Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Elementary School Learning to read: older kids

This is very interesting to me too. EastnWest, my son sounds close to the age of your son--he just turned 5 about 6 weeks ago. I have not pushed him to read AT ALL--my attitude has always been that he will learn when he's ready. He has an amazing vocabulary and is just a quirky kid. We recently had him tested and were told he is HG. Probably on the low end for these boards but high nonetheless.

My son just has not seemed all that interested in learning to read on his own yet. I think his attitude has been--"the things you can read to me are WAY more interesting than the things I could read to myself, so why bother." He is also an extreme perfectionist, and wants to quit trying when he comes to the first word he doesn't know or can't figure out easily.

My son is highly auditory, like Grinity described. He has been able to rhyme since he could talk. He thought it was a funny game when he was 18 months I would say a word and he would rhyme it (sometimes with a real word and sometimes a nonsense word). He didn't even know what he was doing but it was an impressive "party trick." Now if I spell words he will tell me what I spelled, but something between the visual "reading" and decoding is more of a struggle. We did have his vision tested at the request of his preschool b/c he rubs/blinks his eyes a lot but the opthamologist found nothing.

Anyway, I have been reading a lot more about giftedness since getting back testing results on my son and I'm always blown away by the kids that are reading at two. I mentioned this before on these boards and several people said that not all HG kids are early readers. It does make me wonder though how my son's abilities are going to develop and at what time and pace.

Not sure if this will help, but have you tried the Leap Frog Videos. I wasn't too impressed with the other Leap Frog things I spent too much money on, but I (and my daughter) did like these videos. They seem like they may be great for visual learners.

I'm currently using a book called "teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons" with a ND almost 4 yo. The lessons are super short and easy. About the time he wants to quit, we're done.

The only prerequisite is knowledge of letter sounds, that's it.

Hi Mom2Boys,
It is interesting that your DS could rhyme since he could talk. My DS who read before 3 (late 2) could not rhyme until much later. I would say maybe closer to 4.
My other DS2 can't even get him to learn letter A !! Big difference.

By the way we used Hooked On Phonics. He knew the letters and sounds for so long I figured let me try it. I thought it was great. We did the kindergarten and 1st grade set. The leap frog frige magnet was great to learn the sounds.

A says "ah" A says "ah" every letter makes a sound A says "Ah"

It was catchy and worked. Don't know if it will work w/my other DS!

I always recommend Starfall (http://www.starfall.com/) for beginning readers of any age.

Interesting, I feel like my two will be very different like that as well. DS4 started reading at 19 months, DD20 months only knows a few letters. I feel like this is going to be a much different road. DD is clearly very bright and I am pretty sure gifted based on some things she does....but I am wondering if I may have to help her learn to read some day. I would have no idea how to go about that...so this is an interesting thread to read to come up with ideas.

Thanks for the tip MsFriz, I will check it out when my 2nd is ready.

I didn't read all the postings, but my dd's got a good start using www.headsprout.com. DD9 was 18 mo and only did the first "free lessons". DD7 was closer to 3 and did the first series of lessons.

DD7 liked the silly stuff in between the lessons, always something entertaining and interactive. (helps with mouse skills as well)

I have this book too, and second the recommendation for it.

Unfortunately, I wanted to teach dd with this book, and she wanted to learn, when she was around 3, but...as we later learned, she's majorly a VSL and couldn't blend the sounds, so it ended as a very frustrating experience. Instead she needed a more whole word approach, at least when she was younger (too bad I didn't understand that until we had her tested at age 6). She didn't really pick up phonics well until the middle of first grade - long story - and by that age, once she figured it out she didn't really need a lot of specific instruction, at least not above what she already got at school. I keep hoping I'll be able to use that book with one of the younger kids LOL...we'll see.