When did you learn to read?

I could do the alphabet sounds and some short words when I went to school at five and a half. We had an Easter intake then as well as Summer. Was seldom without a book as a child. Can't conceive of a person at secondary not being able to read but keep hearing this and therefore must give it some credence. Quite awful if true.

I could recognise some written words before I started school. My dad often read to me and we always had lots of books around. At that time mum was still getting to grips with learning to speak English so she would use picture books partly to help herself as well as entertain me. In that way I also started to learn to speak Italian. I was reading confidently by age 6 and joined the local library about that age.

Yes, we always had books around. Children weren’t allowed to join the library in our town until they were five. I went there often with my mum to choose her books but wasn’t allowed any books myself until the joyous day I was five and was given my own tickets. I recall clutching the fresh tickets in my hand, a passport to four books to take home and have as mine for three whole weeks.

Many of you say you could read before you started school. Do you mean you could read a simple book say?

I learned to read when I started school at 4 and a half, I think, but was always a good, fast reader, loved books.

Think it amazing so many could read at such an early age.

I couldn't read until I was - oh who am I kidding - I still struggle sometimes and I'm nearly 70.

So how big a problem is literacy for the Lockdown generation? Why 'Blaming' any thing or any one? How is 'Blame' helpful to anyone?

It is what it is. My guess is the reasons are many and complex but lets dish out some 'Blame'.

I have Dyslexia, I wasn't diagnosed until I was 29 by which time most of the techniques weren't that useful for me.

Since then have gained a BA (Hons) two MSc's and a handful of professional qualifications.

Before I was 29 I managed to get City and Guilds and a HND as I was OK with the practical aspects, I didn't need to do too much written work and I was able to remember rather than take notes.

I remember going through most of my schooling not being able to read fluently. Word float off the page and letters switch around on their own in my eyes so reading was a real trial.

However, by the time I started school I could take care of my very sick birth mother, change my sisters nappies, wash them by hand and hang them on the line, make her bottle, feed her, my mother and myself plus make the fire and sweep the house.

I didn't have time for books and I don't remember having any until my mother was hospitalised and my aunty adopted me.

I did read as much as I was able to both my DD's, we are all great readers - even if I have a lot of George's, Fred's, and Elsie's in my books that others don't have :-) I thank goodness for spell checkers but I can even get some spellings past them :-)

At least two of the Professors who taught me are Dyslexic, they are published authors and well respected in their fields so I no longer feel "Thick" because I couldn't read in school and still at times struggle with words but grasp concepts reasonably well.

Children arriving at school not being able to read isn't the end of the world. It is harder for child and teacher but not the end of the world. Plus there is much better awareness and help available today.

Has Lockdown set some people back ? I'm guessing yes but ... For those who want to find a way they will. I have hope.

My late husband, who was Australian, said the first thing he
remembered reading was a notice in a Sydney tram: ‘Do not spit in the car’.

When I was young many children started school at the age of five, with no playschool prior to that.
Luckily one of my parents was an avid reader, who taught & encouraged my sister & myself to read from a young age, I love books , my sister does not.

I learned to read at the age of 3. My 5-year-old brother would show me what he’d learned at school.

Calendargirl when I began school you were admitted in the term after you were five. My birthday is late September so I was a good 5yrs 3mths when I started. I don’t know if I could read before starting school, I just can’t remember not being able to read.

My own son was reading within two weeks of starting school at the age of almost exactly five. My youngest GS started school at 4yrs and 3wks and by half term was reading well. I admit, I was astounded at that! Otoh, one of my GD’s had a struggle to learn - it just didn’t click with her for quite some time, until she was nearer seven. It’s dropped into place now but it was a concern for a while.

The ‘information’ in the OP is based on unpublished Government figures. Hummm anyone else suspicious as to what is really going on here?

This thread has prompted a clear recollection of when I was about 3, way before I started at school. I was sitting by our coal fire, pretending to knit (which my mum was very good at, so I was imitating her). I had a ball of wool and just stuck two knitting needles in it and was rotating to ball of wool round and round. My dad came home from work with a newspaper, and as he was putting it down on the table I read out a word from the headlines, which was "Flabbergasted". I have no idea how I was able to read that! We always had loads of books in the house as my parents belonged to a monthly book club and I had two older brothers who probably taught me some letters and sounds, as I did with my much younger sister. Reading has always been a large part of my life, and I have tried to instill a love of books and stories into both my daughters and our grandchildren. My mum always said that reading and books were a way to educate yourself whatever your circumstances (and she was from an extremely poor background).

I must have been able to read to some extent before starting school. By the time I was eight, according to a test at school, I had a reading age of 14. So I evidently took to it in a big way. Certainly at age seven I was at the library changing my books pretty well daily. We always had books at home.

Peasblossom. “ Learning to read takes time and practice and adult support. It should be a major part of infant school. Instead the curriculum is so overstuffed that it can’t be given the time or resources it needs”

Totally agree with this!

suziewoozie

The ‘information’ in the OP is based on unpublished Government figures. Hummm anyone else suspicious as to what is really going on here?

What do you mean Suzie? What do you think is going on?

