When did you learn to read?

I have always been an avid reader, but for the life of me cant remember when I started being able to read. I’m amazed that so many of you can remember that far back.

Between 4 & 5 for me. Older for my daughter, but she's dyslexic. Hoping GS isn't and you can bet he'll be getting help from granny. ☺️

I learned easily through phonics. I also remember a trendy 1960's teacher baffling us with flashcards.

I have always been able to read. To me is as natural as breathing and as necessary!
My DD taught herself at about 3 1/2, DS1 was a little later but poor DS2 being dyslexic managed it very late, 8ish. Mercifully he enjoys reading, even if some books are a bit of a trial.

I started school at age 5.

My mum bought me a Ladybird book just before I started school, and read it with me. That was my
introduction to actually learning to read for myself.

During that first term at school, I remember going back into the classroom after playtime, and the teacher had written lots of similar words on the board to practise with us: the, they, then, them etc. As I can still picture that board in my mind, I am fairly sure that I could read them all perfectly well by then, and when I moved to a different school after one year, I could certainly read simple books very easily.

I could write too - every Monday, we had to write what we had done over the weekend. It's funny what you remember, isn't it - I remember having to ask the teacher how to spell missis (Mrs). She said the letters m, r and s, to me, but I didn't see how that could possibly be right (but was far too shy to say anything), so made up my own phonetic version instead

One of my sons learned to read very quickly after starting school, and has always loved reading.

His brother still couldn't read after a year at school, so I taught him using flashcards over the summer holidays, as I could see that he would soon get behind in other ways if I didn't, after noticing at the parent's evening that the maths cards that they worked from required reading skills too!

Unlike the rest of our family, that son has never enjoyed reading fiction, but soon put his newly-acquired reading skills to use with non-fiction.

One of my grandchildren did not find learning to read easy, despite having always loved having books read to him, but he got there at his own pace and is an avid reader now (age 9) and his literacy skills are well above average.
His younger sister (now 8) learned to read more easily, but still doesn't enjoy reading to herself at all.

All children are different!

I can’t remember when I started to read, but I do remember being curled up in a chair being totally lost in a book throughout my childhood.

My children and grandchildren grew up surrounded by books suitable for their age, as well as books which were read to them but slightly too old to tackle themselves.

My daughter could read before she went to school, my son really didn’t start to read until he was 7/8.

Every child is different.

There was absolutely nothing significant in their age at starting to read. Both went on to higher education at PhD level.

I also learnt to read before I was 5 and entered school. As my mum and dad worked full time I was looked after by my grandparents. I was taken to the library evry week by my granddad who spent ages helping me choose my books in the childrens part and once done I went with him to the main part and sat in a chair while he chose his books. Sometimes this was twice a week and is my most favourite memory of him. We would then come home and he would read them to me. He was also a gifted story teller and kept me enthralled with his stories, My grandfather and mum were avid readers and both houses were full of books.Mum and dad read to me all the time My sister got the same experiences but struggled to read and has now what would be described as dyslexic tendancies and this has played out in my youngest son. They are both confident readers but do not enjoy it at all so read for a purpose. My eldest son enjoyed reading when young but now at 30 is too busy to read. He took ages to read but because he was not interested Learned to read in six weeks when he wanted to and is a very quick methodical reader just like my dad was. Both my children had loads of books and were read to just as I had been, I read because to me it is a neccessity to my emjoyment in life. I love it as it calms me, opens new worlds and is something that has always been there. My mum and I were talking at the weekend of the first books I can clearly remmeber being bought for me and she confirmed I was five and that the were the Far Away Tree and The Wishing Chair and she bought them when we were on holiday in Devon as she forgot to bring my books with me. She confirmed that I was reading them on my own and she had trouble getting me to put them down. I think sometimes it just natural for some children and others have to be clearly taught but the love of reading is if you get caught by a book, character or series and become enthralled. I think the best thing my granddad and mum did was never limited the books I could read anything on the book shelf I was able to look at and read even if I did not fully understand it ie reading Watership Downs at 10 and reading it as a story about rabbits and reading it as adult and realising the more adult meanings, I am a primary teacher with my specialism being reading and phonics and I am always keen to give children a love of reading not just the mechanics so read to my classes all sorts of books to engage them

Well, my DGS was read to from birth by his parents and both sets of grandparents. By the time he was in YR he didn't want to be read to at all. 2 years later he has learned to read perfectly competently but doesn't have any interest at all in books.

However, I'm not worried because reading encompasses an awful lot more than just reading for pleasure. It's an essential skill for learning and for employment. He'll be fine.

I learnt to read when we lived in Malta when my father was stationed there . I was 5 and for some reason I didn’t go to the base school but a local nun led school . They spoke no English and I spoke no Maltese . My father taught me to read from books borrowed from the Officers Mess on his ship .

I spent hours reading at school so by the time we returned 18 months later not only could I read fluently but I had read a lot of the classics ! ( I could also count and sing in Maltese - long forgotten now!) .

It gave me a lifelong love of books .

I joined a library and learnt to read before I went to school. I taught my best friend to read when we were both eight.
My sons could read before they went to school although the teachers were not happy about that. So I suppose I’ve done something useful in my lifetime ?

Of course, the Steiner schools say that children shouldn't learn to read until they are 7...

well, i was obviously following that curiculum all by myself.
unlike most of you on here, who were scanning the ingredients as you ate your farleys rusks.

who needs to have even heard of frontal ? fronted adverbials.
what 's the point of cramming this nonsense into children.
it's like something out of Dickens, Gradgrind. obscure facts.
meaningless. pointless. demotivating. stifling creativity.

The point about this year is that MORE children will leave primary without being able to read than usual. Every year some children fail to learn to read - at least they don't read as well as others in their age group - very few children actually can't read at all.

