How do you determine whether or not you can accurately say "My child can read" ?

[mhg]

I saw an old post about someone saying their 5 year old was reading Charlotte's web and, while I do not doubt the veracity of this, I'm just curious what does this look like? Does this mean the child sits down with page 1, sentence 1 "Where's papa going with that axe?".....and slowly moves word by word sounding it out and asking mom for near-constant help or what?

 

When one says that her child "was reading by 4" or "was reading at 5"

---- is this as nebulous as it sounds or are there certain criteria/standards by which most go by to be able to say this?

 

In short......how do you determine whether or not you can say "My child can read." ?

[Mommy22alyns]

I said the girls could read when they were beyond sounding out every word and could read something they'd never seen before. And that did happen pretty early for both of them. :)

[kathkath]

I say when my kids can pick up a book without help and read with some degree of fluency--otherwise they're just beginning to read. My 5yo learned when he was 3 but was only reading things like Bob books. My 6yo whizzes through Charlotte's Web and more but my 5yo is still into picture books and guesses at some longer words. He is independent though so I say he can read. He's probably at an early 2nd grade level.

[Ritsumei]

In my opinion, reading is reading. When my son had read his first Bob Book, I considered him a (beginning) reader, and said so on occasion. Though usually with the qualification that he was a very beginning reader. He wasn't fluent. But he was, in fact, reading. He was just past 4 when he reached that point. It will be a while, I'm thinking, before he's reading Charlotte's Web or anything like it. But he can read the limited vocabulary readers like Bob Books or the stories from OPGTR with increasing fluency all the time. Just because he's not reading chapter books or other complicated material, I see no reason to denigrate the accomplishments he has got. And if you're not marking off of basic ability to read, then what is reading? After I was done with college I went to my Grandma's house, and picked up a copy of The Federalist Papers. I couldn't read it; sure, I could decode the words, but I had no idea what they were saying. Does that mean that I wasn't a reader? Of course not.

 

In my mind, they're reading when they read that first little book.

 

ETA: I suspect that "what is reading" is a relatively personal definition, and that there's no way to be completely sure what exactly that means from one person to another without further questions, because in only 3 answers there are clearly different definitions for what it means to be able to read.

Edited June 26, 2011 by Ritsumei

[justasque]

I saw an old post about someone saying their 5 year old was reading Charlotte's web and, while I do not doubt the veracity of this, I'm just curious what does this look like? Does this mean the child sits down with page 1, sentence 1 "Where's papa going with that axe?".....and slowly moves word by word sounding it out and asking mom for near-constant help or what?

 

I don't think most kids who are still at the sounding out stage are going to tackle something like Charlotte's Web. It would be way too tedious, and difficult to follow the story. Kids generally need to build up to chapter books, usually going through various stages (simple books, Calvin and Hobbes/Tintin, then chapter books). When it's a chapter book like that, and the mom says the child is reading it, I assume mom means the child is reading it with fluency and automaticity. I have known quite a few children who could read chapter books as young as 3, and others who did not reach this stage until more like 10. Part was about how much exposure/teaching they had wrt reading, part was about the child's individual natural ability with reading skills.

[Mandamom]

When a person (of any age) can read without stumbling or sounding out each word and can retell what they've read. For some it can happen very young (3-4) and for others it happens much later.

[boscopup]

There are 5 year olds around here that read Charlotte's Web about as well as you and I might read it. ;)

 

I say my child can read when he can read a book independently of me. My oldest's first book to read was Go, Dog, Go! at 4.5. He needed help on maybe a few words, but he read a good 30 pages (until I stopped him) with hardly any help at all. I was pretty shocked. He took off from there. He didn't read Charlotte's Web until 6 though. :)

 

Reading does equal figuring out the words and comprehending them. Some kids do this VERY early. Some kids take a lot longer but still end up in the same place in the end.

 

My 4 year old can sound out a short, simple sentence of CVC words (with a, the, and other short words thrown in). He still has to sound out every word though. He's a beginner reader. Very beginner. I mean, he can blend, which is the biggest hurdle to get over for reading. He can't sit down with a book and read it through though. This time next year? I think he'll be able to. I doubt he'll be doing Charlotte's Web, but hey, he could surprise me. :D

[Dmmetler]

It's almost like porn-you know it when you see it. If a child is reading out loud and has inflection and expression, that's pretty obvious. Or, if they're reading silently, and carrying on a running dialogue about what the characters are doing and how that was a good or bad choice or whether it's fair, unfair, and so on, that's also obvious. That seems to come after a child's had a couple of years of reading practice, whether they started at age 3 or at age 7.

