What is the average age children start reading?

Question

I work in a day care with a Kindergarten program and there are a few that can read and some that are just starting. Obviously it is different from child to child but I was curious when do most kids, in day care or not, start to read.

Answer 1

My son was 6 and in first grade, both of my daughters we're 5 and in Kindergarten. None were in day-care. I taught them the basics and all of them entered school already able to recognize letters and some sounds.  

Answer 2

I think around 6 - maybe 5

Answer 3

Kindergarten or Preschool is usually the age to start. My sis is going 2 3rd grade and only can read beginner books!

Answer 4

there really is no age but on average the fluent readers start emerging around  kindergarten. but its an ongoing process that they keep building on even on into the first and second grades.

Answer 5

It is now also widely thought that learning language is actually easier during infancy than at any other time. Not to say that they are fluent that early!  I'll bet the kids with more advanced language skills were taught from infancy.  Language is learned early in life and babies naturally learn to understand and say words by hearing language. Babies and toddlers exposed to different languages or sign language early, naturally learn these languages at higher levels than the older ones.

Answer 6

It used to be pretty standard that kids learned how to read at age 6.  Research indicated that those who started learning earlier and those that started later were all on the same level by age 6.  I have talked to several school reading teachers and kindergarten teachers and they tell me it is very different now.  They say that many children are now learning how to read at 3, 4, and 5 years old without trouble.  They get ahead and stay ahead.  The result is that the gap between early readers and late readers is larger and more pronounced than ever before.  There is anything but an "average" age when children start reading.

Answer 7

I began reading basic words and phrases at about 2 1/2 and sentences by 3. By 3 1/2 to 4, I could read a Sesame Street or Little Critter book entirely by myself. By kindergarten most kids in my class could read, although there were a few stragglers who couldn't read until 2nd grade!

I've found that kids whose parents read to their children from birth generally read faster and better than those who have not been read to.

Answer 8

I know my mom tells me that I went to kindergarten the first time and came home and sat down and read her an entire book, she was impressed.

That being said, my daughter can read pictures at 20 months, she knows what zebras, graffeees(giraffe, lol) strawberries (and a bunch more) are just by looking at the picture, even if we don't say it, and it's a picture she hasn't seen before, cartoon or real. She's also picked up some letters, she'll point to tv logos or the newspaper and say the letters she's pointing at. But we read her books a lot.

Good luck!  

Answer 9

The age when kids start reading really is random because there are children that can being in the early years like between 2 and 3 and there are also the ones that start reading much later. What you can mainly do as a parent is simulate the kids mind to want to learn to read. I give you a good link where you can find toys that influence them to read, interact, etc.