When did your kids begin to read?

[Crimson Wife]

Okay, since my previous message got zapped for quoting a zapped message, I'll try again :001_smile:

 

I think that it's best not to wait to see whether a kid is a "late bloomer" or has a true LD so long as the intervention does not hurt. There is no reason to think a program like Barton would hurt a child who is simply a "late bloomer" and it could be extremely beneficial to a child who does turn out to have a LD.

[Farrar]

Okay, since my previous message got zapped for quoting a zapped message, I'll try again :001_smile:

 

I think that it's best not to wait to see whether a kid is a "late bloomer" or has a true LD so long as the intervention does not hurt. There is no reason to think a program like Barton would hurt a child who is simply a "late bloomer" and it could be extremely beneficial to a child who does turn out to have a LD.

:iagree: Mine was also zapped. As I sort of said before, I feel like there are lots of forces out there telling parents to freak out - in magazines, on the news, in all kinds of contexts. I think relax is good advice. I just hope there's a middle ground - relax, it's probably nothing, but while you're calm, just try this program, or this intervention or this test...

 

As someone else basically pointed out up thread, it's totally normal for kids not to read until they're 7 or even 8. That makes it hard to identify who needs early intervention and who doesn't.

 

My kids are twins. One started reading at 4. The other hasn't started yet except for a few sight words. They turn 6 next month.

[CLHCO]

My two oldest were reading at four..........the last three were late, late. They were'nt good readers until eight.

 

And you know what? It makes no difference, so if any of you young mama homeschoolers are worrying about your children's reading, relax. Nine times out of ten there is no problem.

 

:iagree:

 

My twins were struggling terribly until the summer before 4th grade. I was naive and assumed it was a tragedy. They discovered Harry Potter and went from hardly managing simple picture books to reading novels. I don't let them read over my shoulders today because they correct me too often. :lol:

 

My son struggled until seven when he discovered Calvin and Hobbes. I took him in to have his eyes examined prior to that and was told he had focus issues. They said he'd eventually need vision therapy. Maybe he will still, who knows, but at 10 he reads great for his age. I think he improved his own eye muscles by forcing himself to focus to see the tiny ornery things in print Calvin was saying. Calvin and Hobbes saved me thousands of dollars in vision therapy so far. Garfield helped too. (Yes, he reads other things too now, but prefers science books to fiction. No, I'm not suggesting this has to be the norm, or Calvin will cure all.)

 

My youngest doesn't read yet. We'll try this year.

[bairnmama]

Okay, since my previous message got zapped for quoting a zapped message, I'll try again :001_smile:

 

I think that it's best not to wait to see whether a kid is a "late bloomer" or has a true LD so long as the intervention does not hurt. There is no reason to think a program like Barton would hurt a child who is simply a "late bloomer" and it could be extremely beneficial to a child who does turn out to have a LD.

 

 

:iagree: My dd is one of those that might be a very late bloomer, but I'm still working with her. She turned 9 this summer and is not yet to the point where she can read Magic Treehouse books. Just about every phonics program/ study we have tried has produced tears of frustration and avoidance, but her listening comprehension is off the charts. I wanted to get a program like Barton, but never had the funds. I do have to say, though, that she made the biggest leaps in reading this past year when I completely stopped all actual teaching of phonics and just had her read to me on the couch. I helped her sound out any word she stumbled over (which was a LOT at first) and we just kept reading. We have just restarted a phonics program and for the first time there are NO tears! She's finally ready to learn!:party:

 

Ds, on the other hand, probably could have been reading at 3 if I had actually sat down and worked with him. He's been able to sound out 3-letter short-vowel words since just past his 2nd b-day, but I didn't want him to get as frustrated and scared of reading as his sister and just left him to play with sounds on his own or do Headsprout as a game with no pressure.

[mammaruss]

Both of my ds were reading around 7 years old. The oldest ds could read but hated it until 6th grade....My youngest ds did not enjoy reading until 3rd grade....They both LOVE reading today!!

[hornblower]

Mine were later than most mentioned here: 10 & 12. I suspect undiagnosed ld's with my kids though.

 

While I think it's a problem in schooled kids (viz the study quotes Perry posted), it can be worked around in a homeschool setting.

 

We have tons of books & the kids were 'reading' lots on their own (aka looking at books) and the adults read aloud hours daily & we had audiobooks on the go constantly. I don't believe their vocabulary or depth of knowledge suffered due to being late independent readers. It just requires more work & accomodation from the instructors, which is possible in a small family.