[robsiew]

I consider my kids "reading" when they are somewhat fluent, not having to sound out every word. Before that I just say they are beginning readers. This happened for all of my children around 5 years of age (probably a 1st grade reading level or so). My current 5 (almost 6) year old I would consider "reading". He reads most beginner chapter books fluently. We aren't up to Charlotte's Web quite yet, but I imagine sometime in the next 6 mos. he will be. I'd say he's at a lower 2nd grade level right now.

[Kuovonne]

It depends on who's asking and what I feel like sharing.

DD5 is in that gray area between reader and non-reader.

 

I say she is learning to read, an emerging reader, or a reader depending on the context.

For example, for the Summer Reading program, I say she is a reader and must read her own books, since I can pick the books and make sure they are level appropriate.

But, for the co-op we are joining, I say she isn't a reader because she can't read the textbook that the co-op will be using.

[crazyforlatin]

It may seem strange to read or hear about children reading solid books like Charlotte's Web at 5, but not so if they happened to learn to read at 3. Whether there is comprehension may be another issue, but I tend to think true reading, at whatever level, should include some comprehension. At 5, DD read Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, The Hobbit, and some other longer books, but it didn't seem odd since she had a couple of years of practice, so she could decode well and comprehend the content most of the time. Her vocabulary, however, was definitely not at the level of the books, but hopefully it expanded.

Edited June 26, 2011 by crazyforlatin

[SilverMoon]

My 5yo can read Charlotte's Web. It would look like her picking it up and reading it just like you would. Though, she'd stop and ask if she could read it aloud or if she should read it quietly so she doesn't interrupt working siblings. She prefers reading aloud still, but will read quietly if it bugs someone.

 

I said she was reading at 3. She could grab a book she'd never seen before and start reading it without struggling to sound out words. Before her third birthday she knew every letter by sight and could tell you what sound it made. Her brother, 22 months older, was learning letters and phonics on the normal track. She would watch over his shoulder and whisper his answers to herself. *shrug*

 

To contrast that, my oldest daughter wasn't reading until she was 7, and couldn't have read Charlotte's Web on her own until she was 8. It would have been a chore for her, but she could have read it. Today, nearly 11, she's a strong reader and is "ahead" of grade level.

[Whereneverever]

When they can pick up a book they've never read before and read it- and tell you what they've read.

 

My DD1 read Charlotte's Web at 5. At 6 she started reading Harry Potter, Chronicles of Narnia, ect. At 7 she can read anything she picks up- if she wants to.

 

My DD2 is learning to read. She can sound out words, but she has to sound out every single word, every time.

[Food4Thought]

I consider them to be reading when they can pick up a book, read it alone, and understand it. My kids have been sounding out CVC words since they were 3, but my son was 6.5 when he finally "got it" and could read without sounding out most words. My 5-yr old is not quite there yet, though she read two pages of Green Eggs and Ham to me last night. After seeing it *click* for my DS, I'm sure I'll know it when DD gets there.

[LittleIzumi]

I say when my kids can pick up a book without help and read with some degree of fluency--otherwise they're just beginning to read.

:iagree:

 

I have one who is reading and one who is beginning to read. My reader can read through most beginning books on her own. She will get 95% of the words right & will sound out any of the ones she doesn't quite know (or sound out the first syllable and then guess the rest based on context), and can discuss what happened in the story. My younger girl is beginning to read in that she reads CVC words & can read & comprehend short CVC sentences but that much is hard work for her.

