How many of your gifted dc were late/average age readers?

[FairProspects]

Not reading ability, but actual age they learned to read (even if they took off with reading shortly after :)). I've always been curious about whether there was a connection between giftedness and early reading age. While there undoubtedly sometimes is, from my research & personal experience it doesn't seem to always be correlated.

 

One of the most brilliant people I know (my high school best friend) who got a perfect score on her SATs and graduates this year from Stanford's Medical School as a Nephrologist, didn't learn to read until halfway through 1st grade - average according to the teacher. How many of your gifted/accelerated dc were average age/late readers? How related is giftedness and early reading?

[zaichiki]

Oldest read easy readers at 4 y.o. (mostly figured out phonics rules on his own).

Dd could write sentences phonetically completely on her own at 3 y.o., but couldn't read them back to herself. She didn't read beyond short vowel 3-letter words until 5.5 or 6. (She has since been found to have dyslexia.)

Youngest (3.5 y.o.) can spell 3-letter short vowel words with fridge magnets. He can also read them. (Yay!)

 

Two oldest were identified as gifted. No super-early readers here, but we do seem to have the general correlation (gifted kids read early).

[JeanM]

I guess it depends what you call reading. My older ds certainly had much more trouble with learning to read that my younger ds. Older ds could read "Hop on Pop" types of books at the beginning of kindergarten, and was basically at the same level at the start of first grade (long story, but public school K wasn't helpful). He didn't really take off with reading until 2nd grade or so. By 3rd grade he was reading at a high school level. He was tested as gifted at age 6.

 

My younger ds found reading much easier and could read "Hop on Pop" types of books at the beginning of his 2nd year of preschool (just after he turned 4). He reads well now (3rd grade), but doesn't love it the way older ds does. He hasn't been officially i.q. tested, but I'd bet good money that he is gifted as well.

[EKS]

My older son didn't read fluently until he was 8 or 9, though he learned to haltingly sound things out at age 5. We found out when he 10 and reading on a high school level that he has dyslexia.

 

My younger son first sounded out words at 2. By 3 he was reading fluently on a 1st grade level and now at age 7 reads on a solid middle school level.

 

They both test HG+.

[SonshineLearner]

My poor child, in public school, couldn't read well until 3rd grade. Her older sister could, and she just had a mental block. I finally let her read Harry Potter... and that was the beginning of her reading!!

Carrie:-)

[AnitaMcC]

Not reading ability, but actual age they learned to read (even if they took off with reading shortly after :)). I've always been curious about whether there was a connection between giftedness and early reading age. While there undoubtedly sometimes is, from my research & personal experience it doesn't seem to always be correlated.

 

One of the most brilliant people I know (my high school best friend) who got a perfect score on her SATs and graduates this year from Stanford's Medical School as a Nephrologist, didn't learn to read until halfway through 1st grade - average according to the teacher. How many of your gifted/accelerated dc were average age/late readers? How related is giftedness and early reading?

 

I am not sure exactly... for my Ds I remember he actually had a hard time learning to read. He could not sound out words, etc. He had to memorize how words spelled and how sounded befor he could read them. He was on the low end of average until 2nd grade. He hit a brick wall when cursive writing was introduced to him for a month or so. Then suddenly reading clicked near end of 2nd grade and by end of third grade, when he was evaluated for Asperger Syndrome, he scored above 12th grade in reading. At that time he was failing third grade but he was reading college science books.

 

We realized it was writing issues and not reading that was bringing down his grades. He still does not read or write cursive. He can only sign his first name in cursive and he is a 9th grader.

[lgm]

Mine cracked the code at 5..no instruction beyond the sounds each letter makes from a toy their grandma gave them. Fluent above grade readers by 6.

 

Eyesight and vocab seem to be the biggest factor.

[patchfire]

Caveat: none of mine have any official designation, nor do I suspect they ever will, unless something manages to make me do a complete 180. I have my suspicions about giftedness level, etc. but have no plans to confirm them. :)

 

Dd read sometime between 3 and 3.5. We're not really sure when, because she wanted us to keep reading to her. (Silly girl, we still read to her!) She's definitely gifted, especially in math.

 

Ds is 4.5 and is not reading. He has very little interest in reading. I suspect he'll read around a 1st grade level by this time next year, but I don't know. He blows me away, though, with the way his brain works and makes connections. As smart and capable as his sister is, I am thankful they're 4.5 years apart, because otherwise I think he could surpass her, especially in language areas.

 

Dd2 loves to eat books. ;)

[FairProspects]

I have my suspicions about ds as well, but he never "picked up" reading the way some kids do. His preschool teacher, who has loads of experience and a Masters degree in early childhood development, told me he was definitely math-gifted, and he does show some signs like high vocabulary/auditory processing skills, extrapolating problem solving & critical thinking to different situations, as well as very strong pattern recognition & re-creation.

