Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Recommended Resources Gifted kids and reading

I do agree with the Ruff quote, at least in terms of my dd (now 5). She started to read quite early. Sight words just after she turned 2 ... entire books/stories before she turned 3. I read to her often as a child, but in terms of her learning to read, I never taught her a thing. She seemed to teach herself. Almost entirely whole words -- with a bit of sounding out.

Then, this past year in pre-k, her teacher tested her in phonics and random made-up words and found her to have some gaps. I said, "Yes, but have her pick up that Encyclopedia Brown chapter book. She can read and comprehend the whole thing." It seemed silly to me to focus on phonics when she could already read and comprehend at a much higher level. Why focus on made-up words when she could actually really read the words on the page?

I'm not saying phonics are bad. I have a second dd (now 3) who is just barely starting to recognize words. I have a feeling phonics will be key to helping her learn how to read. And I embrace that fact. I just don't think you should make a child slog through all the parts when he/she can already read and comprehend. It's like making a child keep working on floating when he/she already knows how to swim (which is happening at our lessons this summer ... but I digress )

my DD5 resists being taught to read, but says she wants to read chapter books. Will not start with little books or single words. Feels indignant, says she feels dumb and embarassed when i try to teach her. I feel she will just fly and really enjoy it once she gets there, but we're just at an impasse now. I've tried copying single pages from chapter books to start on instead, but she gets frustrated. She is so so gifted when it comes to understanding, language, etc, and also great with math.. but this seems like just not something that is coming quick to her. She scored 147 on the WPPSI and no signs of any 2E conditions (very uniform scores).. Wondering if i should give up for now or keep pushing on..When i asked her what she wanted me to do she said "wave a wand and say puff and then i can read.".. ha. I really feel this is the first challenge she has had intellecutally and just feels so uncomfortable with having to make an effort.

irene

My advice: Tell her you are happy to help her if & when she wants help, but that reading is incredibly complex and it may take a lot of work for her to learn to read. The decision should be hers, not yours (IMHO).

I think the phonics quote from Ruf is correct, at least in our house. My DS was a purely phonetic reader for about 7 months from about 4 to almost 5. He learned his phonics a-la Leap Frog at about 2 1/2. He didn't begin putting it together for words for another year and a half after that. Reading phonetically, it was almost as if he was "stuck" in little phonics books. He would sound out everything he encountered- even words he had seen hundreds of times.

When he finally got the idea of sight words, he jumped three grade levels in reading in about two weeks. He literally went from BOB-like books to chapter books.

I think phonics has still been immensely helpful because he can figure out nearly all words he comes across even if he's never seen them before and they're completely out of context. I assume that once they get around to it, it'll help him with spelling in school too.

Irene,
Your DD sounds a bit like my DS when he was 4 or 5. In his case I would say he is a "watcher". Even with video games, he would prefer to watch someone else play up until the point when he feels confident that he can do it all and do it well (in fact, her reason sounds very familiar ). I wouldn't worry about your DD's reluctance to work on reading. We just kept pointing things out casually and reading aloud as much as he wanted (he has always loved, and still loves, being read to). As I said in an earlier post, he was not a child who learned through sound/symbol connection. He was more interested in picture/story. However, once he became interested, he leapt all at once in K to a 3rd grade level; then all at once to a fifth grade level in a nine week span during early first grade.

If you are snuggling with your DD while you are reading, then she is seeing the text and it will help lay groundwork for her. If you are concerned, you might consider focusing on choosing good picture books for awhile. If you choose well, the stories are just as well written and complex, but the shorter structure lends to re-reading and/or to your DD picking a familiar book up on her own. Many kids develop reading fluency with books that are at least partly familiar to them.

In the meantime, you can relax and savor the joys of curling and up and reading to your little darling. Although we have two fluent readers who still love being read to every night, I know some fluent readers who have lost interest in being read to by their parents.

Taminy
My boy hates reading - but he eats up audio CDs/tapes and has incredible recall (tho' the WISC pointed out his working memory is poor). He's going to be tested for dyspraxia and dyslexia on the EP's advice.

He loves the Terry Deary CDs and the Gombrich History Of The World - I'm sure I've posted all this before. We can get CDs on Scientists and their inventions in the UK - which he loves. Just need some maths CDs.

Just hope the reading comes on tap soon, as there is a limit to what he can pick up from this source.

Paul

Can you pick up a book on tape and give her the book to follow along with if she wants? Just a thought.

With our DS, we just read to him a ton, and we used our fingers to follow along when he showed interest. (But as a caveat - he was a very early self-taught reader.)

Good luck!

Master of None ... fair points on both topics

I think I simply felt frustration that dd's pre-k teacher seemed to have little respect for the fact that dd could already read and comprehend several grade levels ahead. Her attitude seemed to be unless dd knew all the phonics/made-up words ... she was exactly the same as every other child in the class, most of whom couldn't read at all.

I do think dd will have to learn some phonics in terms of getting her to be a better speller - which does not appear to be a strength of hers. I have heard this can be common in early "whole word" readers.

In the end, I appreciate your points and hope my dd enjoys learning all that school has to offer (she is only just entering kindergarten). I simply object to the idea that kids need to learn phonics to know how to read.

I have always been a strong advocate of phonics. However, DS6 learned to read through osmosis or something about the time he turned 2, and was never taught any method at all. He has a photographic memory (or at least he did back then, for that) and once you told him what a word was, he remembered it. He was reading license plates and signs on every walk from the time he was 18 months old, and just kept adding words as new ones came along. At some point, around the age of 4, I realized that he was sounding out unfamiliar words--so apparently he just automatically knew phonics as well. I have no idea how he did it, it just happened. When he took the WJIII at 5 years, 9 months, his "word attack" score was >21 years or >grade 15.

DD3, on the other hand, seems to view letters as artistic elements rather than as keys to a language. She knows a bunch of them, but she still sees W in M and E, as if it doesn't matter to her which direction it faces, and A and R and K are all the same to her and interchangeable. DS6 NEVER held a book upside down, even as a baby--he knew which way the letters went before he knew what they were.

Phonics seem to be the way here, too. I figured out reading through intuitive phonics at about 2 (per my parents), and mine figured it out before school similarly. Maybe certain learners have it built-in while others need to learn by whole language?