Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Early Signs of reading but still not reading?

Hi, I

My Dd6, just got accepted as DYS, she started reading a little after 4, and had no interest in letters before that. She did progress super fast once she started.

My DD4, just tested very high in the verbal part, reaching the 99.9% (but not >). She knew some leters earlier than her older sister, but later lost interest. She is not reading at 4.5.

The only thing I would do is to try instill a love of literature. My younger one needed those more interactive books when she was little (lift the flap, sensory, etc.). I would continue to take him to the library and let him pick whatever he wants. Most kids that do not love being read, do sit (or walk, who cares as long as they are listening), do have some books that they are drawn to.

There are different definitions of reading, some require that the child is able to read the word in an unfamiliar context. For me, I considered my dd beginning to read when she was able to decode words (CVC, CCVC, and even some like creep, zoo, etc). I considered her to be reading when she knew a good number of sight words and could decode most simple words. I guess that is formally somewhere around late 1st grade level.

I'm not a reading specialist, but I do have four early readers. My understanding is that the period between letter and or sound recognition and actual decoding can vary greatly. I've seen some differences in how fast my own children have progressed, with some rapidly from one stage to another, while others have had a longer "ramp".

I don't think you need to worry about your child's abilities, but you can do a few things to encourage reading. Try starfall on the computer, simple books that you write and read together, and make sure that your child sees you reading for pleasure. I have a short article that may be helpful:

http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art25155.asp

hth!

Both my kids had their sounds forever and enjoyed books, but weren't necessarily early readers. My son has not been fully tested but some testing and achievement indicate he is at least HG. He jumped about 5 grade levels of reading in 9 months. He is reading high school level (although generally self selects books at the jr. high level) as a 3rd grader. Neither of the kids had interest in early reader type books, even while learning to read. My daughter just turned 5 this summer, so we're still trying to figure her out. We probably won't have her tested unless we see signs of an LD or need to for some other reason. She is tracking a very similar course to him so far. I consider both my kids to be kind of couch potatoes.

I would watch your 3rd daughter closely since you have 2 HG+ kids. 4 1/2 is quite young for testing and that score could easily be wrong. Especially if she moves beyond her rookie readers quickly. Watch and wait! They might surprise you. There are a lot of pieces that go into early reading including level of exposure, ability to track text, motivation, desire, etc. LOG is just one piece of the puzzle.

I don't know about the reading as we are not there yet.

DD2 would watch tv or dvd all day if we would let her. I have noticed it is much easier to have no tv time, than little. If she gets to watch 20min few times a week she keeps on asking it all the time. (I work fulltime so there is really no time for her to watch it everyday) When she keeps on asking (whining) for tv or dvd she has hard time concentrating on anything else, no playing, no puzzles, no books. It is much better that she has no tv time except on special occasion (long trips, mom and dad busy, being sick). Without tv she can entertain herself very well and seems to have much better time than being in front of tv

One Saturday we tried to see how much she will watch if she can decide. This is how it went: wake up, watch dvd, eat fast breakfast watch some more dvd, go out to play and when coming back watch some more dvd, eat lunch and go back to watch dvd, you'll get the trend.

I'm bit the same way (especially with computers) so I understand her very well. I read more books during the months we were out of internet than rest of the year!!!!! I hope someone would restrict my computer time so I would use my evenings more wisely LOL

oli,

I am like you with the computer/tv thing. We don't even own a tv, because I totally can't control myself. When I was a kid there were very strict limits put on how much I could watch and I didn't learn to set my own limits. That's one of the reasons we don't have strict limits for DD's screen time (which is all computer time, since, as I said, we don't have a tv). I think you are setting a kid up to binge if you impose limits and then suddenly remove them. But I don't think you can assume that the binge would continue if the freedom continued. DD chooses to use the computer on average about half an hour a day. She rarely uses it for more than an hour, and many days much less. Once in a very long while she does binge, but usually only if it's been a while since she's used it at all. Just my two cents.

OP, I call it "reading" any time a kid can figure out what a word is out of context without help. I call it "reading fluently" when a kid reaches the reading-everything-in-sight stage, which is usually at around the 3rd grade level (and was for us). I wouldn't worry about a kid who isn't reading yet at 4, even if the early steps were there. I don't think there's that much of a connection between knowing letters and reading. And many kids learn at surprising and uneven rates. At barely 4, if he's not ready or interested yet that's just fine, IMO.

hi all
Last night i started reading Dr. Ruf's newly titled book "The 5 levels of Giftedness" that i just got in the mail. I was very interested in what she said about READING as my DD5 was tested as HG, acts HG, and had some early interest in letters, but is still not reading. Before i owned the book, i had seen the five levels characteristics and thought there was no way DD5 fit into any of them because of her lack of reading.

However, i was happy to see a note on page 53 where Dr. Ruf says "Although a sign of giftedness, the onset of this skill (reading) seems harder to pin down and relate to a particular giftedness level than most of the other abilities. Also, it may or may not start before age five for any level."

irene