[black_midori]

My 5yo has been able to read for awhile - he started sounding out the words on his own while listening to his big bro's reading lessons awhile back! :) The biggest time I really sat up and thought "wow, he really CAN read" was when he was doing a book with multiple characters and used different funny voices for each one!! I figured that showed a certain comprehension of what was going on and the connection of the words to actual events :)

[Lovedtodeath]

Part was about how much exposure/teaching they had wrt reading, part was about the child's individual natural ability with reading skills.

and interest! Interest is a huge factor even if 2 kids have the same skills, one may read a chapter book and the other may prefer doing something else, so they never attempt it... even though they can read all of their mom's emails, grandma's religious magazines and dad's video game instructions/dialogue. :D

[Joyoflearning]

and interest! Interest is a huge factor even if 2 kids have the same skills, one may read a chapter book and the other may prefer doing something else, so they never attempt it... even though they can read all of their mom's emails, grandma's religious magazines and dad's video game instructions/dialogue. :D

 

:iagree: My daughter started "reading" when she was 2 because she could sound out words on her own and read BOB books on her own- yes she was a beginning reader. She progressed very quickly because she LOVES reading. She is 4 and if I gave her Charlotte's Web she would read it with incredible intonation AND comprehension, but I think it's a sad book and thought she would enjoy it more if I wait to introduce it to her until she is 5. DS (2) knows his letters and most sounds. He has remembered every sound I have tried to teach him, but I don't push it because he does not have nearly the same interest in reading as his sister. I also think it has to do with learning styles. DS is very spatially oriented and loves to build with blocks and make patterns. DD is VERY Auditory and remembers everything that is told to her (tell her the correct pronunciation once and she will not mispronunciate the word again; tell her the definition of a word and she will always know what it means).

[Laura Corin]

When my son was reading Harry Potter at five, he wasn't sounding out or asking for help. He had moved beyond that and could read fluently. He would lie on the sofa, silently reading to himself. At any point, one could ask him to read any sentence and he could.

 

Laura

[Grover]

When they can pick up a book they've never read before and read it- and tell you what they've read.

 

 

This is what I'd say too. My first realisation that DS could 'really' read was when he took a book he'd never seen off the library shelf (Today I Will Fly - a Gerald and Piggy book) and read me the whole thing with out any help, with expression, laughing at the funny parts. He was 2 years 5 months and I nearly fell over because until then we'd assumed he was 'reciting' books he'd been read.

 

What it looked like when he sat down with Charlottes Web was what it looked like when I sit down with it - he read silently by then, and when he reached the part where Charlotte dies he came and climbed onto my lap with tears streaming down his face, whispered, "she died" and finished the book. He didn't say anything else, just cuddled in and kept reading. At the end he looked up and said "Charlotte died, but it's ok, her babies are like a part of her. Wilbur will love them too." Then he turned back to the beginning and started reading again... and stopped and said, "she's going to die again." He understood, and he loves that book, it's still his favourite. He's not yet five.

[Donna]

I said mine were reading when they could fluently read a book without stopping to sound out the words (except for the occasional difficult words) and they understood what they read.

 

For mine that was at 4yo, 6yo, and 3yo, respectively. My oldest was reading Harry Potter to me at 4yo and my youngest picked up Little House in the Big Woods and read it fluently at 3.5yo. My middle ds wouldn't read anything with lots of words on the page even at 6yo but did read me Dr. Suess-type books. (He still tends to pick out books to read based on the size of the print and number of pages...Ugh!)

 

For me, everything before that was "learning to read." I do know people who have said their child is reading when they were beginning to blend sounds together so I think everyone has their own definition.

[laundrycrisis]

Our 8 yo (vision therapy grad) has IMO been an emerging reader for a loooooong time. He can read road signs. He can read the lists of shows on the TV and pick what he wants. He can read the 3-paragraph comprehension worksheets I give him (these are at grade level). He can read the instructions on educational computer games. But he does not yet have the visual stamina to read a Step-Into-Reading book from beginning to end by himself. His eyes can do it now, and he can read the words, but his "computer" gets tired. I won't really say that he is reading until he can get through something of this length on his own. Until then I will say he is an emerging reader or beginning to read.

[Pamela H in Texas]

I don't think a parent of a 5yr old who was sounding out words and needing constant help would claim their child is reading Charlotte's Web. When I say my daughter read that book (I wasn't the poster you are talking about, I know), I meant she sat down, read the first sentence then the next and the next until she read it through.

