Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Definition of reading

Just curious to hear what your definition of reading is. I am keeping track of DS2.10 milestones for possible future reference but I am confused about what to make of his reading. Do I even call it that at this point. He knows about 100 words by sight and can therefore read easy readers skipping some words here and there.

To me though, I don't think I would consider this READING. He is not able to sound out words himself although he knows what the word is if I sound it out for him. He knows all his letter sounds but doesn't get the concept (or chooses not to).

Curious to hear about what you consider qualifying as the "reading" milestone.

I actually break reading down into several milestones. For example, my son could sound out CVC type words at age 2, so I mark that as when he "learned to read" with the qualification that he was able to sound out simple words. In your case, I'd do the same except that your qualification is that he can sight read simple words.

So the next step for my son was to sound out somewhat harder words and also to learn some sight words.

Then there's reading fluently on a first grade level, on a second grade level, and so forth all the way up to an adult level (and beyond that, a college level).

So when speaking in terms of reading for gifted milestones, if my dd taught herself how to sound out words (not just CVC words) at the age of 2 would that be considered reading?

What are CVC words?

Petunia- CVC words are consonant-vowel-consonant words. (i.e. dog, pan, cat, etc...)

Mountainmom- Yeah, if she's able to sound words out on here own I would say that's reading. Basic reading, but reading nonetheless. I know that when DS6 started reading (around 2y11m) that he went from reading C-V-C words to sounding out words like 'opposite' in just a matter of a month or two. Now he's 6y10m and a smart aleck so I don't know EXACTLY where his reading is now but I know it's at least a 3rd grade level and is probably a lot higher than that.

I would say it's when a child can put meaning to words and to groups of words using a variety of decoding strategies. My ds6 is very strong with sightword recognition and context clues, and thus reads at around 2-3rd grade (like vwmommy...who knows exactly?) despite weaker phonetic skills (beyond simple phonetics).

my ds5 was reading simple cvc words at 2.5, but i was told that wasn't necessarily "reading" by a child developmental specialist...the word hyperlexia was even suggested.
he continued to self teach reading (of course i was constantly reading books to him as well), and everyone was leery about saying he could "read". he loved learning sight words as well.

turns out many believe that real reading isn't just saying the word, but also comprehending it.

his transitional kindergarten teacher stated this also when he said he was bored and wanted to read. i told her he had been reading for awhile. she said "but does he comprehend what he reads?" i said YES. because we would discuss stuff he read, or he'd ask a question.

sadly, i discovered alot of ppl in education have to have this proven- they don't want to take parent word for it. so he had to read to her and answer worksheets and discuss with her, to show he comprehended what he read. and she finally agreed. yes, he can read..... wow.

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.

(what the &^%% happened to the reply compose window?!)

I completely agree with smacca. For purposes of gifted milestones - well, it just shows how problematic those are, really. I don't have my copy in front of me, but I remember Miraca Gross commenting on this problem and saying that she used a particularly stringent definition of reading so that by other authors' definitions her children might have been reading much earlier. I forget exactly what her definition was, so I may be doing her an injustice, but IIRR it was of the order of "can read at least 5 words without pictorial or other clues". I remember being struck by how astonishingly unstringent her definition was, anyway - it placed my DS's "can read" milestone way before seems reasonable (like, before he could talk, before his second birthday). I also felt obliged to notice that we have ample evidence that babies can be taught to recognise symbols such as words with sufficient ease that any parent who wanted to ensure that their child "could read" before 6 months could surely do so with only moderate effort, if that's the definition!

my response disappeared while i was composing it also.
it boiled down to: do you have room to write a paragraph wherever you're writing down the milestones? i have kept track of my son's educational growth by sample pictures and descriptive paragraphs. i actively teach him so i know what skills he's working on and where he's at on them, so that's what i try to show. i have it divided in six month increments. i can tell you from my 2.5 yr old journal:

reading random word like crazy now? I'm especially proud that it's not all sight words. He tries to sound out words and he recognizes sight words. No full sentences yet. The other day while I was writing checks to pay the bills at the kitchen table Wyatt said to me, Let me see that. I tore it out and handed it to him saying, Don't lose it. It's not trash. He said, This is dada's. I said how do you know? He answered, because it says "da-da Louis". (in the address printed at the top it does) Louie told me, That means you're busted, no more forging checks.

eta: however, i'm horrible at milestones or "firsts". i remember he read "Spongebob" of the tv guide channel without picture or font clues before he started phonics lessons. i started journaling when i started his lessons. i don't know what to record as a giftedness record. maybe it should be good records of "firsts" and the dates they happened. what i recorded was samples of growth, in case some educational consultant helps me figure out what to do about his education (talent development) they can "see" his growth and development up until that point. i do share it with other mothers in case it's helpful to anybody.

i agree that it would be easy to teach babies to recognize five words by shape. i think if you read around kids they'll recognize what a word is for any way and learn a few, but i don't THINK dates of isolated milestones like that would be as useful as descriptive paragraphs and pictures. i also think my kids will like it better when they're grown if i give them pictures and paragraphs instead of lists and dates. but i guess lists and dates might help them make decisions when they parent their own kids. my daughter blends a little (two letter combos, not words) and has pointed out a couple of words that she's said. i get excited and tell every one, even posted it here. i have not recorded it in my journal though, only that i just started her lessons and i put picture of the lines and circles i'm teaching her to draw. she's going to have to be a little more consistantly showing her reading skills before *that* goes in the journal. i want her to be right more than half the time and least try most the time before i would count it. jmo for my kids and my notes. i also figure if i need giftedness records my kids will have something recent to clearly show at whatever time i need it so i don't save everything. i mail it out to family and friends to put a smile on their face rather than my circular file. their circular file is fine.