I don’t remember learning, but know I could read and write when I started school, and that this must have been common, as I vividly remember my first day. I’d missed the whole Autumn term because of illness and hadn’t a clue what was going on. But at the end of the day as we all sat in rows at our little single desks the teacher gave out paper and pencils and told us we’d to write a composition about what we’d done at Christmas and I put my head down and did it. I complained to my mother afterwards - I was bitterly disappointed as I thought it was some sort of competition and I was going to win a prize. This was just before my fifth birthday.

It’s mainly down to the luck of the draw though, isn’t it? My DGS come from homes with books galore and parents who read to them and take them to the library. They’ve gone to school knowing their basic letters and how to write their own names and have all read well by the end of their Reception year.

On the other hand I worked in a school in an area of real deprivation, where children would arrive never having held a book, which made the learning process much more challenging. Before it was defunded the Sure Start centre we had on site was doing great work with parents of the pre-school and Early Years children in the surrounding streets, particularly those parents with literacy problems themselves for whatever reason, and things were really looking up. I should imagine that’s all been undone now.

suziewoozie

The ‘information’ in the OP is based on unpublished Government figures. Hummm anyone else suspicious as to what is really going on here?

Yes, I am. I'd like to know what exactly is meant by "read properly". When I was teaching in secondary schools, I never came across a child (apart from those with severe special needs) who could read nothing. They could all decode simple words in straightforward sentences. Nevertheless, there's a huge difference between being able to read common words and other skills such as inferring meaning, reading fluently, skimming a text, understanding complex sentences, etc etc. Children of various ages are expected to achieve various waystages, but those waystages are arbitrary. There are definitions of "functional literacy", which again are arbitrary and depend on the reason people need to read.

Does "reading properly" mean being able to understand ads from supermarkets and realising how customers are manipulated, reading The Sun, understanding a legal or scientific text or what?

PS. My reading ability improved when I learnt foreign languages, because I had to focus on what precisely was being written.

PPS. I could "read" when I started primary school, but nowhere near as well as I can now.

I too must have had some reading ability before I went to school as I could write my name. I certainly knew the alphabet when I started school at four and a half.
I loved reading, and remember being off school and confined to my bedroom. My mother went to the library and borrowed Jane Eyre and Great Expectations which I read in no time at all. I must have been about 9 or 10.

growstuff

suziewoozie

The ‘information’ in the OP is based on unpublished Government figures. Hummm anyone else suspicious as to what is really going on here?

Yes, I am. I'd like to know what exactly is meant by "read properly". When I was teaching in secondary schools, I never came across a child (apart from those with severe special needs) who could read nothing. They could all decode simple words in straightforward sentences. Nevertheless, there's a huge difference between being able to read common words and other skills such as inferring meaning, reading fluently, skimming a text, understanding complex sentences, etc etc. Children of various ages are expected to achieve various waystages, but those waystages are arbitrary. There are definitions of "functional literacy", which again are arbitrary and depend on the reason people need to read.

Does "reading properly" mean being able to understand ads from supermarkets and realising how customers are manipulated, reading The Sun, understanding a legal or scientific text or what?

Yes in the few bits I could find online the words ‘not read properly’ ‘illiterate’ were used interchangeably by ‘journalists’. The figure 200,000 was used but again, it was not clear who or what this comprised and out of how many. Apparently Johnson is making a speech next month about education and how he’s going to put right all that’s wrong. Of course there are issues with some children’s education because of the pandemic - however, most of these children were almost certainly having problems pre-pandemic. Some of the children moving to secondary school this September will need extra support and money should be forthcoming to fund this. I’m not sure tabloid headlines like this based on selected leaks from no 10 based on unpublished data are the most sensible way for a national debate on the educational needs of our children to be conducted. . But then, who’s daft enough to think that a Government with Williamson as SofS for Education actually cares about that?

I don’t remember when I learned to read but both my sons were reading and writing simple stories before they started school. They loved books and picked up reading easily. My granddaughters were later, 6 or 7.
I don’t remember any children in my class at primary school who couldn’t read and we were all working class living in council houses.

Peaseblossom, I agree about the over full curriculum in primary school. When more and more children come into school with poor communication skills it adds to the problem. A lot of time and effort is put into developing language before they even start learning to read.

Varies I think. I could read quite fluently (chapter books) at about four; so could both of my sons. My second husband was as dyslexic as hell and illiterate. He misspelled his own name (at 57) in a note that he wrote to me. The note said "I love you Cris." and it's one of my greatest treasures, I know what it cost him to write it. Chris was far more intelligent than me.

My birthday is late in the year so I was older when I started school so my DM taught me to read and also write a bit as I was an only child so got bored. (Were there two intakes back then?)

She taught me the alphabet, the sounds each letter makes and how they interact together. The naughty E, and the shy Q who daren't go out alone without U for company. How S liked to have friends she could make different sounds with. The UGHT gang who sometimes let O play and other times A.

No phonics! But I still think of each letter as having a gender!

But I still think of each letter as having a gender

Well, that will be up for discussion in these changing times!

I'm another who could read before I started school. My father would read to me from children's books while I was sat on his lap, pointing to the words as he said them so I suppose I picked it up that way.