 

It is hard for me to answer your real question though. I'm not sure when that magic point is. To make it harder, my daughter went from cvc words to chapter books in about 3 months time. My son dragged that same thing out over many years. Obviously, if we're saying that reading chapter books is reading the answer will be much different than if we say it's when they are reading random words on signs. My 5yr old read "Jack" at the movie theater yesterday. It was the first time she spontaneously read a word. She is NOT reading. However, my daughter read chapter books at 3; but if that is the standard, my son didn't read until he was 11.

 

Anyway, I agree that there is a gray area where a kid is an emerging reader. When a kid can pick up almost any book off the shelf and read most words and get the gist of it, they are a reader....I think.

[JennyD]

I have not read all the responses but FWIW I have told my children that they were now reading the first time they were able to sound out a BOB book on their own.

 

Other than that, though, I don't think that I'm ever really in the position of needing to tell someone else whether my child is reading or not. Are you talking about a formal assessment to an evaluator? If so, I have to imagine that there would be specific benchmarks for each step in the process.

[abbeyej]

Hm... When I said "my child can read", it meant they could sit down with a simple book (Curious George, Little Bear, Henry and Mudge) and read the book with occasional stumbles, but with few enough that they could follow the progress of the story. When I said "my child can read fluently", it meant they could sit down with something like Charlotte's Web and read smoothly with only very occasional stumbles (fewer than one per page) and read with expression.

 

For both of mine, the time between the first and the second was relatively short, so looking back, I'd say, "My oldest was reading at three and my youngest at five" because within those periods they went from reading-but-haltingly to reading-smoothly-with-expression.

 

I consider "sounding out" to be "learning to read" -- that stage where decoding the words is still obviously taking precedence over obtaining *meaning* from the text.

[jenangelcat]

My daughter turned 5 in December. She has since read Charlotte's Web, Stuart Little, Chocolate Fever, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. She'll read anything in the house including whatever she find on the net (my blog, this post). She reads like I read. She sits down, recognizes the word and reads. She comprehends what she's reading. She can tell me what's happened in the story and her feelings about it. She rarely needs me to help her with a word. It's usually a name when she does.

 

She started soundings things out around 2-3 and then we did the 100 lesson book. We stopped about 2/3 the way through. She could "read" when she could read the later lessons in the book with minimal help.

[TracyP]

I guess there are two questions there. We call grandma and say K__ is reading! when dc starts (no matter how haltingly) reading simple sentences. My 5 yo is working his way through the Little House series. He sits with the book and reads like you or I would. I think when someone says dc is reading Bob Books, there is an understanding that he is working on fluency and sounding out words. When someone says dc is reading Charlotte's Web, there is an understanding that dc is really reading it.

[RootAnn]

To make it harder, my daughter went from cvc words to chapter books in about 3 months time. My son dragged that same thing out over many years.

 

:iagree:

 

I said my oldest was "reading" when she picked up the Boxcar Children after I had read the first two chapters aloud & finished the book that night by herself (after staying up way too late). She went from barely being able to read a page of the Level 1 Step Into Reading books to fluently reading the Boxcar Children when something clicked in her head. (She was at the "beginning reading" level for 2-3 years, IMO.)

 

I still don't say my #2 can "read." She doesn't have to sound out every word anymore, but her reading isn't fluent (some inflection, stilted sounding even when she knows the words) and she can barely make it through a Level 2 Step into Reading book because it may be 30 pages and 5 of them have "lots of words" on the page. She (& I) are exhausted by page 10. I'm waiting for the magical "click" . . . . and she's almost 8. :001_huh:

 

If I hadn't seen little 4 year olds reading Charlotte's Web or a just-turned-5-yr old reading Eragon, I wouldn't have believed it. But I have. Mine are just not early readers (and I wasn't an early reader either). I live with that. :D

[Crimson Wife]

I don't remember when my DD read Charlotte's Web specifically but she was fluently reading those types of books by 4 1/2. She could narrate and answer reading comprehension questions

 

DS hasn't read CW yet, but he did read George Washington's Socks (176 pp., Lexile 840) and George Washington's Spy (240 pp, Lexile 710) at 5 1/4. Again he could narrate & answer reading comp. questions.

