How did you learn to read, and at what age?

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So I was one of those little freaks that talked in sentences long before I could walk. My mother swears that I taught myself to read (apparently, since no one else could have) at the age of two.... she saw that I was reading a book to the baby brother & figured I had memorized it, but just to be sure, she showed me a newspaper and I read the headline to her.

Basically I have no idea how one goes about learning to read. To me it feels like I have always just been able to.

However I have a child who struggles with reading and is, in fact, testing below grade level. Yet he's clearly brilliant --- I do know I'm not supposed to say that about my own child, but whatever, he is. I don't know of any reason for him to fall behind his peers but I would really like to help him. At this point, reading is work to him, and although we read together (take turns on pages or paragraphs as we read aloud) he gets frustrated easily.

Anyone have any ideas of how I could help him out? I'm strongly considering canceling the cable TV and filling the void with books, but I hesitate to do that as we head into winter, with me still feeling sick much of the time, if you get my meaning. He's super stubborn... way more stubborn than I could ever be. So it's not about "just" making him do this or that, as my mother tells me. When she was raising us, she had a power that I don't have: that of being willing to use physical violence on her children to gain obedience, but I am not willing, so. Something not involving the use of force or meanness.

Thanks...

Just wanted to add that I am about to request the school to do an evaluation on him to see if he has any learning differences, which he may very well have. We are a rather neurodiverse family, nothing would surprise me.

It's still going to be the same him & the same me though.... regardless of any potential diagnosis. So I already know what I'm up against sorta. Just looking for new ideas.

I learned to read at the age of 8 by reading comic books.

At 2
Sitting on the toilet.
Dr.Seuss' "Marvin K Mooney will you Please Go Now"
Excellent book Still have the original copy stashed away somewhere!

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Ask your son (and yourself) a few questions about his reading.
1. Does he like hearing the stories.
2. Does he like the stories or does he only like them because you are spending time with him?
3. Does he behave as if reading is difficult or tough, or does he just lose interest in the story.
(does he thrust it away, does his attention wander, does he try but give up, does he ask you to do it?)
Specifically for him / to him:
4. Do the words or letters change or move when you try to read them?
5. Do your eyes hurt or get tired when you try to read?
6. Are the letters or words blurry?
These last three questions may indicate eye problems anywhere from lazy eye to simple focus issues to eye deformities to meares-irlen syndrome. Or it might be that he's not holding the book and it's wiggling (imperceptibly to you) in your hands and he's having trouble tracking it.

Taking him to the library and helping him go through the books - or asking him what topic of book he might enjoy (though he most likely hasn't encountered one yet, so won't have an answer) might work. If he likes cars, for example, try getting him to read books that involve cars. If he's ADDICTED to cars (knows makes and models on sight for example) try providing the advertisement books the companies put out (adjust your selections based on his interests).

Last edited by OddFiction on 14 Oct 2010, 5:28 pm, edited 1 time in total.

How old is this child, and does he literally not know how to recognize words and pronounce them or is he just struggling with doing that?

If he's older than eight and he's completely illiterate, get a tutor who's experienced and patient enough to work with him. Parents aren't always the best teachers, especially if you were never in his position and don't understand what it feels like to not be able to read.

If he's younger than eight and he's just struggling, I would encourage him to read more often but I wouldn't make a big deal about it. People learn at different paces, and constantly being compared to other people (especially about being "behind") must be annoying as hell.

I was 2,5 and I learned using magnetic letters.

12 years

I learned to read at about 10-13 years old, probably at grade 3 level right now. Writing & spelling is at grade 1 level still.

I learned to read because of playing so much video games, Mostly RPGs

He is nine, and not illiterate. It's more that he has to work so hard at reading. He struggles to decode the words, it doesn't flow for him. I feel that he has the basic idea. But it's difficult work for him to read, & it wears him out.

And yes it makes me crazy that he's being told he's "behind" and in fact, that he is in public school to begin with. He's not a good fit for that learning style. Wish I could homeschool him or private school even, but I don't have complete authority over his education because the family court judge thought I was lying about the abuse, for some reason. Had I known then what I know now, I would have figured out the appropriate non-verbals and done them, whatever it took. But I didn't have a clue how weird I was. I was shocked when my ex's lawyer accused me of lying: did he not just hear me swearing an oath to tell the truth? WTF? Isn't it understood, then, that one is telling the truth? (I know, I know... or anyway now I do, sort of.)

Thank you so much! He isn't here tonight, in fact I probably won't see him until Sunday night. I might go to his soccer game Saturday, but then he usually asks to come home with me afterward (instead of dad) and that causes hurt feelings in his dad, which I try to avoid, because he always takes it out on our son.

Anyway, he likes listening to the stories. I don't think he only enjoys it because he's getting attention from me... although I'm sure that's a factor. He's only here half the time to begin with. His dad forces him to the library, but then goes on the internet (hasn't got it at home, so...) rather than interacting with him. Well, I'm not always there to see it, but this is based on what I've observed & what my son has told me. Anyway I haven't taken him to the library a lot, since that started. But we do have lots of books at home. I see your point about the subject matter.

He does behave as if reading is difficult and tough. When he has had enough, he sometimes asks me to read his parts, and sometimes he just goes to sleep instead. I know he's dealing with depression, as I have, to varying degrees, all my life. That's part of the reason I would like him to have the ability to escape into a book, rather than turn into (what looks like) a zombie in front of the TV screen. He does play video games. Sometimes he asks his older brother to help him get through parts of the game (by playing through) but I don't know if it's a reading issue or something else, dexterity maybe? (I can't really look at videos or games comfortably... otherwise I would probably know.)

That's weird. I posted so many times today (more than any other single day, I'm sure) and this is the first time my reply wasn't on the blue background. I was beginning to wonder if it was set up that I'd see blue every time, or something.

So OddFiction, when you say "on the toilet" do you mean it was a sudden transformation? Or just where you preferred to read?

Whoops. Not "this" but "the above" was what I meant to say about the blue. Above.

Heaven forbid I refrain from clarifying myself! Someone might realize I'm not perfect! Oh no!

I was reading at age 2 and I don't know for certain how I learned because I can't remember ever *not* being able to read. The "family explanation" has always been that I learned to read from a combination of wanting to be like my older brother (who could read), watching educational television such as Sesame Street, and watching the page when my parents read stories to me.

I started reading at age 2, but then someone told my parents that it was bad for children to learn too soon. They prevented me from learning to read until 6 years old when I started 1st grade..

My parents would have had quite the task to keep me from reading! I was (am) hyperlexic and was only happy if I was reading something. Anything. I would read soup cans if there were nothing else to read. In the bathroom, I read all the shampoo bottles. At the table, I read the cereal box. My parents would have had to:

a. remove all the labels from the food, cleaning supplies, personal care products, etc. in the house
b. removed the television (it often displays words to read)
c. cancelled their subscription to the newspaper and all magazines
d. removed every book in the house -- quite a task since they had both kept all their college books plus were both heavy readers themselves.

oh, and

e. never taken me out in public again. (I used to read all the billboards and shop signs out loud as we drove past them)

There was no way they could have kept me away from my number one love: the printed word!

Said my first word at 6-7 months of age, and was fluent by age 2. I learned to read around age 3.5-4. I'd demonstrated an intense interest in learning and my parents figured that they could easily teach me, so they did so.