Early Reading- Possible down Side?

Aside from ruining the love of learning, you can hide very little from a child that can read! There's no more spelling things you don't want them to hear, and sometimes they accidentally read something adult - leaving you to have to answer uncomfortable questions..... So, don't rush it, enjoy the ignorance while it lasts!

I would stop doing that right away. Go out and get some letters that you can stick to the tub wall. Then at bathtime just have fun with it-start with letter sounds and then work up to 2, 3 and then 4 letter words. Also get the talking letter factory video from Leapster. The combination of these 2 had both of my boys reading at late 3 early 4. Now it took my youngest a little longer to actually read from books-he just didn't like it and I never pushed it. My oldest loved it and loves reading to this day.

Bottom line is make it fun :-)

She's only 4. If she hates the process, and is being pushed through it (even if she's doing the work well)...yes, I believe you are doing her a disservice. She does not NEED to read right now. No child should dislike learning. That's when you've pushed them too far.

I ONLY think early reading is beneficial, when the child enjoys it. Otherwise, what's the point? For what it's worth, I was taught no reading until kindergarten. (I was 6. Although, I LOVED books from the beginning.) I have always been a phenomenal reader.

As a K teacher I often see the down side of early reading. Kids learn to decode (pronounce the words) but not to comprehend. Kids (and many parents) think reading is decoding, but in school you cannot move up to the next level unless you can talk about the books, predict what the book will be about, retell the story and mention characters and setting, tell your opinion, and make a connection to the story. To REALLY teach your child to read you need to spend equal amount of time on this as decoding. And your poor child already hates the reading lesson. It would be very beneficial to her, and hopefully more enjoyable, if you read to her and helped her learn to talk about the books.

I am an English teacher and I was an early reader. I have two sons, one read early, the other became fluent in first grade. Please do not "force" a four year old to learn how to read. It really is developmental. Kids who are destined to be early readers will pester parents for books, will ask questions, will "pretend" to read and are generally nuts about books no matter what the parent does. Any academic advancement that comes with being an early reader usually disappears around grade four or five. I have seen this happen in my son's class. The kid who read late and whose parents were really worried is doing very well now, especially in math. The problem with trying to teach your child when she clearly is not interested is that she will develop a negative association with reading and that CAN have life-long negative effects. (I teach college and I see this all the time.) Read to your daughter. Make it fun and lovely and a special time with Mommy. The rest will come.

Yes, stop the lessons! Read to her instead.

Hi Jane-

I have always been an advocate of the idea that children learn through 'play' (that is 'their' work)...

And, if you provide an 'enriching' environment...they learn ON their own...AT their pace.

I mean...have books available...have 'outings'...have activities around that use ALL of their senses...(hearing, touch, smell, taste, sight....) and point out ALL of the senses.

I had that approach with all my kiddos...and only ONE was reading (and I mean READING) before K.

BUT the rest of the kiddos caught on 'right quick' ...when "THEY" were ready...

Best luck!

***save the 'drilling' for another day/age/person...there are more important tasks your kiddo has just now...and FUN for ALL!!***

IMO
Michele/cat

If she does not enjoy it, do not force her. You want her to have a love of learning.

I bet if you stop for a while, you will see on her own she will learn to read on her own . Our daughter learned to read on her own. We always just followed her lead.

I dont think it helps at all to be honest. They simply start out school ahead of their peers, but by the time they reach higher grades all the other kids have caught up. If she was having fun with it and loving it, I would say go for it, but since she hates it there is no point in forcing it on her, it won't help her in the long run and that are lessons she can learn that would be fun for both of you. Try replacing current reading time with craft time and help her grow her imagination!

You ARE doing her a disservice. She doesn't like it. Stop doing it.

Instead, read TO your daughter. Get beautiful picture books with lovely rhyming stories like Brown Bear Brown Bear, What Do You See? And Goodnight Moon. Read them over and over - lots of repetition.

