Sight word reading is a type of reading. Decoding phonetically is a type of reading. Reading at the sentential level and comprehending the overall meaning is another type of meaning.
I always hesitate to call emerging readers "readers" or "non-readers" because it's a continuum. You can see a kid on one end, who doesn't understand that a written word is equivalent in meaning to some spoken word, and a kid on the other end who is reading and comprehending entire sentences even if they include an unknown word or two, but everything in between is... a process. Add into that the fact that kids don't follow the steps in the exact same order (some learn sight words and then go back and work through phonetic decoding, some decode and build those decoded words into a bank of sight words, etc...), and it's hard to say at what point a kid "can read."
I mean, it's obvious when they really CAN read, with fluency and comprehension, and obvious when they can't at all yet, but the in-between stage, as the OP is discovering, is just a process they're going through. Some people demarcate a magical line in the sand, saying they can't read before they can XYZ, and can read afterwards. That might be pedagogically/psychologically/statistically true, but I think it's a little simplistic and doesn't really focus on what they CAN do before they cross that pretty little imaginary line, or what they still need to work on afterwards.
As far as what to write down in your records, I say write just what you wrote here. Being descriptive will give you more information in the future than just saying "he can read!" You'll have more specific information to relay to whoever needs/wants it. It's easy to brush aside a parental claim of "he was reading at 2.5!" because, like I said, there are so many definitions of what the word reading might mean, and there are parents out there who make claims of *ahem* dubious veracity, particularly those attempting to get their kids into competitive programs in big cities. If you say, "At such-and-such age, he can blabbity-blah-blah but is still working on blabbity-blah-blah," it's more descriptive information down the road, lends a certain credibility, and is useful information to boot.
Last edited by smacca; 10/02/12 07:10 AM.
