How many of you have 5 yo's who can read?

meghans30

I'm stressing about Trev transitioning into kindergarten in the fall. He has a language disorder and has an IEP. We have a big transition meeting next week to discuss our options. I posted on the special needs board and someone commented that Trev should/could be reading by now. Really? I thought it was pretty typical for kids to learn to read in kindergarten? He knows his letters, recognizes his name in print, can count to 20, and knows shapes and colors, but is not reading and I don't expect him to be reading by September. 

JOEBunny

DD is not old enough, but my niece went to full time pre-school, pre-k, and kinder and could not read until 1st grade.  She is in 3rd and does very well.  Reading happens for some kids at 4, but for a lot of kids, it is not until 6, no issues there.  I should say that my state has state madatated kinder at 5, even then, a lot can't read until 1st.  I would talk to a kinder teacher at some different schools.

CleoKitty

I daresay that the person who told you he should be reading by now is misinformed.

Ds is a reasonably bright kid- he's not reading. Most of his friends are reasonably bright kids. Out of a dozen or so 5 year olds not yet in kindergarten that we know there is ONE child who is already reading.  One.

meghans30

CleoKitty:

I daresay that the person who told you he should be reading by now is misinformed.

Ds is a reasonably bright kid- he's not reading. Most of his friends are reasonably bright kids. Out of a dozen or so 5 year olds not yet in kindergarten that we know there is ONE child who is already reading.  One.

Thanks for both of your input. I am highly concerned about how Trev's expressive language delay will effect his ability to read. I'm an English teacher also, but I have no idea what it takes to teach a child to read.  

DaiLyght

Ds1 is 4.5 and he can't read. Aside from a couple of memorized word recognitions (his name, mommy, etc), I don't see that changing too much in the next 6 months

Jamaica_Bride

Owen can read and has been reading for about 7 months. I think he is in the minority (I know he is in his Pre-k class). He has a severe speech delay and has been in speech since 18 months.

This was totally driven by him. In no way did MH or I sit down with him and force him to learn to read. He began with sight reading and blossomed from there.

FWIW, I read at 4- so says my Mum )

Sara&Jeremy

Mine can...but she is the only one in her class of 15 kids (Pre-K) that can. Her teacher is very surprised by how well she is reading so that tells me it is not the norm. My friend is also a Kindergarten teacher and after discussing it with her, she also agrees that most kids are not reading before they start in her class. She says she usually has 1 or 2 advanced readers per year.

MichelleWP

My oldest was reading at 4, but he was the only one in his Kindergarten class reading at the start of the school year. My just turned 6 y/o is in Kindergarten and can read 14 sight words consistantly, and is slowly figuring out sounding out words. He is globally delayed with PDD-NOS, but according to his teacher is in the lower end of the middle of the pack for reading in his class (7 months into the school year), so pretty average (it is an inclusion classroom with several ELL students as well). The goal here is 20 sight words at the end of Kindergarten.

Aliliv

I teach (substitute teach right now, but used to teach kindergarten among other grades).   The range of abilities when it comes to reading is very vast.  Some kids can read, many can't, some recognize letters/sounds, some don't even recognize letters when they enter kindergarten.    Some will learn to read pretty well in kindergarten and some will pick it up more in Grade 1. When I read your post, I thought he was doing pretty good knowing everything he knows already.  That's already an awesome start for any kid!.

eta:  When I was teaching kindergarten, it wasn't until about January - March when most kids were reading/writing paragraphs - and those were the ones that could not read before kindergarten:)    

another eta:   Reading is also about comprehension, so a child not reading before kindergarten is no big deal.   Working on sounds is a good idea, but so is asking lots of questions about what you are reading to him to see what he is picking up on and understanding.    That will also help a lot with reading fluency and progress!

JoyGotDots

I'm not a parent, but a preschool teacher.  Could he be reading now?  Possibly.  Is it terrible that he isn't?  Not at all.  As long as he is making progress I don't think you have anything to worry about.   Does he know his letter sounds?  If not, start working on that and you may see things take off!  What do his therapists say about it?

Sara&Jeremy

Jamaica_Bride:

This was totally driven by him. In no way did MH or I sit down with him and force him to learn to read. He began with sight reading and blossomed from there.

Oh and I agree with this. We have always read to Katie, but she did this on her own. She always asks what words are that she doesn't know and then just seems to absorb them and always know them from then on. She has always had an interest in learning (my son is not nearly as interested so far...). I was also an early reader as a child.

JenniC1135

I was a very early reader - between 3 and 4- and I've read that it can be hereditary.  DD is the same way.  She's 3 and decoding 3 letter words with short vowel sounds and has a decent selection of sight words.  Her twin brother knows letters and sounds but isn't where she is as far as putting words together, but he can predict a word based on context.   I think they will both be reading by kindergarten, but speaking as a former 1st grade teacher, it was not at all uncommon for students to arrive there barely reading.  Just like walking and other milestones, they will get it when they are ready.

AggieCouple

I think for 99.999% of the population, it entirely depends on the type/amount of curriculum they are exposed to.  None of my three oldest nieces attended preschool FT before Kindergarten, and none of them read until Kindergarten or first grade, although I think all 3 are fairly to very intelligent (biased, obviously).  The rest of my n&n who did attend preschool FT from 3 or 4 and up were reading by that time. 

I say 99.999% because my sister loves to tell a story about one of the kids in her kids' guitar class who surprised his parents one day by reading an entirely new book all by himself at the age of 3.  I'm sure the story is partially true.  There are some major geniuses in this world.

meghans30

-auntie-:

I'm being quoted out of context here.

I said, after a year of special education intensive language based preschool- not traditional nursery school- the possibility exists that he would have started to learn to read. You were asking if his language delays would impact reading. I said it was a distinct possibility; if he had started to read it would be one concern on your list in choosing a school that could be eliminated. I did not say he should be reading now. Just that some kids in his shoes have.

I have seen kids in such programs pick up decoding skills. I know a lot of kids who learned to read the year they turned four. Both of mynieces were reading before their 5th birthdays. My husband's niece did as well. The boy I mentioned who went to the SDC picked up reading before kindie; the other boy did not. Of these kids, only the one who attended the self contained kindie/first is what I would consider unusally bright.

Thanks for the clarification. I was truly curious how many 5 yos go to kindergarten with some reading ability. This would help in my descision. Maybe the SCC would be better for him. Thanks for everyone's responses.