Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Anybody have a boy who learned to read very early?

My Ds is 15 months old and is beginning to read, he knows many sight words and has started to sound out words. He has an amazing vocabulary and talks in complete sentences. He was evaluated by a multidisciplinary team (Psychologist, occupational therapist, speech therapist and someone from the Autism Center) at a major university. All concurred that he has no signs of hyperlexia associated with Autism. Because of his abilities and family history they were inclined to believe
he is highly gifted. The Gifted Specialist from the Psych. Department spent some time observing and talking to him and
would like to see him periodically to see if he continues to develop at such a rapid pace.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? How have things progressed for you DC?

I think I can answer this since I have all boys and 2 of my 3 learned to read very early. My youngest reader was about 23 months when he started. He read very well, very early, however, that reading ability turned into more of an insane math ability. Today his reading is really very good (4th or 5th grade level), he is only 6, but his math ability is somewhere up in the highschool range. His younger brother seems to be following the same pattern. I don't know if that's typical, but its certainly what has happened with mine so far.

Sounds like you have a very smart lil guy on your hands!

Just as a matter of curiosity, is there a reason that you think this relates to his gender?

Not quite as dramatic as your story, but I certainly say Yes to the question as put in the subject. My DSnow6 was a late talker, though, so it's hard to be certain how much he was reading before he could talk. Certainly some - when he was 17 months we had a weird experience where it seemed certain he'd read "DVD" on a promotional leaflet that had no picture of a DVD or anything else that seemed like a clue (he was mad about watching DVDs, and got very excited, although the DVD this was an ad for was an adult one with no attractive picture or anything!) I remember a discussion with DH about whether he'd only be able to read it in that particular font (the one associated with the trademark), whether he was likely to be able to recognise any other words, and how we could possibly tell given that he wasn't talking! I handwrote DVD and his (IRL!) name and a couple of other words on pieces of paper, and asked him which word said DVD, and which word said his name. In both cases he pointed out the right word without hesitation, and made what seemed to be an attempt to say the word. It just didn't seem to be right to be testing how much my pre-verbal 17mo could read, though, so I didn't investigate further. (I sort of wish I had, although I'm pretty sure I made the right call at the time.)

A few months later when he did start to talk, many of his first "words" were letters of the alphabet (many others were numbers). Certainly before he was two he knew all his letters by sound and by name, from Starfall (I remember joking that maybe he was going to send us email in full sentences before he talked in full sentences).

I'm not honestly sure how his reading developed in the following year - he used to recite his books, with or without the book in front of him, and I didn't want to quiz him, so it was hard to tell. He was 2y10m when I first saw (happened to see?) him pick up a book he'd never seen before and read it through. Around then he was getting obviously frustrated trying to read hard things, so I started buying reading scheme books and he sped through them. He started school at 4y10m reading chapter books and now he can read anything he wants to. However, true to the idea that early reading actually predicts mathematical ability better than literary ability, it's now in maths that he's most ahead (using a mixture of 6th-8th grade material now in what would be 1st grade in US terms).

Have fun!

Isn't it more common for girls to read early? I don't have any girls, so I don't have any first hand experience, but that's what I had always been told.

I've never heard that, but I'm no expert.

Holy cow! It sounds like you have one very smart cookie!!

My eldest knew his phonics sounds and complete letter recognition by approx. 12 months without real instruction. He began combining sounds into easy words by about 18 months (cat, hat, etc.) and was able to do easy readers by 2. We knew that his verbal abilities were ahead of peers but didn't fully realize that the understanding of letters and sounds (and eventually reading) was so abnormal at his age.

He's now approaching his 5th birthday and is an excellent reader. I'd guess that he reads on a 6th grade level++ but (of course) 6th grade material often isn't appropriate for him. He loves to read and regularly finishes chapter books in an afternoon. He tests above the 99.9 percentile on verbal IQ and ability tests. For his "school work," he does 3rd grade language arts and his spelling is commensurate.

Handwriting is often his limiting factor(it is age appropriate & a challenge).

He is working well ahead of grade level on math. Although he seems to understand difficult math concepts, his math/quantitative ability is very obviously not on the same level as his verbal ability. It is just not his passion. Test-wise, he's 99.8 percentile in quantitative IQ. After reading the other posters, I'll be curious to see how his ability develops as he ages.

FWIW- my DS reads everything- including a lot of book series intended for girls. At his age, he doesn't care! So I wouldn't be too concerned about gender for a while.

Also, a speech therapist administered a PPVT to our son when he was about 2 and he scored at approx. 99.7% -which continues to fall within the range for his later verbal skill assessments

Good luck!!!

P.S. We found the book Smart Boys by Kerr and Cohn very helpful.

I'd be interested in seeing the research if anyone has access to it. Most of the studies that I've seen define early reading in such an expansive way that I wouldn't assume that they apply to kids who learn to read before 3 or 4. Anyway, that's all OT to this thread, I guess.

DS(16) was an early reader. I don't remember the exact milestones now but he was reading fluently before three and soon after his favourite book was the dictionary LOL. He has followed the pattern of others on this board. In kindergarten (5yrs) he was reading and comprehending at 5th/6th grade level, and yes he is very gifted in maths.

Hmmmmmmmm I have never heard of the early reading/later math thing before. DS8 was probably reading before I ever noticed. By Kindergarten he was reading at a 6th grade level and by the end of the next year he was at a late high school level. He does fine in math but I have not seen a remarkable surge ahead.