 

Once they took off, they never looked back & go through books (& I mean good books, not just fluff, though there is fluff there too - I pretty much give them free range) faster than I can keep up. They have excellent comprehension, retention & a true love of narrative. I don't doubt for a second that they will be adults who not only know how to read, but actually enjoy it & do it (v. the masses of folks who know how to but don't: "1/3 of high school graduates never read another book for the rest of their lives; 42 percent of college graduates never read another book after college; 80 percent of U.S. families did not buy or read a book last year. ")

 

 

 

[KidsHappen]

6, 7.5, 5, 4, 7 & 7 respectively. I was a believer in started formal learning late. All of right on track or above now.

[Perry]

While I think it's a problem in schooled kids (viz the study quotes Perry posted), it can be worked around in a homeschool setting.

 

That's a really good point- those studies were done in kids that go to school, not homeschoolers. AFAIK, there isn't any data on homeschooled kids. I'm guessing they fare better, but it's also possible that there is a biological window of opportunity that closes at some point.

[hornblower]

it's also possible that there is a biological window of opportunity that closes at some point.

 

Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

 

I just refuse to believe that. :tongue_smilie:

 

I'm more in the brain plasticity camp.

 

And even with first language acquisition, the window of opportunity hypothesis is quite controversial.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period_hypothesis

[Perry]

Nooooooooooooo!!!!!!!!

 

I just refuse to believe that. :tongue_smilie:

 

I'm more in the brain plasticity camp.

 

And even with first language acquisition, the window of opportunity hypothesis is quite controversial.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Critical_period_hypothesis

I don't know enough about it to have any opinions, but there is lots of evidence that it's easier to prevent reading failure than to remediate it. I don't know why that is. I'm just repeating one possible explanation that I find interesting. Might be totally wrong. :)

[ma23peas]

I get a bit splintered when I hear those commercials showing that your baby can read at 12 months!

 

Nuts! It's NOT good for their eyes...everything I've read says the eye continues to 'develop until about age 6...it's not advisable to teach a child to read too early...I just let mine express a desire...the youngest did say she wanted to read at 5..but that lasted about 2 days and the love was gone..but at 6.5 she renewed her desire and was reading chapter books in 6 months...give their eyes a break, and yourself one..just go with their love..when they're ready, it's so much easier!

 

Tara

[Crimson Wife]

It's NOT good for their eyes...everything I've read says the eye continues to 'develop until about age 6...it's not advisable to teach a child to read too early...give their eyes a break

 

I was told by my kids' ophthalmologist that this is a myth. When my early reader developed astigmatism at age 7 I asked if her reading several hours per day could be to blame. I was reassured that there is no credible evidence to suggest early reading causes vision problems.

 

Vision problems can contribute to difficulty with reading but that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

[CLHCO]

I was told by my kids' ophthalmologist that this is a myth. When my early reader developed astigmatism at age 7 I asked if her reading several hours per day could be to blame. I was reassured that there is no credible evidence to suggest early reading causes vision problems.

 

Vision problems can contribute to difficulty with reading but that's a whole 'nother kettle of fish.

 

Interesting. I was told the opposite when I took my daughters in. He said he could tell they read a lot because of the direction their vision was going.

[Dobela]

Interesting. I was told the opposite when I took my daughters in. He said he could tell they read a lot because of the direction their vision was going.

I was told the same thing. If the eyes were omre accustomed to focusing on ear objects (like books) they will gradually reset themselves there permanently. The same is true for someone who uses their eyes for distances as well.

[FO4UR]

My ds7 and dd5 are just about at the same reading level...able to read simple readers with large print.

 

ds7 has know his letter sounds and how to blend since he was 4yo. He has some vision problems that have stood in the way of his "taking off." I knew he was not just a "late-bloomer" when I saw a huge gap between his ability to decode words in HUGE print, and words on a page. In the same day, he read "Children" on a large sign and could not read "The cat sat." in a simple reader. I had his vision evaluated by a developmental opt. and she confirmed my thoughts (8th percentile in one area and borderline in several others)...and helped us out too.

 

dd5 knew her letter sounds at 2yo and sat down to read my mom a BOB Book at age 3yo. I haven't pushed it tbh, and she's growing slow and steady. She reads more fluently than ds7 (though he knows more phonics), if we are honest...but I don't push it.