Your reading specialist friend is giving you good advice. Why are you doubting a reading specialist? For goodness sakes, she knows her job. Listen to her wisdom and instead of pushing reading lessons, try to instill a love for books and for reading by taking the pressure off of her. Get manipulatives for her to play with, and do fun lessons with them, a little at a time. Which one is the triangle? Which one is the circle? Can you find the square? Let's color the square GREEN. Which crayon is green? What color is a banana? Can you find the banana in the picture?

Get puzzles and help her learn how to do fun, easy puzzles. That helps develop her spacial sense. There are SO many things that little kids need to learn that have nothing to do with reading. All these ancillary things that help grow a child's mind so that they can make sense of their world - receptive and expressive language, being able to remember and carry out 2 directions, learning to move their body in space, so many others. THESE are what you should be thinking about. Ways to strengthen her little hand so that she will later be able to write. Playing with playdough, picking up small little things that fit into other things, like screwing a nut onto a bolt. (Choking hazards - be careful.) Small fine motor skills that develop those little muscles.

Skipping, tying shoes, running, jumping, large motor skills. Hitting a ball off of a tee. All of this helps make her brain work in ways that will eventually make her ready to learn. Meanwhile, read read read TO her. Make it a loving activity with her curled up in your lap and enjoying time with you. Take her to the library and pick out a big stack of books. Treat them as if they are very special. Don't fuss at her for "loving" them, but do teach her to respect them. Never take away books as a punishment. Do use them as an incentive.

I hope this will help you to decide to stop pushing these reading lessons.

Dawn

I think you have answered your own question, if you listen to what you are saying. Your child really dislikes this process. I'll bet she'd love to just spend that time with you reading to her. One fun way to work on pre-reading skills is to play the "I Spy" game or to get "I Spy" books (at her level). Believe me, you will have plenty of time for the fights later (7th Grade at our house!!). Don't fight about it now!!

I completely agree with the others here. I am also an English teacher, like someone else who posted earlier. I have so many students who hate reading. You don't want your daughter to be one of those students. I teach high school, and I never ask, "When exactly did you start reading?" It doesn't matter. What helps students is fostering a love of reading and a love of learning. If they love reading, they will read more, and they will learn to comprehend what they are reading. That is what we need them to be able to do. I would not continue with what you're doing. Instead, read to/with your daughter for pleasure. She will learn to read in time.

there is a huge downside and that is the loss of a love for reading. she's only 4. if you just make a habit of reading aloud to her and reading fun books together with her, she'll naturally be pulled into the exciting world of books and will want to learn how to read on her own.

My personal opinion is that there is a reason that it's referred to as "developmentally ready." There are MUCH more important things a 4 year old needs to be learning (socialization, fine motor skills, etc) than how to read. Besides that, reading at that age is going to be more memorization and may be beyond the child's actual comprehension. If they can 'read' at a 3yr grade level, they still don't have a 3yr grade view of the world to actually comprehend all of it. That doesn't make sense to me. She's going to learn how to read when she's ready, and the process will be easier if she doesn't have the preconceived notion that she hates it or is stupid for not knowing how to already read. Besides all of that, studies have shown that kids pretty much level out on their learning by around 3rd grade...those who were advanced level to the middle of the pack, those who were behind catch up to the pack, the gifted and delayed are identified and the school can place kids accordingly. I can't tell that there's a long-term benefit to teaching a child to read early, but there is a long-term detriment to causing a child to hate learning.

ROFL... My son was fluently reading at age 3 (accidentally, I didn't try to teach him, I just needed an hour break when he quit taking naps at age 2, and he fell in love with www.starfall.com.)

For the SEVERE side effects of early reading, check out my answer to your other Q. Oy, vey.

It depends on the child. BOth my girls did that book and loved it. My little man couldn't sit still for a 10 seconds at 4. So we read and I had signs all over, I gave him coupons to help me find things in the grocery store.

He is now 11, has finished the Harry Potter series more times than I care to admit, and is reading the Hobbit for the 2nd time. He's read the others too, but didn't like the Return of the King.
He loves reading and to be read to.
My girls also love reading, they took to 100 Lessons easily and I have had no issues with them loving to read or loving their education.

