form a picture of them which may help him to remember them more easily. Also some good non fiction stuff might encourage him, perhaps he is bored with ORT especially if he's been using it since reception.

I'm off to do school run now but will check in again later this evening.

thanks for the suggestion jelly; unfortunately I think if it could have been helped by using flashcards, we'd have fixed it by now IYSWIM? He's very anti that sort of thing, gets very angry if it's tried...It's quite complex with him. I think he has taken refuge in his imagination, because he has such a fabulous internal life, so he gets straight into imaginative play which is so complex and deep and absorbing and on such a level that it's just impossible for him to 'come down' to being 'tested' with cards that read H-A-T (specially when he feels so un-expert and bad at it)....I don't know if that makes sense to you but it's why we've found it so difficult with him I think.

We do give him loads of non fiction and read it with him; Dinosaurs, nature stuff, egyptians, plus the star wars and dr who stuff he loves! It certainly does engage his enthusiasm, you're right. Thanks for taking the time to post.

My DS is 7 and he can't read much at all and will avoid it at all costs.

It WILL come. One day it will just click, and he will be reading. It might not be an activity he enjoys even later on, but almost all children do eventually pick it up and read.

In DD's Y2 class the "clicking" is kicking in properly for 3 or 4 children this past term. There are another couple who are still waiting for that to happen. All are within the "normal" range.

SB, dd is in Y1 and is a good reader. Prior to starting Reception she could phonetically sound out the alphabet and read her name but that was it. I remember her first few weeks as she struggled to blend the most simple sounds like 'it' and 'is' but somehow at some point it fell into place for her and she's doing really well now.

In her class, so far, the better readers are all girls. I remember reading a study somewhere that said that for most boys their neurological capacity to pick up language really begins when they are closer to 7, with girls it's when they are 5. So I'd bear that in mind.

But I really wanted to respond to what you said about your ds' imaginative world. My dd is just like that. She would rather be playing, inventing, pretending, than doing anything else. There are girls in her group who are so keen on reading and writing that they do it as a chosen activity whereas dd really does it when it's expected or there's nothing else on the horizon.

At her last parents' evening the teacher mentioned her tendency to 'daydream' but said that in the long term she's likely to become a keen reader because as she grows out of wanting to act out her imagination she will get tremendous pleasure from losing herself in it through reading.

I often try to incorporate her imagination with some reading / writing or just thinking about words orally as we walk to school. Would your ds respond to that?

"as she grows out of wanting to act out her imagination she will get tremendous pleasure from losing herself in it through reading".....thank you IF - that has really put into words something I hadn't really seen; that DS is still at the stage of role play and acting out; of course as that need stops hopefully he will get that internal impetus to WANT to read.

I only wish that DS' teacher understood him so well actually as your DD's seems to; that's a really insightful remark based on her knowledge of your dd as an individual...DS' teacher is a very sweet lady but we certainly don't have that level of understanding of him as a person and why he's at where he's at

Good idea to re incorporating writing/reading into his games; I've tried SO hard with this but he's just so reluctant! He wants no part of it in his games...

thanks also hula for your message. We are hanging in there and it's been really encouraging to hear that others are at about the same stage.

What sort of imaginary games does he like to act out?

I have to say that whilst I do think that children take a lot longer to get the hang of reading, I do know that the children in my sons year 1 class who are still struggling are starting to be investigated to see if there is any sign of dyslexia. I am very lucky that it clicked for my son after the first term of reception but I know that some of the younger june july boys in his year 1 class are just clicking now. ie going from level 2 - level 4 or 5 within a couple of weeks.

This is a genuine question but if he is really struggling with reading, how is he managing in the literacy classes at school? Is he falling behind and getting upset? I was helping in the year 1 class last week and they were writing their own story books and I should imagine that it would be very frustrating for children who couldn't do that.

All my kids read at 7-ish. Eldest is now at Cambridge. Younger ones are dyslexic but still have got good reading ages. They generally all get there in the end if the parents stay positive.

throckenholt They don't start formal reading until they are 7 years old in some European countries ... however, they have learnt phonics and blending by then ... and to be honest most children can read a little by then as they have explored books and reading at home - they just don't start 'formal' reading until 6/7. I know this as my sister lives in Norway.