 

I'm hoping both ds7 and dd5 reach the "can read anything" milestone by Christmas.:tongue_smilie: (Is that a bad thing to wish???:lol:)

[Tam101]

My 20-year old daughter struggled with reading all through elementry school and is now an avid reader. My son, who loved books from the day he was born (no joke), started reading at 4 and still loves books today.

[FairProspects]

I was told the same thing. If the eyes were omre accustomed to focusing on ear objects (like books) they will gradually reset themselves there permanently. The same is true for someone who uses their eyes for distances as well.

 

Yup. This actually happened to me at age 7. I have had to wear glasses or contacts ever since. I was told by the Optometrist that it was because I read so much so early that my eyes permanently refocused to see up close only. Recently, the developmental Optometrist also told me that I need to get my younger ds to look up from his small motor tasks every 15 min. or so because his eyes are beginning to go the same way.

Edited August 3, 2010 by FairProspects

[tofuscramble]

My eldest son started reading at 5 and my two younger sons started reading at 2.5. They all like to read now.

 

I was thinking about literacy in our home, we are all very computer-centric. Both my husband and I are computer programmers and we both love to read, I think our kids learned to read sooner because they were mimicking us. Also, we were both early and self taught readers.

 

Either way, I honestly don't think it matters. Some people develop that part of their brain early on and others develop it later. We cycle through developing different parts of our brain at any given time. If we aren't developing our literacy, we are absolutely developing something else that is just as important.

[FairProspects]

Both my husband and I are computer programmers and we both love to read, I think our kids learned to read sooner because they were mimicking us. Also, we were both early and self taught readers.

 

I'm not trying to pick on you, but this argument drives me nuts. I was a very early self-taught reader, dh and I both read all the time and read-aloud constantly and our 6 y.o. ds is nowhere near reading. I think we give parental habits too much credit too often (because we like to think our kid's reading is a reflection of us somehow), when reading is really more individually temperamental & developmental. Some kids just take longer, need more practice, or have more hurdles to overcome regardless of intelligence or environment.

 

In my ds's case, his vision issues are a big part of it. I could read in front of him and to him all day long, but without some additional help (and possibly just time for his eyes to develop) he could not/will not become an early, fluent reader. For those of us with kids who are slower to learn to read, or who have reading difficulties, implying that we as parents were not as with-it or savvy in nuturing & teaching reading can be hurtful (as well as just fallacious).

[WeeBeaks]

My oldest was 3 and eager (continually asking "what does this say" and such). He is 8 now and still a very very avid reader, chowing through at least one book a day and advanced for his grade. I hope he continues his love of reading. My biggest problem with him is finding new series appropriate for his maturity level but also fitting his reading level.

 

My 2nd is just now doing CVC words and progressing slower. We do lessons when he asks. He will be 5 at the end of the month. He is getting more eager and asking more, so I'm guessing probably late 5 or early 6 for fluency.

 

My others are too young to start yet so who knows!

[Dana]

My son struggled until seven when he discovered Calvin and Hobbes. I took him in to have his eyes examined prior to that and was told he had focus issues. They said he'd eventually need vision therapy. Maybe he will still, who knows, but at 10 he reads great for his age. I think he improved his own eye muscles by forcing himself to focus to see the tiny ornery things in print Calvin was saying. Calvin and Hobbes saved me thousands of dollars in vision therapy so far. Garfield helped too. (Yes, he reads other things too now, but prefers science books to fiction. No, I'm not suggesting this has to be the norm, or Calvin will cure all.)

 

Calvin was what got my son to read as well. :D

If you haven't already used it, Foxtrot is a big hit here too!

 

I think he was 6. I claim no credit for his learning - he basically is self-taught. Complete (and I mean fits & all) refusal for anything resembling his reading or attempting to read, and then when he wanted to read Calvin & Hobbes, he picked it up.

 

All About Spelling has really helped us get the phonics in that he refused to get initially!

[hornblower]

I'm not trying to pick on you, but this argument drives me nuts. I was a very early self-taught reader, dh and I both read all the time and read-aloud constantly and our 6 y.o. ds is nowhere near reading. I think we give parental habits too much credit too often (because we like to think our kid's reading is a reflection of us somehow), when reading is really more individually temperamental & developmental. Some kids just take longer, need more practice, or have more hurdles to overcome regardless of intelligence or environment.

 

:iagree:

 

I cannot remember NOT being able to read. I read from a very young age. Our house is littered with books, we read to them as babies blah, blah, blah. We did all the RIGHT things. But our kids were both late readers & needed HUGE instruction to get them there. There was no 'it just clicked with minimal instruction' for either of them.