 

He has recently started reading (well, Bob books & cvc words) at a K level according to my 1st grade teacher friend, which I guess isn't bad considering we've only done 4 weeks of phonics instruction and K curriculum, but I've always been curious why he didn't start reading earlier. I would have expected it, given he has very high phonemic awareness & his other characteristics. He was recently vision-tested, and he does have an eye tracking problem, and is far-sighted. I wonder how much that would affect the learning to read ability? I think they are testing him next month for dyslexia.

 

It just seems odd to me. It seems like the thinking ability is in his head there, but he has a hard time getting it out when it comes to reading (even though his comprehension is immediate once he decodes the words.) Does that ring a bell to anyone? Suggestions?

[silvermine]

My sister and I read at 3.5 or so. My brothers didn't. ;) My son... is 6.5 and doesn't read anything on his own, though he can sound out short easy words now.

 

I think it depends on what they are gifted at. A lot of kids are very asymmetric. ;) Just another reason we homeschool. :) He enjoys having books read to him at a much higher level... which means it's probably going to take him longer to learn to read. His ability to read is way way way way way below his comprehension level, so anything he actually could read is bound to be really, really boring and not worth the struggle.

 

I try to get him to help out reading to his little sister.

[Mabelen]

My oldest was a very early reader. By age 2 she was reading words, by 4 she could read any book in English and Spanish having had no reading instruction whatsoever. Her area of giftedness is verbal. She is gifted in math too but not nearly to the same extent.

 

My youngest is 5 1/2 and I don't know if she is gifted. She is very different to my oldest. She is intelligent in many different ways, she has much more common sense and I can see her just exploding in her interests, she is so eager to learn about so many different things right now! As far as reading is concerned, she is at a completely average Kindergarten level, she can read some sight words, monosyllable words and is reading multisyllable words with support.

 

My oldest has gifted friends that were not early readers, just average in that regard.

[TravelingChris]

My oldest started reading right around his 5th birthday. He is the only one identified as gifted by experts.

 

My next one started reading around 4 but have vision problems and didn;t progress very well until those were fixed around 8. She was reading before but couldn't progress beyond larger type books because of her vision difficulties.

 

My last one started again around five but didn't become an avid reader until she was 9. She could read but didn't really like to do it much until then. She is more a math/science/engineering child.

[zaichiki]

I think it depends on what they are gifted at.

 

I don't know... LOG might also have an effect. And what about learning styles?

 

My two oldest are both "diagnosed as" HG, but ds was *obviously* stronger in reading and writing. He is also a very visual learner. Dd is *obviously* stronger in other things, like music and physical coordination, but she is an auditory learner and then the dyslexia plays a role as well.

 

It sounds like the OP has already found some tracking issues... and her ds is being evaluated for dyslexia. Sounds like you're "on the path." I have no further suggestions.

 

Remember, too, that not all slower-reading gifted kids end up diagnosed with dyslexia. I'm honestly not sure why some read at 2 and some read at 4 etc. But... I *would* wonder if LOG is involved in that.

 

Also consider:

1. interests -- some are more interested in other things and just don't spend as much time looking at books

2. environment -- some kids are read to for more hours a day than others (this is true even among the kids in my one family due to birth order and family dynamics)

[Pamela H in Texas]

Well, our family has a number of other things other than giftedness going on. Almost every family member I can think of is gifted in terms of IQ. However, my daughter was the only extremely early reader as far as I'm aware. I waited til 4. My brother and hubby (hubby deals with dyslexia) were 2nd graders while my son(multiple special needs) was extremely late. So being bright may mean a 2yo is reading or may not change that a child may not read til 11 or so.

[chiguirre]

My sister and I were both in the G/T program, my parents and dh went to school in a time or place where G/T didn't exist but, based on other evidence, would have qualified. None of us learned to read before entering formal education in 1st grade. Dh and df both learned to read anything in a couple of months, but were learning to read in completely phonetic languages. Dsis, dm and I all learned to read easy chapter books (like Thornton Burgess, Little House, etc.) at about age 7. Dd hasn't been tested but she seems to be following the family both in reading age and in giftedness.

[cdgni]

She could site read when she was five, but I wouldn't call that reading. She wasn't interested in learning to read. As she explained to me, the books that she was interested in were beyond her capability. The books that she could read were boring. So Why should she learn to read? LOL

 

When she was 6.5, in the French school curriculum, they taught her enough phonics that she started to apply it to English. She picked up English books and has been reading ever since. She is 5th grade now and she reads at the adult level.

 

I have her read outloud to me every few weeks to check pronunciation. Sometimes, she doesn't know how to pronounce it correctly because her phonics instruction has mainly been in French.

[radiobrain]

I could read at a middle school level when I was 2. Totally on my own.