[nov05mama]

Hm... When I said "my child can read", it meant they could sit down with a simple book (Curious George, Little Bear, Henry and Mudge) and read the book with occasional stumbles, but with few enough that they could follow the progress of the story. When I said "my child can read fluently", it meant they could sit down with something like Charlotte's Web and read smoothly with only very occasional stumbles (fewer than one per page) and read with expression.

 

For both of mine, the time between the first and the second was relatively short, so looking back, I'd say, "My oldest was reading at three and my youngest at five" because within those periods they went from reading-but-haltingly to reading-smoothly-with-expression.

 

I consider "sounding out" to be "learning to read" -- that stage where decoding the words is still obviously taking precedence over obtaining *meaning* from the text.

Ditto. To simply say 'they are reading' I take that as they are able to read simple stories without stumbling over words, that includes early readers and such (Frog & Toad, etc). They no longer sound out every word and can pretty much read anything they pick up, but aren't quite ready for LONG books.

'Emerging readers', to me, are kids who are still needing to sound out a lot of what they read.

'Fluent readers' are children who are able to pick up chapter books and read them (like Charlotte's Web, etc).

 

There may be a short gap between 'reader' and 'fluent reader', or there might be YEARS before a child goes from a 'reader' to a 'fluent reader'...but a child who can read things like Frog & Toad and other stories is still a 'reader' even if they aren't ready for chapter books :D

[beaners]

I'd say my oldest, who will be four in two weeks, is a reader. I just checked the Book Wizard for the grade level of the last two books she was sitting here reading. One is a 3.8, and the other is a 3.1. She told me about the characters and what they were doing. She didn't understand exactly why they did what they did, but she can retell the events. Understanding complex motivations is beyond the scope of her limited experience. If I say she is reading something, I mean that she is sitting there reading all of the words by herself. She may stumble on one or two words.

 

I probably wouldn't hand her Charlotte's Web because I'm not sure that she has the stamina for a book of that length. I also worry about eye strain.

 

I'll tell all the grandparents about my two year old reading, but she only reads "little words like if and it." I wouldn't tell a stranger that she is reading. Of course, I probably wouldn't tell a stranger that her older sister is reading either. Exceptions are made for snarky comments that my daughter can't possibly be reading. It's amazing how many of those comments people throw around, and in the oddest settings (the library?!), and especially in front of the child in question.

[Lovedtodeath]

My daughter was reading Morris the Moose, Danny and the Dinosaur, Harry the Dirty Dog, The Little Bear Collection... Basically anything in the Sonlight 2nd grade reading selections independently before ever having them read to her. Most of these have a nice sized paragraph on each page. This was well before she was 3 and a half. So I say she was reading at 3.

 

My son is 4 and he still won't even let me read the above books to them because there is too much on each page. :lol:

[Miss Tick]

This question falls into a longer list I've started - ones that seemed clear cut before I had kids and now are v-e-r-y gray:

 

Is your child sleeping through the night?

Is your child potty trained?

Can your child read?

etc...

[Lovedtodeath]

Oh, you are so right Susan! Some are potty trained but still having accidents or still need help. Some are sleeping through the night for 5-6 hours, some are reading because they memorized one book, etc. etc. Some think these above examples count and others don't.

[Pamela H in Texas]

Is your child sleeping through the night?

Is your child potty trained?

Can your child read?

etc...

 

Yep, your list confirms, I always take the further side of the grey area.

 

A child having four accidents per week is not potty trained, but potty learning. One not having an accident in over a month is.

 

3 weeks ago, when the baby woke for a 3am bottle, she was not sleeping through the night (regardless of hours before that bottle or after it). Now that she goes to bed at 8:30 and wakes between 7:30 and 10am, she is sleeping through the night. BTW, my son was 9 before he slept through the night regularly.

 

When a kid can pick up almost any book off the shelf and read a page with little/no help, he's a reader. Before that, he's emerging as one.

 

At the same time, this is my standard, not everyone's. I'm not going to tell someone they can't say Little Johnny is reading or Janie isn't potty trained. It ain't my job to decide for anyone else.

[Down_the_Rabbit_Hole]

I consider my child a true reader when she can pick up a book she has never read and read it with very little help from me and understand it. Until they can grasp what they are reading then I might consider them to be learning to read. Reading a list of words, whether vertical or side by side in sentence form is not true reading in my mind. Reading that list of words in sentence form and knowing it has a meaning and what that meaning is, to me, means that are true readers. This can happen at any age, for my children it happened at 6, 9, 5, 4.

