How old were you when you learned how to read? (minors, method)

[WellShoneMoon]

I started reading before I went to school, so around age 4. My mother said I learned to read by reading from cereal boxes while I was eating breakfast. When I was six, my neighbor took me to get a library card, and it was a watershed moment for me. I had no idea such riches were available for free! And I've been a library geek ever since.

Here's a cute (at least I think so) story about my son's earliest reading. He was about three, and I was taking him with me to the super market. We were walking from the car to the store, and he read aloud the store's name spelled out in big letters on the front of the building. He said, "E-I-S-N-E-R. That spells STORE!"

[kevxu]

I learned to read before I went to kindergarten. Girls in the neighborhood enjoyed playing "teacher," and they got the ball rolling, after that I pestered my aunt who lived with us to death. I insisted on being able to have the section of the paper that contained the comic strips to read...and then would spell out the words I did not know and want to know what they meant. To get their paper back my aunt and my father shoved illustrated magazines at me. Mistake. I looked at the pictures but wanted to know what the captions said.

We were tested either at the end of kindergarten or in first grade, and I was reading at a third grade level.

[MissTerri]

There is a wide range of what’s normal in terms of child development and reading. Some kids will be reading fluently before kindergarten and others won’t until they are 8 or older. Most fall somewhere in between. I think I was about 6 when it clicked.

[Nov3]

Truly reading? Pronounciating ,comprehending. 7.
Before that it was memorizing .

[Nanny Goat]

When Humpty Dumpty was thrown in the mail chute, probably around 5. I remember reading in Kindergarten, basic reading.

[gentlearts]

First grade. I still remember the book with Sally, Dick, and Flip, the dog. 1950s.

I read to a kindergarten now, and they learn much more than I did in kindergarten. All I remember doing was having tomato juice every day and napping on a mat, so there couldn’t have been much time left to learn, since it was half day.

[Bridge781]

Yeah it seems like the average age people read is 5 or 6...and if anyone is reading before that they are an assumed genius. Is that really the case? The girl i knew i was reading at 2 is quite smart, she went to Wellesley, but i honestly think she's on the spectrum as she's quite awkward in other ways. She isn't doing anything amazing career wise.

It seems like how you do in high school is really what matters. Not my rules, just seems to be when your smarts are really noticed.

[MissTerri]

It really doesn’t speak to one’s intelligence as to the age they start reading, at least not from what I understand. It tends to level out and by the time kids complete 3rd grade. At that point, you’re not going to be able to tell who was reading at the age of 3 vs who started reading at the age of 8.

[Bridge781]

kind of like talking?

I do know of one girl i worked with who was an engineer and she had some blog that spoke of how she was speaking at 6 months and reading at 2. She was trying to show how incredibly gifted she was. So i guess sometimes it can matter if someone is doing things significantly earlier.

[coschristi]

Originally Posted by Bridge781

I was 6 I think, first grade.

It sounds like these days kids read earlier?

How old were your kids when they learned ?

I have known people who said they were reading at 2.

My parents don't know when exactly or how but they know that I was reading the daily paper at age 2 & at the level of an H.S. graduate by age 7. By age 16 I tested in the top 2% of national scores for reading comprehension & I now read 1,363 words per minute.

It's called Hyperlexia & it is almost 100% associated with Autistic Spectrum Disorder. Typically, reading speed in Hyperlexia will plateau during late adolescence but mine did not.

My own children were reading by age 4-5 but I believe my youngest, who is severely autistic, may also be hyperlexic but the communication barrier has made testing impossible.