very interesting thread. I read it with interest because this exact thing has been on my mind so much lately.
DS(4) was able to repeat books from memory before he was 2. Before 2.5 he was picking out words that he knew in books I was reading and wherever he saw them. He begged me to teach him to read so we read Noddy magazines and he would read the words he knew. He started pre school at age 3 and suddenly everything slowed down.
"I'm not old enough to read" he said and that was that. He was not given easy readers until nearly 10 months into the year.
The school uses the DRA system - which is a very complete and comprehensive system: kids are tested on fluency and comprehension and application of read text; DS gets caught up looking at the pictures and so gets caught with that. This year he gets a reader every week; but I am convinced that he is still hiding ability.
It's hard to pinpoint, but i am sure that he can read a lot more than he lets on. These last three weeks of no school have been amazing - suddenly he is "able" to read sight words, tricky new words he has never seen before and found an early reader "Horrid Henry" book. Lovely chapter book with three - 5 lines of text and then colour pictures and so on.
I have seen him sitting on his own before - and seen his eyes moving across each row of text as though he is reading. I have always wondered if his need for perfection coupled with someone telling him that he is too young to read has delayed the jump for him. IOW the growth in reading is slower than what I am reading here for kids starting at a similar age to him.
am I making sense?
DS(2.5) has recently started reading words and very easy emerging reader books. I don't know if this is a catalyst for DS4, and I also worry about him starting school in Jan and seeing the same backpedalling trends...
any thoughts on this?