In your case I would stop lessons and do other prereading exercises to her. Read to her, have her find items on the shelf at the grocery store, read every sign you see while outside. She'll get it.

Do not do this to your child... stop.. you will make her hate learning and reading..

I have 2 kids.. a older girl.. a younger boy.. I tried to teach my daughter to read.. she was not interested.. I got push back so I stopped..

My son was very interested in letters adn sounds .. he learned to read before he was 4.. on his own.. a bit of help from me.. some online computer time.. but he taught himself...

My daughter could read a bit before kindergarten.. but she didnt like it and wasnt interested.. We are now at the end of kinder and she is one of the best readers in her class. it finally clicked for her..

Both of my kids are above grade level.. and doing great.. but I let them take the lead on early learning.. we do educational things every day.. a bit of math.. a bit of language.. but it is casual and fun.

I think you should stop. For both of my kids, I saw the lightbulb go on for reading and wanting to learn to read at about 5 1/2. My daughter happened to still be in pre-k, my son was in the middle of kindergarten. Pushing too hard to early will just make them more resistant. She is still very young.

I think it depends on the child. My youngest daughter was so eager to learn to read (probably from watching her big sister's love of reading) that she was reading at a Kindergarten level at age 3, and by age 4 could read simple books. We didn't really push it, but as she came to us with questions, or wanting to read with us, we would help her - and when she was ready to get down and go do something else, we let her. She did the same thing with math - taught herself addition and subtraction using counting blocks or pennies. I think when kids WANT to learn a skill, even if it's early, it behooves us to help them learn the skill. But you really have to try to find the right way to teach your child. If the method you're using isn't working, then back off on it and try something else. It might be as simple as reading TO her for a while, or playing games with her with sight words, or something of that nature. Instead of book lessons, try life lessons. When you go to the grocery store, hand her your shopping list and a pencil and have her help you. For instance, she might sound out the simpler words - milk, eggs, apples. Or you can say, "I'm putting milk in the cart. Can you find milk on the list?" Things like that - she is practicing reading, but it's fun and doesn't feel like a chore. At this age, reading readiness is the more important thing to worry about, rather than reading itself. (And if she picks up actual reading... great! :)

In terms of being bored in school, that is something of a concern. We put our daughter in Pre-K when she was 4 years, 3 months (so, at the typical age), but because she was reading books, adding, and subtracting, the Pre-K teacher went ahead and moved her to Kindergarten, where she did fantastically well. She is still a grade ahead (about to turn 7, and finishing 2nd grade). I'm a believer that you should meet the child where they are, not judge them against the "average." Do what you feel is best for your child!

If she doesn't like it, it doesn't sound worth it to me at age 4. I'd hold off for now. It sounds like she's getting it, so she won't have trouble picking it up once she's in school and really needs to learn it.

My son liked the BOB books as a way to start reading. It didn't feel like a chore and he learned to read pretty quickly. I never pushed it and just did it when he felt like it.

You should never not enjoy reading or learning, or you will end up not enjoying them as an older child and adult. She's only 4, no reason to push it now, especially if she doesn't like doing it that way. My 3 year old loves to learn as well, but we focus more on what he is interested in, bugs, plants, planets, etc. We read about them, go look for them, look at pictures and stuff, he is learning and enjoying it. If you must teach her to read now, find a different way to do it that she does like.

Also, I have always loved to read, and was reading books grades ahead of what I should have been in first grade. I didn't start reading early, no special reading programs, and I still read at least a book a week at 31, sometimes more (that is my downtime).

Early reading in and of itself isn't a problem. My son was a fluent reader at 3 and I haven't seen a down side. That being said, he learned without direct instruction, I just read with him every day from birth and he loved books and kind of just cracked the code on his own... At 6, he's still a great reader, and uses text to find information about topics that interest him.

Now...

Early INSTRUCTION that your daughter hates, is all BAD! If she liked it and it was something fun for the two of you to do together, then fine, but she doesn't like it!

My biggest concern with people "teaching" their kids ANYTHING at a young age is that they are mission out one whatever they would have been doing instead of the lesson. She's got years to sit still for lessons she doesn't want to do. Let her enjoy being 4... and hopefully she'll enjoy reading when she gets to it (because she's not going to be a great reader if she hates to read, anyway).

