Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums 2 year old learning to read?

I know I've mostly talked about my DS6, but I had a question about my DD22mo. Background: DS4 is learning to read, he asked me to teach him so we've been working on letter names and sounds, sounding out words and also some sight word flash cards. I have no idea if this is the best way since DS6 taught himself to read just before his 5th birthday, but he was in preschool doing "letter of the week", I guess that's similar to what we're doing with DS4 just at home instead. So, to put my question in context, there's been an abundance of "reading readiness" going on at our house, lol.

Around 18mo DD started pointing to numbers on the page we were reading, it was a chapter title page and she pointed to the chapter #, then a # within the text and then the page #. Basically, showing me that she recognized that those characters were different than the other characters. Since then she is very interested in letters and numbers. She taught herself to count to 11 and has 1 to 1 counting to 5- granted she only does these things when she feels like it because she's 2, lol. Within the last month she's actually learned to correctly label a character as either "letter" or "number".

Today I realized that she recognizes that written words are composed of individual sounds. DS4 had just gotten done saying all the letters in a random word he saw and DD pointed to a different word and started very clearly enunciating random letter sounds as she pointed to the letters in the word (so I can't even explain it away that she was just imitating DS, he had said letter names, she was making letter sounds). I didn't even know she realized that the letters made sounds.

I've mentioned before that she keeps asking for her own school work when I'm doing school with the boys, she grabs the boys' math workbooks and runs off yelling "I doing MATH!!" and the same thing with DS4's reading workbook "I doing READING!!", so she really seems to want her own work.

I gave her an unfinished pre-k workbook that DS6 never got around to finishing (at 4 he was in love with the cheap workbooks from Target), she did ok with it, but it was too much stuff she just didn't care about- like finding the different object in a series, which she surprised me by actually understanding what she was supposed to do. Are there workbooks for toddlers that would be less reliant on the ability to draw a straight line?

I feel completely out of my league with her, the boys at this age were much more interested in talking and playing with their toys, they had no academic interests. Neither of them really seemed to bloom until about 4 and then they suddenly took off, but she's doing things they just didn't do at not even 2. I don't want to push her, but I also don't want her to stop being interested and curious because I didn't help her.

So, I guess my question is this normal 2yo behavior and are we on our way to early reading or is it just a case of "monkey see, monkey do" since it's a big deal with DS4 right now? Should I do anything to encourage her because this is obviously something she's very interested in? Or should I just let her continue to kind of work it out for herself?

I hope you guys aren't sick of me yet! I really appreciate the collective insight and wisdom that this board has to offer!

Kimberly

It seems like you might be en route to early reading. She's certainly showing a marked interest in heading down that path. Even if it were "monkey see, monkey do," that doesn't make it less of an interest, right?

Yes, I would support her interest where you can. How can it hurt?

Those little plastic letters with magnets or the big foam letters that come in floor tiles (for $25 or $30) are great for kids like yours. DS7 used to make up gobbledygook "words" with them and have me pronounce them. Then he'd laugh and laugh and laugh! Good memories. Oh, and the magnets stick in the bathtub if you have a metal-based tub. That was a great find for us!

It's a fun stage. I hope you enjoy it!

Hi Kimberly,

My oldest had some sight words at about 18 months and by 20-22 months was counting like your daughter. She was also counting backwards which to me meant she understood the pattern of numbers and wasn't just memorizing a list. Which at that age, just memorizing the numbers is great.

She read early but not until just turning four, but she learned on her own, I thought they taught her in pre-school.

My youngest daugher showed the ability to sound out words and read basic sentences at three, but then didn't show much interest going forward. Turns out she needed glasses and just got them!

At this age it's so hard to tell what they will do and when. I love that she likes workbooks and wants to do what her brothers are doing. I would let her play in the workbooks if it makes her happy. Let her do it herself and not worry about whether or not she is following directions or doing it "correctly".

Also, maybe try printing the numbers on large lined paper and let her attempt to copy them. If she's having fun, I wouldn't worry too much if it's not accurate or very sloppy.

She may be a kid who loves academic work and she's obviosly very intelligent. I have a picture of a cute little baby demanding to do homework in my head. So cute and makes me giggle.

I think you are right to worry about pushing her, she's so young! But on the other hand, I always gave my daughters what they asked for if it wasn't a danger issue. Whether or not it seemed as if they knew what to do with it. They either figured it out or they didn't but had fun along the way. I was amazed at the some of the stuff they "shouldn't" have been able to do. If I would have said or thought: "Oh, you can't have that, you're too little" I would have totally shortchanged them. Again, making sure the things I allowed them were never choking or safety issue.

I would say she is on her way to reading. Go with the flow and see where she takes you. As for your question this is not a normal behavior for not even 2 year old

DS5 was obsessed with letters since 15 months. DS4 didn't care for letters too much but he could say very early on what was the 1st and the last letter of a word (it works much better in his other language than in English).

My younger one didn't care too much about workbooks, but my older one was obsessed with them to the point that I was recommending work books as a great toy for other 2 year olds! What was I thinking? To me it was normal, to other parents I must have seemed completely crazy.

