DS3 taught himself to read with minimal assistance and encouragement at age 2. He was reading Henry and Mudge books and Frog and Toad books by himself (very slowly) before he turned 3. Right when he was starting to be really fluent (around his 3rd birthday), he stopped reading out loud. He would say, "You read to me." If I say, "I'm kind of busy right now. Why don't you start reading by yourself and I'll join you." He would say, "NO! But I don't know how to read!" I started to worry a little that maybe he has indeed forgotten to read or maybe there's something wrong with his sight. But recently, he was doing something on the computer, I left him alone for a while, and when he snuck up on him, I found him doing a quiz on the computer about the solar system. He was reading the questions and answers almost as fast as I could and getting most of the answers correctly. It never even occurred to me that he could read silently and so well. I was stunned. As soon as he realized I was watching him, he said, "read this to me." I said, "Oh but you're doing such a great job reading by yourself! Why don't you keep going?" And it was the usual response, "But I don't know how to read!" For the first time, I refused to help him (I thought maybe that's what he needed to move on) and he actually quit the game which he was so enthralled by just a minute ago.
What is going on??? He is a perfectionist and has shown some frustration in the past with the slow pace at which he was reading. Does he just want me to read because he knows I can read faster? Is he going through a typical "latent" phase in learning to read that I don't know about? Does he feel pressure from me?? He is cognitively very advanced but a typical three year old in many respects; he is not always conscious of, or able to articulate, his fears and frustrations very well. I don't care whether he can read at age 3 or not. As long as there's nothing psychologically wrong with this picture, I'm not going to push him to try if he doesn't want to for some reason. I just would like to know whether there's something I should be doing to help him get over the mental block or the unreasonable fear of failure or whatever it is he is going through.
I know you are not psychologists but maybe you can speak from your own experience. Have you had a similar experience with your kids when they were learning to read? Do you have any advice for me? Thanks!
Junior