Reading to your kids at a young age to help expand your child's knowledge and vocabulary is more beneficial than your kids actually reading at a young age. My son was reading early but I didn't give him lessons. He learned by me reading to him and showing him things and playing games on the computer. He also started preschool at 2 years old and they taught reading there. He went into kindergarten just before he turned 5. If you daughter hates it, don't do it. Continue to teach her in fun ways when you are doing other things or get her computer programs like Reader Rabbit. But I wouldn't force her to do lessons if she doesn't like them. Continue to read to her each night and let her follow along. Is she in preschool? If so, they should be working on reading lessons there. Your friend is correct about being developmentally ready. Your daughter will learn at her own pace when she is ready. At this point you want her to learn while having fun and leave the lessons for when she is in school. Hope this helps!

IMO you are doing your child a HUGE disservice. The advantages of reading at an early age are being outweighted by the disadvantages of making her dislike learning. Reading should be fun!

My youngest starting reading at age 4. By the time she finished preschool she was reading on a 1st to 2nd grade level. I did not "teach" her. She basically taught herself, but I spent hours and hours reading to her. Yes, she was very bored in school. Because of learning to read at a young age and having a love of reading, she has a large vocabulary and a great deal of general knowledge from things she has read.

All I can tell you is how it worked for me. My daughter (Oct. birthday) started kindergarten, and when he hit 1st grade, the teacher said she should have been held back. Her was having a hard time with reading. I then put her in Kumon through the summer, and worked with her more during school. Now she is in 4rth grade, and reads really well (and fast). I did not do Kumon for reading after that summer. I have done math, which I do thinks helps with the repetitive nature. My son, who was late on everything compared to my daughter (in the baby developmental stuff), just hit the ground running. It was easy for him to read, so I have never worked with him and he is in 2nd, and does his homework by himself, and is at the top of his class. It is easy when it is like that. So my suggestion, do not push her till she hates it. It is good to have the action done each day (math or reading), so maybe cut it down to just a little, or take days off. Or, just cut it out and wait for school. Or get reading games, so it is fun and she is learning to put the words together to play the game.

". . . do you think early reading is as beneficial as people make it out to be . . . " Who is making it out to be so great? Children were usually taught to read at the age of 6 , in first grade. They were developmentally and physically, emotionally and mentally ready to read by then.
No - stop. Let her be a little child and don't pressure her. She will hate it and resent you. Now you know how smart she is and that she can easily read - AT THE RIGHT TIME.
Good luck!

If they like it there is no harm in it. If youre having to force it that removes the "fun" out of learning.
Mine loved learning to read... it was not a chore.
My granddaughter will be 4 in July, she can read anything you put in front of her, she enjoys it. All kids are different.
I don't see a downside to kids learning to read early, it opens many doors for them.

All three of my kids were reading by age 4 so we started homeschooling them then (not waiting for age 5 or 6 since they are winter babies). My kids LOVE to read! My daughter has been through many classics and goes through so many books a week. She's getting straight A's in school. She's in a magnet school now. Let her read what she wants...not pushing the lessons so much. Read with her before bed and naptime (or quiet time). Let her have her own read time during the day. She'll get it.

My son could read at 3 - I never saw a downside, he could entertain himself with books and he can spell like no other child I know. But he wanted to learn to read, he practically learned himself, I just taught him letters and sounds, and he put it together, he is very smart. My daughter is 4. She has no much interest in learning to read, she likes me to read to her, and she knows her letters but is much slower in putting things together, I don't push her, there doesn't seem to be the drive. I think wait until they are ready. For some it is 3, others 6

Perhaps you can space out the lessons more. I'm not sure how you're ding them or when she'll start school, but maybe just a lesson a week. In between the lessons read to her, point out the words in the book that she knows, help her realize that this is what she's learning to do. Help her connect the lessons with the joy of reading. You can start with small chapter books, we have Winnie the Pooh we're working thorough.

Good luck.