Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Officially Reading OR DD is playing games!

She sounds like my oldest daughter. I was convinced that she had a photographic memory and didn't give it much thought. I still suspect she has a photgraphic memory, but she also picked up phonetics very easily.

I would definately back off whenever you sense she's getting frustrated. If she knows all the letters and the sounds they all make you could show her how to blend the sounds together to figure out the word.

I also am partial to all Dr. Suess books for emergent readers, but that probably has more to do with the fond memories I had of reading those books when I was little.

I gave both girls Hop on Pop to start. It's nice because at the beginning each page only has one word and then progressively more words are added the further you get in the book.

Both girls seemed to really like starting off with that one.

Hi Katelyn,

I started the other post, but was on vacation last week.

Your DD sounds so much like ours. She started doing the same things around the same ages. It has always been hard to figure out how much she knows. She has some perfectionist tendencies and likes to be very confident before she will show off her skills. She was definitely a sneak reader.

It all depends on what your definition of a reader is as to weather or not you think she is reading. She sure sounds like she is starting to read.

DD4 Did this as well and then took a break and was interested more in math for a while. Now she is reading for sure. It was not an over night thing, like others on the board have said. It was a gradual process of learning skills over about a two year period of time. We did not formally teach her to read but we got her magnet letters and wrote out words for her to sound out and read lots of books.

For a long time I did not know if she was reading or not. One day she would surprise us and read something we knew she could not have memorized. But when we asked her what something said she just was not interested.

Just after her 4th birthday she decided she was interested and now she is reading everything.

It seems to me from watching her that the ability to sound things out came early. But the ability to isolate one word on a page of words, focus on that and move on to another word and still get the content, is what took some time for her. Once she got that all the reading skills she had been collecting for the past two years just fell into place.

I hope this helps. It is so interesting and exciting to watch them develop and learn new things.

Not to be flippant but another thing you could try is to forget about it for a while.

My DS goes back and forth all the time with seeming like he is just on the verge of reading more than sight words; doing stealth reading; avoiding reading, etc. This has been going on for a year or more...

There are times when I have to manage my own impatience because it seems like he is SOOOO close!

Just some food for thought. I hope you don't mind.

- EW

I agree, E&W. It's why I didn't answer the first time...I didn't want to sound flippant (or something else icky) either.

But I can't help wondering, does it matter if she's "really" reading now or "just" not quite? Clearly she's well on her way. Why try to get her to do anything? I mean, it's not like she's late getting to it. (That's what I remind myself when I start getting impatient with DS7, at least... )

Kids often develop in fits and starts, so she may be right on the verge of reading, but appear to be getting no closer for a long, looooooong time. Then, all of a sudden, the dam of learning bursts and giant, amazing leaps forward happen. It's not a steady, linear development.

I suspect that the less you focus on it, the more progress she'll make. Keep supporting her interests, reading to her, and all the other good things you always/already do, but don't worry about it. If she's "really" reading, you'll know soon enough. If she's not, then that's okay, too.

Thank you all for responding to my question. I knew if anyone could help me figure this out it would you be you guys. Other people would look at me like I was nuts so I just don't bother bringing that topic up.

st. pauli: I am coming to the conclusion of 'sneak' reading myself. And skyward describing her DDs makes me smile. Mine is such a perfectionist. She could technically walk right before 12 months but refused until she was confident that she had it down. So for the next 2 months we had to hold her hand and let her walk all over the place. I think I am still bent in that position. :P So it does not surprise me that she hides this. The weird thing is she in NOT so wrapped up in her books like she has been. We went forever reading and reading to her. Our whole day was books. She still loves books but is into other things now. Mostly numbers and adding and subtracting. So I really didn't think we would get to beginning reading since words are not her big thing right now. Well, she proved me wrong.

Neato: I looked up the photographic memory b/c we have all heard it in movies and on tv shows but not necessarily in real life. It is still up in the air if it truly exists, but most experts agree that some form of photographic memory is seen in children (of course the % of kids that can is minimal) but by the time these kids become adults that ability is not there. Though others argue that it does exist. Does my DD have a photographic memory? I have no idea but a 27 mth old should not be able to remember events and actions from before she was 14 mths old. And of course the learning of the words. She stores words that would not be used in everyday language for later on... months later and pulls it out to use in perfect context as it was describe to her. AND I completely agree about backing off. I don't see how pushing helps. By the way....love love love Dr. Seuss and those are the first books I read to her when she was a tiny baby. She always reacted to the silly rhymes, but I think the Hop on Pop is a great suggestion and will try it with her.

mamabear: she has some preschool computer games she plays with her grandma. She sits up there forever and directs her on where to go. I will probably get a trackball for her (st. pauli) since she too gets frustrated with the mouse.

skyward: besides the perfectionist comment which I included in st pauli's passage; I would not be shocked if my DD's abilities with reading parallels your DD. Time will tell but I do agree that the beginnings of reading are emerging.

And again thank you all of you for the advice and suggestions. I really do appreciate each and everyone of the members on this board.