Reading then writing? Or at the same time?

[Chickadee]

How did your kids learn to read and write? was it one after the other, or a bit of both at the same time. Any input from teachers would be good too.

I ask because DD seems to be learning both at the same time, she knows her letters and can write her name and ours as well as her numbers to 10. But doesn't really recognise many words except her name. I realised yesterday that I had no clue if that was ok or it was going to cause problems later. :o

[punkbaby]

DD9 was doing both she just seemed to excel in both reading and writing from a really young age. DS is very behind though but his more into writing than reading. DD3 (just turned 3) loves reading, she is starting to write as well now but only her name, mum, dad, nanny etc and its not very readable :) She recognises basic words. Her older sister loves reading and writing with her so shes had the extra help as well too i guess more than normal.

Is there are way that they are meant to do it? I figured that reading would come first thats JMO though, only because i had read to my kids from such a young age.

I guess each childs different though it depends what interests them but i cant see that your going to cause problems, shes still only young and it will come in its own time. Watch her excel at kinder :) seems that they learn all this stuff so damn quickly when they start going

[Seekrit]

I chose a bit of reading and writing together - and no, my child isn't a boy genious, it's just the majority of kids at school... although writing develops more before reading, but it kinda happens together.. as they start ot read they realise that the letters MEAN something, and they can apply it to writing, you know?

[WorkingClassMum]

DD (4 today) started reading by herself about a month ago. Obviously she has been listening to 6yo DS.:yelclap: Her writing unfortunately hasn't developed all by itself though, and she's being left to her own devices ATM

DD starts kinder this year but wont start school until next year.



Useless Historial Fact:

Many years ago some religions used "Blind Scribes". These men have never been taught to read, but could copy anything they where shown. This unfortunately led to some texts being incorrectly copied.

Many Blind Scribes eventually learnt to read what they where writing and where often then killed to preserve the secrets on the society that employed them.

[Lastcenturymum]

Each of mine was different. Eldest was very bright and like most could write her name early. We read a lot to our kids and she learnt to read by 5. Next one struggled and had a totally different learning style - would see the first and last letter and guess the rest - hence her spelling was very phonetic too.

We never pushed reading, figured they would learn it at school in the latest style taught. I think reading to them a lot encourages their imagination and love of books.

There is a great varience in kids ability and learning styles

[loulou_cat]

I am an early childhood teacher - so here is my two cents worth. Most kids (but not all) seem to learn to read first, then translate that knowledge into their writing. Because parents read to their kids from a young age, reading is a behaviour that is easier for them to learn. Reading isn't just about knowing what letters (and combinations of letters) make what sounds. Reading encompasses a whole other set of skills like - knowing which way the book goes, what words would make sense, using the pictures to help with tricky words and patterns of language. All of these things are learnt through exposure to books. Writing is something that tends to happen after kids have a basic grasp on reading. That being said, it can happen the other way for some kids. Most schools teach kids to read and write at the same time ie. learning a letter sound and words that begin with that sound at the same time. The best thing you can do as a parent is to read to your children, encourage them to become familair with the alphabet (and the sounds that the letters make), let them 'read' to you (even if they just make up the story to match the pictures in a book. Just let it happen, forcing kids to learn to read and write before they are ready is doing more harm than good. I have seen way too many parents who are paranoid that their child can't read by the age of five. If you try and teach kids before they are ready they just associate negative experiences with reading and writing. Anyway, enough rambling - enjoy watching your little ones exploring and learning about books!

[Chickadee]

Thanks everyone. Loulou_cat, you've reassured me alot. We've been reading to DD since she was 5 months old or so, she's just turned 4 now and loves books. She has quite a few memorised (the story, not the words) and is also happy to make up her own stories based on the pictures as she flips through them. I've tried encouraging her with the phonetic route, she's not interested much. :shrug:

I've not pushed the writing, simply followed up with her when she's shown an interest. She seems more interested in learning to write her numbers & names than in recognising short words and I suspect it is helping her with the linkage between letters & the sound they make.

I guess we'll just carry on as we are, and I'll stop worrying :)

[charlen49]

Thanks everyone. Loulou_cat, you've reassured me alot. We've been reading to DD since she was 5 months old or so, she's just turned 4 now and loves books. She has quite a few memorised (the story, not the words) and is also happy to make up her own stories based on the pictures as she flips through them. I've tried encouraging her with the phonetic route, she's not interested much. :shrug:

I've not pushed the writing, simply followed up with her when she's shown an interest. She seems more interested in learning to write her numbers & names than in recognising short words and I suspect it is helping her with the linkage between letters & the sound they make.

I guess we'll just carry on as we are, and I'll stop worrying :)coming from a teacher (infants/primary)i agree with what you have said..and lou_lou..thou most kids reading first isnt true reading ..most have memorised the story..if you get them to point to a particular word without prompting they usually cant't..but thats ok..memorising things is one of the first skills learnt. same as children who think they can count ..say to 100..yes they can say the names of numbers but most dont understand what each numeral represents until they go to school...i cant remember when dd#1(now 11) started to read and write..and even though i'm a teacher(sahm at mo)..i never pushed her..though i did encourage her to write and recognise her name and her address early..and correctly writing..no capitals except for the forst letter..a lot of parents capitalise their childrens names..hope this helps

[Rell]

Not sure what is "normal" but this is the way DD has done it.
3yrs - writing name and recognising letters.can write all letters
4 yrs - Able to read simple sight words and knows the individual sounds of all letters. Can read basic reader books
5yrs - can spell simple sight words, knows some blends and phonograms, can sound out words.
5 1/2yrs -wrote her first story by sounding out the words (very proud moment for both of us)

[Lilyloo]

I'm a reading teacher, and we always develop phonemic sensitivety first, before teaching a child to read. This means, the child is able to hear that words are made up of sounds, and by listening, you can hear the sounds in words.

For example, ask your child if he/she can hear the first sound in CAT... you want them to hear and say the onset sound, being cuh.. not see.. the sounds of the alphabet are what children use to read, not the letter names. Once a child can hear the sounds, you then turn their attention to the letters, telling them that this is the letter see, and it has a cuh sound.

Eventually, as the child learns all 26 sounds, they will then be able to blend sounds together to read words... cuh, a, tuh, is CAT...

I would then, teach writing, once the child can identify the sound, I would then show them how to write the letter, using foundation script, which is what they use at school. You can buy books from Dominee or the newsagency, which have the letters to trace, then space for the child to practise writing themselves.

So.. definately hearing the sound first, associating the sound to a letter, blending sounds together to read simple words, then writing the letter and eventually words....

HOpe that helps! :)

[Lilyloo]

In saying all that, there is nothing wrong with having your child memorise words, as they will need to memorise sight words such as the, one, they etc... words which can't be decoded, however it is better, in my opinion, not to teach them to be visual readers and rely on pictures and memory to read all the time. They do need a strategy to be able to work words out (blending sounds) as it would be impossible to memorise every word in our language..

So my best advise would be to start teaching her the sounds and then try to get her to put the sounds together to make words.. or when you're reading together, point to a word and say "look, cuh, a, tuh a cat".. or duh, oh, guh a dog" pointing to the letter as you say the sound.