[Dinsfamily]

For me it's about fluency. When they are able to fluently read a Dr. Seuss book. I had one who did this at 2.99 and one at 5.5. My 5yo could read Charlotte's web now if he wanted (and I hadn't already read it aloud this year) but he prefers shorter books in the humor category.

 

There are quite a few very advanced readers on this board. I don't doubt what other people say is true either but...I didn't fully believe that not-quite 3yos were teaching themselves to read until I had one. :D

 

I don't think a parent of a 5yr old who was sounding out words and needing constant help would claim their child is reading Charlotte's Web. When I say my daughter read that book (I wasn't the poster you are talking about, I know), I meant she sat down, read the first sentence then the next and the next until she read it through.

 

 

:iagree: My oldest could have painfully sounded out every word in that book when he started K because of his knowledge and grasp of phonograms. However, I wouldn't have said he was a reader yet or that he could read that book. However, fluency clicked for him one day and he went up several grade levels in reading within a few weeks. He jumped from being a non-reader to a 3rd grade level. Each child is different and there is definitely a gray area.

[JudoMom]

I say my guys are reading when they can pick up most anything and read it with fluency without much help. Until then, they're learning to read. This has happened around age 5 for all my boys (though my youngest is still learning to read, it looks like he's ready to take off and I think he will when we resume regular phonics instruction in a couple of weeks).

[Greenmama2]

This question falls into a longer list I've started - ones that seemed clear cut before I had kids and now are v-e-r-y gray:

 

Is your child sleeping through the night?

Is your child potty trained?

Can your child read?

etc...

 

Oh so true.

FWIW I don't say my 5 year old can read even though today she read aloud:

Silver stork, flying high.

And

I can read very well.

And on Friday she read:

Please stand behind the yellow line.

We haven't rung Grandma to say she can read and if anybody asks I will simply say that she is learning. At this point she can decode anything and. Read cvc words without sounding out but she is not fluent and the above sentences test the edge of her stamina. Yes, technically she is an emerging reader but I won't call her a reader until she can read an entire page of text (such as the first page of Charlotte's Web for example) without difficulty.

[reet3]

I always told mine they could read when they knew how to recognize multiple words to keep confidence up and frustration down. To adults I referred to it as learning to read.

[boscopup]

Yes, technically she is an emerging reader but I won't call her a reader until she can read an entire page of text (such as the first page of Charlotte's Web for example) without difficulty.

 

See, I call them a reader before that. Charlotte's Web is grade level 4.9! I consider them able to read when they're around a first grade level. :) That doesn't mean they can read everything, but they *can* read. I called Grandma when my DS2 was sounding out CVC words and blending them together, but he's still not "reading". He's getting very close to reading something independently, but for now, he still has to sound everything out. I call him a "beginning reader", but he's not "reading" flat out. And no, he'd have no clue what to do with CW. :lol:

[DarlaS]

I said the girls could read when they were beyond sounding out every word and could read something they'd never seen before. And that did happen pretty early for both of them. :)

 

:iagree: That's pretty much my take on it and I make no claims about a child reading before they reach this point.

 

On the other hand, (especially if you've been reading John Holt...) you could consider them reading when they are learning CVC words, just not reading well. :001_smile:

[Lovedtodeath]

There are quite a few very advanced readers on this board. I don't doubt what other people say is true either but...I didn't fully believe that not-quite 3yos were teaching themselves to read until I had one. :D

My child did not teach herself to read at 3. I did. I started a very good phonics program and I taught all of the phonograms vertically. It was easy for her to take off from there, but she didn't teach herself at a surprise to me. Not all early readers do.

 

See, I call them a reader before that. Charlotte's Web is grade level 4.9! I consider them able to read when they're around a first grade level. :)

:iagree:YES. Good Grief. Impossibly high standards are not a good thing!

[Dinsfamily]

My child did not teach herself to read at 3. I did. I started a very good phonics program and I taught all of the phonograms vertically. It was easy for her to take off from there, but she didn't teach herself at a surprise to me. Not all early readers do.