 

Too many people take credit for things which had little to do with them.:D

 

The corollary of that is that we can stop blaming ourselves for many things too. :lol:

[tofuscramble]

I'm not trying to pick on you, but this argument drives me nuts. I was a very early self-taught reader, dh and I both read all the time and read-aloud constantly and our 6 y.o. ds is nowhere near reading. I think we give parental habits too much credit too often (because we like to think our kid's reading is a reflection of us somehow), when reading is really more individually temperamental & developmental. Some kids just take longer, need more practice, or have more hurdles to overcome regardless of intelligence or environment.

 

In my ds's case, his vision issues are a big part of it. I could read in front of him and to him all day long, but without some additional help (and possibly just time for his eyes to develop) he could not/will not become an early, fluent reader. For those of us with kids who are slower to learn to read, or who have reading difficulties, implying that we as parents were not as with-it or savvy in nuturing & teaching reading can be hurtful (as well as just fallacious).

 

Yeah, its not that we read to them a lot, its that they chose to mimic our behaviours, since we were always reading computer screens or books. That's not to say that one or all of them couldn't have ended up going out to play in the garden more while DH and I were wrapped up in work or reading. I still think its a personality thing. DH and I use a lot of math but DS11 would rather do just about anything else in the world so there's an area where he didn't mimic us but easily could have.

 

I don't know how much credit I can take for what my kids know. My husband takes no credit for any of their personality traits or anything. I have a different opinion but I don't think I did anything special to make my kids read early, they just somehow did and mimicking our behaviour seemed like a pretty logical explanation.

[qfbrenda]

I'm not sure how to define "reading" since my kids have taken a long time between, "sounding out cvc words" to "reading harder books easily".

 

I'll assume you mean "when did they start to find reading easy"... oldest was 7.5yrs, next was 8yrs, and we're still waiting for my almost-9yr old to get there. :tongue_smilie: But I'm not concerned about my almost-9 yr old.... he's making continual progress and it's getting easier... it's just that watching the progress is a bit like watching a snail crawl up a wall. :glare: LOL He'll get there eventually.

[tofuscramble]

I have always defined reading as "decoding and comprehending".

[Violet Crown]

All three of ours were reading (decoding & understanding) beginner books well before three years. It's the last one that's convinced me that this is just something hardwired, not anything to do with the parents, because she has delays in other areas. Most people assume she's under two, and just very large for her age; sometimes I want to shout "Yes, she doesn't talk or play or interact, but at home she READS!"

[Angie in VA]

The most effective lesson I remember with the almost 8 year old that I did do reading lessons with was re-writing chapters from his favorite chapter book of the time (into shorter, easier text). This is what finally kicked it up a notch for him -- he wanted to read because it was the stories he already loved.

 

 

I was just telling the mom of a "late" reader (her words not mine) this story, Milovany! Thanks for sharing it w/ me, many years ago!

 

:)

[Lara in Colo]

I havn't read all the posts, however I have a question. My two older children were taught in public school, are both good readers and reading at or above grade level by 6-7. I have a 6.5yo who doesn't seem to want to read. This is getting better now that her 5yo brother is catching up and she feels some competition. I don't want to push her, she's kind of slow about everything. I don't think shes slow, just not interested in this plain of existence. When she rides her bike, she will actually hit a car that is stopped and waiting for her--while I'm yelling at her to move closer to the sidewalk. She's just not here. I'm hoping she's uber intelligent (or normal) instead of something else.

The question:

When they learn to read late: how do you proceed with teaching so as to not fall behind in other areas? Writing and other stuff? I sort of feel like we're in a stall.

 

Lara

[AmyP]

All four of mine went from reading CVC words to picking up easy books on their own to read pretty quickly around 5.

 

The older two were in PS, the last two homeschooled, but I didn't really teach them to read other than sporadic OPG lessons here and there. After being taught basic phonics rules they ran with it and read very well now.

[chubbyhugs]

Dd started reading (decoding and understanding) at 2 years of age. We've always home-schooled. She loved reading Calvin & Hobbes, Peanuts, Garfield, Get Fuzzy, the David Macauley books, anything dinosaur and science. She's 14 now; last night started reading Chance or Purpose? by Christoph Cardinal Schonborn. Had to get the Merriam-Webster's dictionary to understand "polemic."

