I tuned into a webinar with Deborah Ruf t'other day and she made a statement that gifted non-readers almost always had tracking or other sight/visual issues. I dont exactly remember at what age is was referring to specifically, but I do remember her giving an age where gifties were 'normally' reading by...
Miss 8 was not an early reader. While she did have some mild tracking issues and does wear glasses for reading now... there were a couple of things I think that delayed her reading:
* early readers are dull, dull, dull and she was much more interested in complex and rich chapter books (websites like starfall certainly took away some of the boredom while building her pre-reading skills)
* she was highly sensitive to her mild tracking issues and having a slight discomfort and distraction when she was reading was multiplied by 100 because of her sensitivities so reading wasnt a pleasant thing to do;
* she wasn't happy at kindy and we've now learned that she does not learn anything when she doesn't feel safe. All of her energy at 4 was going into surviving school.
But once she started, she took off. Literally. And now is galloping along...
jojo