 

:iagree: It is just easier for me to believe that a 3yo is reading if someone taught him/her. I was just using that as an example of things being hard to believe until we see it firsthand...like a K'er reading Charlotte's Web. This board has been good for me to see how diverse dc can be.

[Stacie Leigh]

My DD (4) can read phonetically and slowly. When I discuss her progress, that's just what I say (or "learning to read"). My DS (6) can easily tackle K readers and has moved on to simple library books and "I Can Read" titles at a grade appropriate level. I would say he's "starting to read" or a "beginning reader". My ODS (8) reads at a Jr. High/High school level. I'd say he's an avid reader. Just for reference, this child didn't read A WORD til after he was 6.

 

My DD watched Leapfrog's "The Letter Factory" DVD with her brothers and had her letter sounds down before she was 3. (Around her 3rd birthday we pulled up to Kohl's which had a huge KOHL'S sign on the front and she shocked me by saying, "Look Mom, Kuh-Aw-Huh-Llllll-Ssss!" It took almost a year after that before she could name the letters on sight because she called them by their sounds. Now she's almost 5 and only recently is able to recognize lower case letters and string them into words so I'd just now say that she's really learning to read.

 

It depends on the context to me. If I'm being asked because the child has to qualify for a group or class, then I say yes or no depending on what his or her skill level is.

Edited June 27, 2011 by Stacie Leigh

[WeeBeaks]

For my family, reading fluently means an occasional (less than 1 per sentence) word that needs sounding out, and the rest just read, plus picking up the storyline easily. When my new readers are focused so intently on phonics, they struggle with remembering the plot. I call them fluent when the plot is the main focus and not the mechanics of reading.

[lovemykids]

My DD (4) can read phonetically and slowly. When I discuss her progress, that's just what I say (or "learning to read"). My DS (6) can easily tackle K readers and has moved on to simple library books and "I Can Read" titles at a grade appropriate level. I would say he's "starting to read" or a "beginning reader". My ODS (8) reads at a Jr. High/High school level. I'd say he's an avid reader. Just for reference, this child didn't read A WORD til after he was 6.

 

My DD watched Leapfrog's "The Letter Factory" DVD with her brothers and had her letter sounds down before she was 3. (Around her 3rd birthday we pulled up to Kohl's which had a huge KOHL'S sign on the front and she shocked me by saying, "Look Mom, Kuh-Aw-Huh-Llllll-Ssss!" It took almost a year after that before she could name the letters on sight because she called them by their sounds. Now she's almost 5 and only recently is able to recognize lower case letters and string them into words so I'd just now say that she's really learning to read.

 

It depends on the context to me. If I'm being asked because the child has to qualify for a group or class, then I say yes or no depending on what his or her skill level is.

:iagree:

 

It depends upon the context of the conversation you are having. For instance, if I say my child learned how to read when he was four, that most likely means he started beginning reading and could phonetically pronounce certain words, as well as recognize a few sight words. That child is/was reading, in the beginning stages. Now, if I were to say “I will have more time to follow my own interests as a parent when my child is reading".... Obviously, I am not talking about my child reading “The Fat Catâ€; I mean reading fluently, including chapter books, textbooks, etc. (usually on about a fourth grade level or above), which could happen very soon after the beginning stages for some children and much later for others.

[Critterfixer]

I find it easiest to use Ruth Beechick's stages to describe the level of reading. Both my ds7 are in stage 1, the Decoding phase. I'm more concerned with phonics and the reading of words in relative isolation than I am with putting it all together in sentences. Stage 2 is Fluency, Stage 3 is Information and Stage 4 is Advanced Comprehension. It's easier than beating my head against a wall trying to decide whether to call the boys "readers" or not.

The stages do overlap. For instance, a high school student in the Advanced Comprehension stage might still have to decode unfamiliar words, a child in the decoding phase still has to comprehend that the combination of the big red sign and the words STOP means put on the brakes and wait for Mom to catch up.

[EKS]

I think that unless they're reading fluently on an adult level, saying "My child can read" is simply finishing the sentence too soon.

 

So, at age two, I might have said "My child can read CVC words." The next year I might have said "My child can read fluently on a first grade level." Then at age six I might have said, "My child can read fluently on a middle school level."

 

In all cases he was reading, just at different levels.