We did lots of Carson-Dellosa workbooks while his baby brother napped. Same/different was one of the first ones and also math. Most of the time I acted as his scribe. He answered the questions, but I was the one who marked them in the book. The Same/different could easily work even without your help. Your DD can mark them whatever way she wants to or even put a sticker on top of the picture instead of writing. As for simple math and such you can make her stickers with numbers or let her use stamps. Look if you can find workbooks with stickers. She may also be ready for simple computer games. I think both of my kids did pretty well with computer at that age.

Have fun!

Two year olds who show interest in letters and their sounds may be reading at age two, or it may be another few years before they are actually fluent readers. It varies wildly, but I think you can feed her interest without feeling guilty of pushing. Go ahead and get her alphabet puzzles, magnetic letters, foam bathtub letters, etc. Spend maybe 10-15 minutes with her doing "schoolwork" and always be sure to quit at the first sign of tiredness or disinterest.


My girls also were more into workbooks than their brothers at that age. I just read of a Virginia Tech study that said boys brains develop the fine motor areas about SIX YEARS later than girls! I am nit sure how accurate that is, as it seems extreme, but perhaps there is something to it. For this age, I like the Singapore earlybird books, the old Learning Tree Gifted and Talented books, which are sold online very cheaply if you can find them, and even some of the cheapo workbooks from the dollar store.

have fun!

Hi Kimberly,

All of you kids sound extremely bright. Your youngest seems academically talented in addition to highly intelligent.

My kids also knew their letters, numbers to 100 and shapes by 18-24 months and could sight read simply books before three, but neither ever showed an interest in workbooks. Actually, I don�t recall their writing before three. I would definitely encourage you to provide your daughter with the workbooks she enjoys (and worry about the school mismatch later).

Another suggestion for you, that my kids enjoyed beginning at ages 3 and 2, are K and 1st grade level computer edutainment games.

My DS also started taking off around 4. At least visibly to me. I think before that he was doing unusual things for age, but not necessarily things people would associate with a highly gifted child (like reading aloud or being socially mature). It's kind of funny. We have some close friends with a son my DS's age. Everyone who meets this child talks about sensitive and precocious he is. He is actually a MG child. He had to get access to gifted programming by the back door. Even now, it take people a while to get to the GT side of DS's personality. A piano teacher we've had for 7 months has just gotten there the past month.

And DD now 4 is the opposite. She's always loved having homework when he did and her preschool teachers rave about her and her abilities (no one was raving about DS in preschool). Anyway - I just think they're all different, in terms of personality, interests, drive, and ability. If your daughter is interested, I would definitely keep playing these kinds of games and exposing her to letters, etc. But just because she's more interested in this now, I don't think would necessarily correlate to her being more GT in the future. I think it's just natural for 2nd, 3rd, 4th, etc sibs to just do monkey-see, monkey-do and want to learn things earlier, GT or not.

I think that all motivation for learning has some "monkey-see, monkey-do" in it. I think that all ability to learn is a combination of inner raw ability plus character, which can be developed.

Don't feel out of you leauge by your daughter. If you could magically assign her 100 different ages, based on 100 different slices of life, then what she is interested and able to do is perfectly normal for her readiness level in that particular slice.

Would I keep her indoors and insist that playing with numbers is the only thing she do, since she has an early talent? No.
Would I keep my eye on the calender and deny her 'homework' and interaction about this fun activity because '2 year olds don't do that.' No.

What she wants to do is to try. It dosen't matter if she is able to read by any particular date, she just wants to try. This is the blessing of being the youngest in a gifted 'home cluster.' You want her to have plenty of opportunities for success at tasks that are truly difficult. As the youngest child, she only has to look around the house to see 'impossible' things to try - what a gift!

We're so glad you are here!
Grinity

The best advice I got in the beginning of my parenting adventure ... whatever you think they can do/understand take it times ten. Another good one... follow their lead. If they are asking, I don't think it is pushing. At 3 when we left naps for quiet time, I always left my dd a "project" to work on in her room. Sometimes she made invitations out to friends, did a specific craft, etc. I didn't look at it as enrichment. It just made her happy (and kept quiet time alive for me ;-).

Thank you all so much for the advice and ideas! I was completely unsure about the line between pushing and encouraging so, I was freaking out with images of flashcard drills with a 2 year old, lol. But, magnetic letters and alphabet puzzles are much more appealing! I sat down with the magnets and lined them up and sang the alphabet song with her. She grabbed the letter 'B' and said "B!" and started making it's sound. She pointed to M and said it's sound too, but she is now pointing to B in books and signs. What's funny is that B and M are 2 of the letters we've done with DS4 that she was awake while we were working in his reading workbook. I had no idea she was actually listening. She had been begging to sit on my lap when we worked, but I thought it was because I was giving DS4 all of my attention, maybe she's actually wanting to learn with him.

It really doesn't matter if she's an early reader or not, I just want her to have fun and I don't want anything I do or not do make her stop having fun with learning. But, I think as long as we keep it light and follow her lead, we'll be ok!

Thanks again everyone!

Kimberly