Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Quirks of an Early Reader?

Hi sweetpeas,

My DS5 was/is like that where he started reading around 2 (phonetically) and could within a pretty short time read most any word, memorizing the ones that aren't phonetic.

I think it was on here someone had a suggestion for a online reading assessment, wish I could remember the name of it, can't find it in the archives...we did that around late 3 early 4, I think it was $15. It was quite thorough, not just a reading level based on lists of words. I was surprised what a huge discrepancy there was between his scores at decoding/word-reading (ceiling), comprehension (around 5th or 6th grade at the time), and spelling (preschool or K level).

I think he just learned to read so long ago that he has so little memory of the slow sound-it-out stage that despite him being a phonetic reader it's just "too deep" to access easily for spelling purposes. Now at 5 he's still around 2nd in spelling. I think he's even forgotten things he used to love like silent Ps.

We hadn't up til now felt the need to actively teach him any spelling skills, he'll get a lot of it in school and even with the discrepancy he's still ahead. But we just started to work on it a little at home, mostly because he has a fine motor issue with printing. His confidence with writing is really low so we want to try to remove what barriers we can so that he has the least amount of frustration with it.

I think it would depend on what your goals are whether you actively address the spelling or not. You said he's preschool age now, if he'll go to K and 1st on schedule then there's an awful lot of repetition there to learn spelling and he may over those years get ahead on his own just through paying attention to how words are spelled. If he's happy enough to use invented spelling then that won't hold him back from expressing himself on paper. But if for example he's 4 and you are thinking of skipping K next year then some focus on spelling this year would keep from obscuring his other abilities in 1st.

Polly

DS4.75 is also a self taught whole word reader, now at about a gr3-4 level. Phonics has kind of come along this year by itself. He also would give a stupid smile if someone asked him what sound this letter makes. He can spell simple 3-4 letter phonic type words. He hates doing invented spelling though as he knows the words aren't right (and he is a perfectionist). So I have started to tell him the harder words or write them for him to copy figuring that with exposure and use he will remember them (which he does). School might teach him the formal rules (maybe??). He is skipping K so I have started trying to encourage more writing at home.

Sweetpeas
DS 6.5 was an early reader and also found phonics very irritating. But to me at the time it seemed more symptomatic of how slow he found prek, he couldn't believe how much time they spent doing it when you could READ! He tends to be a whole word reader but does try to work it out on his own, which is hysterical with big words - what, what? So I would say he was totally resistant to it but did eventually pay attention to it.Although he advanced so quickly and has such a large vocab now that he does what adults do - ask or look it up.

Two fun ways to work on it - even for early readers - although you have a short window here before it becomes too easy - starfall, website and app - for non readers but if you want to go over it, it's fun and nicely presented so maybe less resistance. And wordworld on PBS - you made a word - very visual way of phonics. DS loved the idea of it and enjoyed the sweet approach but as a reader he moved on quickly - super why too, although that's less phonics if I remember correctly.

DeHe

Thank you all for your thoughtful responses! I got a lot of great ideas for things to check out to encourage him with phonics.

Much to think about. This board is always so insightful!!

Going along with DeHe's recommendations, I also recommend the older PBS product-- Between the Lions.

Between the Lions at PBS website

DD loved BTL even after she could read perfectly well, and it's pretty much entirely phonics and phonemic awareness. It's just plain snarky/funny and entertaining, though. So that helps tremendously. If only all instruction were so engaging.

At my daughter's preschool the teachers will rarely prompt her to read to them. More often, they encourage her to spell out the names of pictured items with alphabet letters. I've attended one parent teacher conference, and the teacher stated that she had many students who could read well, but spell poorly, and she wanted to make my daughter more well rounded. DD reads English phonetically anyway (she was a big fan of Starfall). She can practice her recall when she reads Chinese.

I have fond memories of trying to get my housework done while my kids were laughing hysterically while Between the Lions was on - they loved that show - even long after they knew how to read

polarbear

My daughter was an early reader(4) and hated phonics and spelling at this age. Kindergarten teacher kept wanting her to sound out words. She refused. Writing was also hard because she had 5 year old small motor skills and 10 year old reading skills. 2nd grade she could spell any word put in front of her. She developed spelling skills from the many hours spent reading. 6th grade she won the regional spelling bee in our area. Handwriting is still atrocious, but she can type. Message is that kids will develop at their own rate, at their own time. If your child like phonics go with it. If your child is not interested leave it and let nature take it course.

While on the PBS topic...

I love the new (and old) Electric Company. They do a lot of phonics and grammar - and they're fun. My ds cracked me up last year when he pronounced the -ED on every word (like wretched)...but he globalized it to all past tense words. "I walked-ed to the store" (for example). When I corrected him on this...he cited me the Electric Company and the rap he learned-ed.

DD(4) is a similarly quirky early reader. I guess DD was peculiar in that she read very fluently from early on, (once she switched from sounding out to whole language reading at just turned three.) I have played back videos of her reading at three and they are astounding. She always read with full comprehension and used inflection and correct pausing. These were second grade texts at three-years-old. I now realize that that is uncommon for new readers to sound so fluent.

I think she never stumbled in decoding because her grasp on the contextual clues was so strong. And, this is still the case. She does not like to fall back on sounding out words when she gets confused and loses her 'flow'. It is too much work, so she will just give up. This happens with the thicker books, and is the reason she has not progressed. Conversely, she cannot read as well without any context. She does not automatically read environmental print as much as she should because she misses the context clues and would have to sound out.

I figured it would give her something to work on in kindergarten. (Right now she is in an academic free preschool.) I have tried to encourage her to sound out words but it is like pulling teeth. I do appreciate some of the suggestions here.