At what age can we start teaching a child to read?

Question

At what age can we start teaching a child to read?

Answer 1

I think 2 yrs old

Answer 2

You should start teaching a child to read from birth. My daughter was about a month old when we began reading board books to her. We read to her often and always before bedtime at night. As she got older (as soon as she began to talk), we encouraged her to turn the pages, to point things out in pictures, to tell us or to guess what would happen next.  She did start turning pages at about 6 mths. of age. If you're reading a story that repeats words often or a very familiar story, you can pause while reading and let your child fill in the word.  These are all important early reading skills.

If your child is showing interest in learning to read words, help her sound out the words and learn what the letters are, but I would not do any formal instruction unless a child is asking to learn. That could be at any age.

The best way to teach your child to read is to just read, read, and read some more. Surround your child with books and reading. Make frequent visits to your local library. Read environmental print: traffic signs, billboards, food labels, etc. Children often learn to read words like "stop" just from daily exposure. Eventually, that connection between letters, sounds, and words will happen. I believe that actual direct teaching of reading should not happen until kindergarten.

Answer 3

i think 4 is the best :)

Answer 4

Begin at birth reading to your child, singing to your child and just talking. Introduce books and picture books right away. Let the child see you reading books, magazines and news papers. If  the child is read to he will begin to connect to books too. Lots of reading and lots of books need to be in your home!

Answer 5

We early childhood people feel that reading begins at birth.  The foundation is being formed, at least.   You start teaching the child when they show an interest and have some of the "basics" of literacy down.

Here are some of the basics...see if you have already had a good intro to these.  Then make your decision.

Concepts of print:

*  Does your chid understand that it's the words that we read not the pictures.

* Does your child hold, open, and "read" the book correctly.

* Does your child know the parts of a book

* Does your child understand right to left and top to bottom?

Phonological Awareness:

* Can your child hear differences and similarities in words?  Blending sounds into words; segmenting words, hearing the sounds at the beginning, middle, and end; can clap syllables; recognize and make rhyming words; move sounds around to make new words?

Letter-Sound Knowledge:

*  Does your child know lower case letters as well as upper case letters?  

*  Does your child know that letters are used to form words?

* Does your child know the sounds that each letter makes.

I'm going to add this one in because some children can "read" but don't comprehend what they are reading so....

Does your child understand what is being said and can repeat it back in their own words?  Try it out with books you read or books on tape/cd etc.

Motivation:  Does the child WANT to read?

Anyway...that should give you an idea if the child's ready.

I recommend the book Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons by Sigmund Engelmann.  This book can be considered "dry" when you  first look at it but it has everything a parent needs to teach your child to read.  Check the reviews on Amazon.com... I've had great success.  Under $20 at Barnes and Noble or Amazon.com.  I know that as a teacher I understand the reason behind much of the "lessons" whereas a parent with little education background may think that it's silly.  But, seriously, it covers everything!  By lesson 75 out of 100 my son was reading at a 1-2 level of "beginner reader" series.  I also suggest that you look into the "We Both Read" books.  These start at the Kindergarten (I would say preK) level and work up.  Our local library had them.  I'm in the process of purchasing the whole set...they are that good!  $3.99 a book.  Amazon.com has a buy 3 get 4th free deal on these books.  Free shipping over $25.  The best thing about them is that the parent reads and then the children read... (Shared reading).  One of the biggest "speed bumps" we had was that my son was afraid I would stop reading to him if he learned how to read.  After we started doing our reading out of these Shared Reading books...he flourished!  They are still young enough to want to be read to...so don't give that up!!!

Good luck.

Answer 6

Each child will learn differently, but most are able to grab the concepts of language and reading at a very early age.

Kids have a natural interest in learning to read, just as they had an interest in learning to walk.

I think it's something to be patient about, but we should give many options for kids to learn to read --- at any age.

Answer 7

When the child is ready. Some kids are really motivated to learn to read and some children are not interested until they are kind of "forced" to learn to read when they hit school. In the mean time  read a wide variety of books.  Kids eventually pick  up reading.  Do not force the child until they are ready.

Answer 8

Any age!

Answer 9

Actually you should start teaching your child how to write and recognize letters first at the ages of 3+ to about 6. The child could start reading as early as 4 or 5 but that depends on the child. When he / she is ready they will read.

I would suggest you get your hands on everything MONTESSORI and understand it as best you can. The best way for a child to learn to read is through a comprehensive program of language starting as young as 1.5 years old but by 3 a child is willing and able to work with materials that will hold their interest as a preparation for writing and reading.

Dr. Montessori had children reading as early as 4 or 5. Our school has a girl that I know of that is now reading and she started at 4.5 and is now 5. My own children my oldest started just after his first few months of Elementary 1 and has rapidly improved since reaching 6.5 years old.

I would read more on Montessori. Go to a Montessori school or website to learn more about writing and reading and not force reading to young. Always a good start is to read every night to your kids. But really if you want a child to read they first have to recognize the letters as sounds and symbols phonics then by about 5 or 6 they could be ready to read. But it is the child that knows when they are ready. I worried alot about my own son but when he started... there was no stopping him.

Answer 10

Any age. Children learn to read very early, sometimes, and they should have the tools to be able to read early, if they can/want to. I was encouraged to start reading in preschool, and started reading by myself in kindergarten.