Reading is actually a relatively low level skill (unlike writing) and is something most children can pick up. The problem is that some children going on to secondary school can't read as well as they need to be able to in order to keep up with the curriculum. They therefore fall behind very quickly.

In answer to the original question, I don't think I could read much before I was 7 and the same goes for two of my children and my grandson. My dyslexic younger son only learnt to read when he was nine but even so had more or less caught up by the time he went to secondary school.

We all now read well and read for pleasure not just because we have to.

It is those who find it difficult to learn to read that need targeted help and the best place to do that is while they are in Primary school.

welbeck

who needs to have even heard of frontal ? fronted adverbials.
what 's the point of cramming this nonsense into children.
it's like something out of Dickens, Gradgrind. obscure facts.
meaningless. pointless. demotivating. stifling creativity.

I totally agree! A mix of phonics and look/say will set most children off reading, add in some basic punctuation to underline the meanings, and off they go. Children who find it hard benefit from extra help, and they all need something interesting to keep them going. Books, comics, the daily paper, lists of ingredients, recipes and many other opportunities to add to reading skills. Showing children how relevant reading is in everyday life is vital, as is nurturing the love of a good story.
Of course parents should play a role. From an early age, pointing out road signs, making shopping lists, playing basic word games etc. A walk with children should be an opportunity to talk about the world, and there are so many ways to add in reading skills. I used to make a map of the local roads, where we would walk etc, and read through it with my children. Parents have always been busy, please don’t say they are too busy for their own children nowadays.

welbeck

who needs to have even heard of frontal ? fronted adverbials.
what 's the point of cramming this nonsense into children.
it's like something out of Dickens, Gradgrind. obscure facts.
meaningless. pointless. demotivating. stifling creativity.

This has nothing at all to do with learning to read. It's a completely misguided attempt to improve children's writing skills.

I could read when I started school. I think my grandparents taught me. I was very interested in books and was reading the paper at the breakfast table. My father would split the paper and he'd read one half and I'd get the other.

I could read when I started school and have always been an avid reader of whatever I could get hold of. Read fathers' newspapers and even my much older brother's comics about the war . The Public Library was a couple of streets away on the High Rd so used to go there with a friend to read and browse the books even went in the reference library after school to write our school 'topic' which was about chameleons.

My dyslexic son certainly wasn't reading well when he was 11. He wasn't even reading well at 14. It took me a long time to realise the stress and worry reading caused him. He still prefers not to read. He uses a range of IT assistance to help him. It's time we moved away from equating literacy with intelligence. Some children have great ability and using technology can now get them through. My DS now has an MA and a sucessful career in a creative industry.

I have vivid memories of sitting with my mum 'reading' "Ant and Bee" books. Our memories are amazing aren't they, I can still see the illustrations and what the book covers looked like.

My few words were in red and mum read the black ones. I can't remember if that was before I started school or was something we did together once I'd started.

I love to read, always have done. Mr. S. likes books he can dip into as and DS used to be an avid reader too until technology took over and he became an avid game player.

I was in primary school when I was selected to trial a new reading/writing system: I.T.A.
In time, it was deemed to be recognised as a failure as it confused learners away from how we understood spellings etc.
I must have been in the minority: I went on to study phonetics, as part of my B.A. English degree. I have always been interested in pronunciations of words!
Recently, I retired from being a secondary English teacher.
More time for reading.

Like so many here, I was read to as a child and remember being fascinated by the Ladybird alphabet book before I started school so I am certain l recognised letters before school. My mother would have happily shown me how to read before I started school but l was stubborn and said l would learn at school. I was four years, nine months old when I started school and that was it. We had the Ladybird Peter and Jane books and there were twelve levels - A and B were for reading and C for writing. By the time l finished the reception class l was halfway through 8B and could more or less read and spell anything. I have always loved reading. Having said that, I was much slower at physical handwriting. I have realised as an adult that I have mild dyspraxia, which was not known about then. I had not really determined which hand to write with at five so, as was the practice of the time, l was encouraged to use my right hand. As I use my left hand for so many other things, I now wonder if I was a late developing lefty. Certainly, for a very long time, I found writing difficult and physically tiring.

I can't ever remember not reading so I think it was before I started school. My son (now 50) learnt to read very young and my grandsons also were reading well by 6. I never understood the phonetics way of teaching, it seemed unnecessary to me, the kids have to learn how the letter is pronounced and then have to learn how to read the word when they put it together so they are learning two different ways!

By the end of reception I was a competent reader. My son taught himself to read by the time he was 4...mind you he was an excellent talker by the time he was one. My eldest was able to read really well at five. My youngest not so interested in reading but she could at 5. My older grandchildren all capable readers within two years of starting school. Youngest two have still to find out. When I was young you had to know all your times tables by the time you were 7. Everyone could read. I am not sure that phonics is the best way to teach reading...

I could definitely read before I started infants school at 4 years 9 months. I went to the adjacent nursery school so that would have helped along with my mother. DS (now 36) could also read at 4 - again by going to a nursery school and at home. I read to him every evening and he wanted to see the words.
My little brother (now 56) learnt by reading thé TV pages in thé newspaper. Matching his favourite cartoons to words in thé paper.

I also could read before I went to school, but I was lucky I was an only child, my brother turned up when I was 5 1/2, I had a stay at home mother and no tv, although we listened to plays on the radio every afternoon when I was say three and onwards. Books were, and remain, a central part of my life, but none of my children could really ‘read’ before they started school, far more interested in climbing trees and getting into mischief, although we all enjoyed working out a story each night before bed together. I think today it is very difficult to encourage ‘old fashioned’ books against all the alternatives, although one of my youngest grandsons naturally grabs a book in preference to toys and he is not yet one.