Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wow so many early readers! Now I feel like I’m doing something wrong. DD turned 5 two weeks ago and she definitely cannot read. We read to her since she was 6 months old. She has shown a lot of interests in books and she loves being read to. She can’t read though!

We had early readers (start of K) but the rest of the class didn't start to read until 1st grade. The dif was lots of reading at home, mostly to them.

Wait...how could you know that's the difference between when your kids learned to read and other kids? I've read tons to my kids each day since birth, and they learned at totally different rates.

That actually is a complicated question, OP. There is a whole lot going on in the brain when a person reads, which from your question, you noticed: just knowing that letters have associated sounds and words are strings of sounds is not reading. When each part of the process develops is pretty child-specific.

Jane Healy, in her book "Your Child's Growing Mind," describes the process as well as I've seen it described. There is a series of passages in the book of nonsense words that she asks the adult reader to "read" -- fabulous exercise! It really helps you understand what we mean when we say "read."

Anonymous wrote:Wow so many early readers! Now I feel like I’m doing something wrong. DD turned 5 two weeks ago and she definitely cannot read. We read to her since she was 6 months old. She has shown a lot of interests in books and she loves being read to. She can’t read though!

We had early readers (start of K) but the rest of the class didn't start to read until 1st grade. The dif was lots of reading at home, mostly to them.

Anonymous wrote:Twin parent here (fraternal). One was reading at a first grade level at 3, the other didn't read until 6. They obviously had the exact same exposure to language at the same time (we read everything to them together). Also, interestingly, the twin who was later in reading is much stronger in a second language that kids took up when they started in immersion language school. And she's much more facile with spoken communication. So it's totally different from kid to kid and they just sort of do it when they're ready.

This is really interesting! DH and I were both early and fluent readers at 2 (him, hyperlexic) and 3.5 (me). My DD is nearly 6, in K, and struggling with reading. She’s done 100 lessons, is at a school that focuses on phonics, and we surround her with books. But it’s just not her thing right now.

On the other hand, she can memorize song lyrics from the radio after just 1 or 2 listens and is picking up our tonal heritage language in formal classes very quickly with minimal previous exposure at home. I’m awful at foreign languages. DH can play music by ear but is awful at reading music. I have done some light research and had trouble finding any formal studies, but our family’s experience had convinced us that earlier association of text with sounds might make certain hearing-based learning more difficult later. Or at least that’s what we tell ourselves when we’re feeling discouraged about her reading!

K and 1st grade. Went on to become bookworms like me.

My 7 year old is still learning to read, I wouldn't worry to much about it.

Twin parent here (fraternal). One was reading at a first grade level at 3, the other didn't read until 6. They obviously had the exact same exposure to language at the same time (we read everything to them together). Also, interestingly, the twin who was later in reading is much stronger in a second language that kids took up when they started in immersion language school. And she's much more facile with spoken communication. So it's totally different from kid to kid and they just sort of do it when they're ready.

OP here. These responses are really interesting. DD is approaching four and seems to have a lot of the prereading skills in isolation. I suspect it will be awhile before she puts it all together. Seems to vary a lot.

DS's preschool teacher deliberately held back on teaching him everything she could. He went to K knowing the basics but really thrived there b/c it held his interest and he was engaged. Friend's DC (same age) learned to read much earlier and got very bored at K and struggled a lot as a result.

I just want to offer some perspective. My son took years to become a proficient reader and writer. He was always in the second lowest reading group until 3rd grade. He hated being read aloud to as well. He did not like stories. He preferred computer games. He hated writing.

Years later, he scored a 5 on the AP Language and Composition exam and a 4 on the AP Language and Literature exam. Scored 780 Verbal on the SAT as well. Loves to read. Still plays a ton of computer games.

There’s a big range of normal.
My oldest knew his letters before 3, could read basic books at 5, but it didn’t really click for him until right after he turned 7, between first & second grade. He suddenly went from muddling through Frog and Toad to reading chapter books. He’s now several grade levels ahead.
Second kid had a much harder time learning letters. Could read very, very simple books in K. He’s in first now (just turned 7) and making progress, but it is slow. Still not what I would call a fluent reader.
Both of my kids love books and were read to a ton from infancy.
My dad, an MD, didn’t learn to read until age 8.

Oldest could read fluently at age 4. They never went through the "sound it out phase"--they just picked it up naturally Teenager now, never reads a book voluntarily.
Youngest took forever to learn. It was tedious and frustrating. Learned to read fluently at 8. Now, reads constantly--always has several books in progress.

I don’t know. I sent my kids to play based preschools so they could write and recognize their names. I think they also new Hop on Pop before K. But they learned to read in K, it was amazing. My 5 year old has a late birthday so I’m wondering if she’ll figure it out a little sooner then her older siblings, but she does go to a play based preschool too.

Didn’t click for my son until 7. One day he “couldn’t read”, struggled sounding out, etc. and the next he could. Just took its time sinking in and then he popped it on like a light bulb, I guess? I say “couldn’t read” in quotes because he recognized many familiar words, but wasn’t really reading them.