[LizzyBee]

:iagree:

 

My twins were struggling terribly until the summer before 4th grade. I was naive and assumed it was a tragedy. They discovered Harry Potter and went from hardly managing simple picture books to reading novels. I don't let them read over my shoulders today because they correct me too often. :lol:

 

My son struggled until seven when he discovered Calvin and Hobbes. I took him in to have his eyes examined prior to that and was told he had focus issues. They said he'd eventually need vision therapy. Maybe he will still, who knows, but at 10 he reads great for his age. I think he improved his own eye muscles by forcing himself to focus to see the tiny ornery things in print Calvin was saying. Calvin and Hobbes saved me thousands of dollars in vision therapy so far. Garfield helped too. (Yes, he reads other things too now, but prefers science books to fiction. No, I'm not suggesting this has to be the norm, or Calvin will cure all.)

My youngest doesn't read yet. We'll try this year.

 

Responding to the bolded part:

 

There is some evidence that late readers score below age/grade level on visual tracking and perceptual skills because reading develops those skills. There are no doubt some kids whose visual issues are so severe that they need vision therapy before they can learn to read; but for many kids, learning to read is the therapy.

[Cricket]

That is good to know. When my oldest had just turned 4 I was sitting down with him and doing daily lessons that dragged on forever. I was so silly! By 5 he was reading okay and didn't really take off until 6-7. I don't even remember teaching my second ds to read. He sort of picked it up by 5 and is doing well. My now 6 yo dd isn't doing very well. She is slowly improving but it is much slower than I would like to see and I've been stressing about it. my youngest is 4 and she can read the occasional CVC word. She is interested in learning how to read and follows along as I work with my 6 yo.

[CLHCO]

Responding to the bolded part:

 

There is some evidence that late readers score below age/grade level on visual tracking and perceptual skills because reading develops those skills. There are no doubt some kids whose visual issues are so severe that they need vision therapy before they can learn to read; but for many kids, learning to read is the therapy.

 

I believe that! The Dr. told me *some* kids "grow out of it" on their own, but most need vision therapy. I wasn't convinced. Call me skeptical of a clinic that hounds me for excessive office visits and every test under the sun. They charge a lot for this vision therapy too. I got him temporary reading glasses, he hated the glasses, and decided to just read Calvin without them, and I let him.

 

Reading isn't necessarily a "normal" eye activity. Reading in the way, and to the extent we do in modern society, is fairly new for kids, historically speaking. Most motivated children should naturally build up those muscles/skills while reading. Vision therapy is when its causing an serious issue for the child, or if causing headaches, etc., but it can be a chicken/egg issue with pre-readers. He wasn't really motivated to read yet so there was no reason to have those muscles built up or the skills developed. I can guarantee he'd be even less motivated to do those extensive exercises. Calvin & Hobbes was a far better choice. I bet it's more common for this to fix itself than she let on, but that's my skepticism talking.

 

My daughters, who were motivated to color and draw from a young age, never had that problem when it was time to read. He hated coloring and drawing so he hadn't developed the muscle/skill set yet.

[weddell]

My kids are currently 4 (almost 5) and 1. My 4 year old started BOB books when she turned 4. She already knew her letters and their sounds (I didn't teach them, I think she picked them up from random leagfrog toys around the house). So I taught her blending with the BOB books and she took off. We have finished all 5 sets of BOB books and are doing the second half of OPGTTR.

 

She has read all the Henry and Mudge books and the Oliver and Amanda Pig books (mostly aloud to me). She has read some of the Rainbow Fairy books to herself, but I haven't had her read them to me so I don't know how many words she doesn't know. She read a Nate the Great the other day, but again, it was to herself. I'm going to have her read some of those to me aloud soon as part of our daily reading.

 

So I would say 4 years old for dd was when she started reading fluently (without sounding out many, if any, words and comprehending what she reads).

 

Ds, age 1, copies EVERYTHING his sister does. He sits and "reads" all day. His favorite is Henry and Mudge (because dd was reading them). DD has decided she is going to teach ds his letters and to read. So with some leapfrog frig magnents she is teaching him the alphabet. And amazingly he now knows most of his letters. I don't know where this will end up, but I wouldn't be surprised if he was an early reader, if for no other reason than to copy his sister.

[musicianmom]

I have one reader. She was reading "Little Bear" at 3 1/2, and "A Little Princess" by 4.

[StaceyJeannette]

My oldest DS learned at age 4. Second DS didn't read until 7. Third DS, who just turned 8, has been struggling, but is just now starting to read signs, cereal boxes, etc. This thread has made me feel much better about this, I was worried it was all my fault!