Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Not sure what to think...

I am new to this board (although I have been reading for a while). I am having some denial issues with my 3 year old. He has met all of the typical milestones early (sometimes very early) so I think my perception of what a three year old should be doing is a little off. DS started reading single words at about 2 1/2 by phonetically sounding them out. Right after he turned 3 he started to read sentences. He quickly picked up about 75 of the most common sight words after a couple of nights of showing them to him. Yesterday he decided he was going to take a book to preschool to read to his teacher...well it turns out that he got up and read a book to the whole class! He is currently 3 years and 3 months old. The book was from the little critter series, so obviously nothing too difficult. I just need a reality check - this is not normal, right??? Help!

Welcome! My son started sounding out words without any prompting at 2 1/2 and was reading easy readers by 3. I started following this forum right around then, trying to figure out what it all meant and what, if anything, I needed to do about it. The information I got here gave me the sense to find a school that would "get" him and the courage to skip pre-K and go straight to kindergarten. He's now 4 going on 5, reading at at least the 5th grade level, and absolutely loving big-boy school. So, no, in my opinion, reading at 3 is not normal, but it doesn't have to be scary either!

Welcome Molly

Most 3 year olds (even a lot of 5 year olds I know) aren't even close to knowing all of their letters so this isn't normal

If this puts it into perspective my son is supposed to be able to recognize his letters and their sounds by the end of Kindergarten and start to know what letter words start with.

Best Reality check in the world is observing a normal kindergarden classroom. Invest a bit of time and take a look. Sorry.

Yes, this isn't normal behavior. It isn't even normal behavior in a group of gifted kids.

Have your read '5 levels of Giftedness' by Deb Ruf. That might help with the denial.

I used to tell myself that my son's friends were probably having 'those' conversations with their moms in the privacy of their homes. Not!

Best Wishes,
Grinity

Thanks for the input. I suppose the most surprising part has been how quickly he is picking it all up with very little instruction. I suppose my biggest concern is that at this rate kindergarden is going to be a complete joke in terms of academics, which maybe does not matter unless he starts acting out.

I just feel so clueless about so much of this. I just learned that there are reading levels assinged to books. I suppose my next step should be to get an approximation of his level and make sure I am providing him the right books. I kind of feel like I just became an elementary teacher...a very unqualified one! LOL

LOL!

Do you think our neighborhood elementary would let me observe the classroom for an hour? I am really curious about what they are working on. I feel so odd asking. Maybe I should wait until we are a little closer to starting kindergarden?

Don't put it off. Go now. IF your neighborhood school says no, ask at a local private school, or a school the next town over. They are all so similar - because they are meeting the real needs of real children. Your child is real too, just without so many peers.

Smiles,
G-Girl

Go observe and start calling around now. You can't ever start too soon. I started trying to do something about my son when he was about 3 and 2 years later I'm not much closer to getting him what he needs but I now know so much more about gifted kids and what their needs are!

Molly, I'm in the same boat as you -- Please let me know what you find out at your local Kindergarten class because I'm very interested.
I deal with GT denial on almost a daily basis with both of my DD's, 3yr9mo and 17mo.
DD3 phonetically sounded out her first word at 2.5. By that time, she knew many many sight words as well.
She has quickly gone from reading random words, reading the super-easy readers to now reading Clifford books almost fluently. I'm assuming this isn't normal, although it's easy to psych yourself out -- especially when a lot of people on this forum have kids who read really early.

Good luck to you and congrats on your DS's reading skills!