Doing reading and math in their heads

[MistyMountain]

I am working on phonics with dd and the parts where it says to say it in your head she just wispers and I can hear her. She also does all the math outloud too. When should they be able to do math and reading in their heads?

[sassenach]

I would not be concerned at all about this. Five is so little! I would think that by 7 she should get the concept. But even then, she may prefer to process out loud. I know I do. You should hear me at the grocery store. I talk to myself the whole time.

[manyblessings]

My oldest still prefers to read aloud :001_smile:

 

I truly would not worry yet. I do understand wondering since I have been in those shoes. Try to remember the simple act of reading is the goal in life much moreso than them reading silently. Really, having her read aloud helps with oral reading skills too.

[armom]

I wouldn't worry at this point. I actually have my 7y/o read aloud to me to make sure he is reading ok. He can read silentl and prefers to, but I still have him do some reading aloud. His siblings stopped reading aloud in approx. 2nd grade about at 8y/o.

[Farrar]

I love it when my 7 yos will still talk out a math problem, because then I can see where they went wrong!

[Critterfixer]

Around age 7 I started to be concerned with teaching the idea of reading and doing math problems silently so that the older twin would not simply wait for his more math adept brother to shout out the answer before writing it.

I called it secret math and we worked on going from loud to whispering and finally to simply raising the hand excitedly when the answer was found rather than shouting it out.

They are eight now, and the older twin has it down and can even read more or less silently. The younger twin still has to read out-loud (whether he wants to or not, because I need to make sure he is sounding out things well) but can now do the math in his head without calling out the answers. He does still have to be reminded to do "secret" math though.

Bottom line they had to be taught to work on things silently. I don't know if it is typical for boys to be so exuberant about giving answers aloud, but mine needed actual instruction in how to work in a silent way. (Even when drawing they tend to narrate the picture!)

[Iucounu]

Each child is unique, but it's not unusual for it to take until age 8 or 9 for a child to be comfortable reading completely silently with an inner voice.

[Laura in MI]

I wouldn't worry about it 5 is so little!

 

My dss9 still has a hard time reading silently and still reads aloud. He is dyslexic and is struggling to read on grade level. I actually like it better because I can tell what he's struggling with.

[gramlingk]

My 10 yr old still likes to talk out math problems but does addition in his head faster than I do sometimes. My daughter is 11 and she much prefers to read and do math silently. I think this is much more about their personality and learning types than a developmental thing.

[MistyMountain]

Thank you. I will stop worrying about that now. 100 EL has them read some of the words silently and so I thought maybe it was expected earlier. She is my first experiment with school.