 

My boys have both been late readers. I actually blame my early reading on this... as I had absolutely no memory of learning to read, or knowing any of the "rules", I could just always do it. I didn't read to my kids like crazy like you are supposed to because I found it irritating, and I was having problems with my evil MIL who lived with us.

 

My 11 yo is a super reader but was a bit late, 7-8. My 9 yo is still having problems... mostly it is because he is a "rule follower" and as English does not follow consistent rules he gets angry at it, and refuses to bother too much. Drives me nuts. He is also the more gifted of my 2, at least in an obvious way...

 

I think it all depends... early readers can be gifted (or just early readers) and very gifted kids can be late readers...

 

I don't think reading ability is necessarily the deciding factor or indicator.

[lisabees]

The two that were formally tested read when they were 6-7. No early readers here. And one is hg. My dd6 has not been tested - way too early - but I have my suspicions. She only reads at a 1st grade level.

 

Dh and his siblings are all very highly gifted. They were all late, struggling readers. You could never tell now.

[HeidiD]

Not reading ability, but actual age they learned to read (even if they took off with reading shortly after :)). I've always been curious about whether there was a connection between giftedness and early reading age. While there undoubtedly sometimes is, from my research & personal experience it doesn't seem to always be correlated.

 

 

 

Anecdotal experience only, but my 12 yo taught herself to read very accurately as a toddler. Her IQ testing was in the low/average range. She has Aspergers and apparently was hyperlexic.

 

My children who are gifted didn't learn to read particularly early.

[Zanyan]

I have an IQ in the gifted range, and I learned to read when I was 6 years old. My gifted son was reading at 6 - 9, but didn't learn to read well until he was 10 years old. I sat down with him for an hour a day using the original Reading Rewards program, and he picked it up quickly. After he completed that program (or mostly completed it), he was able to read high school level text books. I think he didn't want to read the books that were available to him at his reading level when he was younger because they were boring to him. He does not read fiction unless forced to.

[Crimson Wife]

About half of the folks in our family who tested as gifted were early readers (around age 3) and the other half were average-to-mildly late readers (1st or 2nd grade). The former tend to be female and the latter tend to be male but my dad was an early reader while my mom was a later reader.

[Linzy]

I was an early reader, just past age 3 and was identified as highly gifted. However, my brother struggled with reading and did not read even passably until at least second grade, prompting an evaluation for a learning disability which revealed an IQ in the 140 range (not sure where that falls on the gifted scale). He went on to struggle in school was diagnosed as ADHD and then later (with meds) went on to excell in college double majoring in psych and computer engineering. In my opinion he is incredibly gifted, makes amazing connections and is so insightful, but...he was definately a late reader.

[AngieW in Texas]

My youngest is gifted, but dyslexic. I took her to the ps for testing at the start of 2nd grade. At that point, she couldn't even recognize her own name on sight, although she could spell it and could sound it out and then tell me what it said. She tested in the 99.6th percentile for IQ, but her performance on the achievement test was very low for reading. She didn't reach grade level in reading until the end of 4th grade.

[Storm Bay]

Two out of three were average age/late readers. This is normal in my family, and there are lots of gifted dc in my family--siblings, cousins, nieces & nephews (all highly gifted or more amongst my genetic siblings et al.)

[Desert Rat]

I have one of each.

My oldest read at a 4th grade level by 4yo.

My youngest is learning to read at an average rate. He's starting first grade at 6.5. I'm happy with his progress in reading and considered him to be an average student until he was able to memorize poems in FLL after hearing them 2-3 times and flying through Singapore math like he already knows it, which I think he does. He also retains information really well.

I've heard that giftedness isn't really tied to early reading. I think I'm proving that. :o

[rlowetx]

This is so funny, b/c there was a gifted thread on one of the other threads and one of the posters inferred my child wasn't gifted, just accelerated, b/c he didn't read early or show musical genius...

 

ANYWAY>>>>> My son refused to read at the beginning of first grade. Refused..refused.. refused...Cat on mat...was a problem. Skip ahead beginning of this year (2nd grade).. reading at 4-5th grade level. I realize reading early can be a sign, but in our house it skewed what we thought was going on. Now you can't get the boy to close a book!

[Jugglin'5]

My five range from the bright to very gifted range. None of them learned to read particularly early. My most gifted student was pretty average - phonics at 5 and 6, etc. However, she started voluntarily seeking out books like "The Two Lives of Charlemagne" or Asser's "Life of Alfred" sometime after her 7th birthday. She was interested in all things medieval at the time. So she started out at normal sped then ramped it up pretty quickly. I'm waiting to see what my five year-old does now.

 

I was dx as very gifted and was the same way. Average start, and then quickly progressed to high school and college level. Interestingly, my dh, although he was in GT classes and a good reader, never took off reading for pleasure until he was 13 or so. I think he is a better reader now than I am. I got in the habit of reading so much so fast, that I don't digest it as well as he does. Especially now that I'm older and the semi-photographic memory is fading....:glare: