From: gauegc@fnma.COM (eddie caplan)
Subject: Re: Learning to Read
Reply-To: gauegc@fnma.COM
Organization: Fannie Mae
Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1992 13:32:48 GMT

	In article 1d98kvINNcvr@mizar.usc.edu, biddleco@mizar.usc.edu (Susan Biddlecomb) writes:
	>Last week I posted a little story about being surprised that Angelica
	>(who will be 3 years old on 11/17) knew how to spell. Well, it looks
	>like she knows how to read as well.

Our oldest son, now nearly 6, learned to read at an early age too.  Milestones:

age 2 1/2:
	knew alphabet, even though we hadn't "pushed" him: no flash cards,
	etc., *** BUT *** he had an interest in the letters and we always told
	him what the sounds were that they made *** when he asked us ***.

age 2 3/4:
	understood the concept that the letters formed words, and could read
	"mom", "dad", "dog".  again, this came out of his own interest.  we
	showed him that the letters can be formed into words and he picked up
	on it almost immediately.  so we kept going with it.

age 3:	
	yelled "STOP!" when we were driving in the car.  we thought that
	something was upsetting him, but it turned out that he was reading the
	stop sign.

age 3 3/4:
	we went to a child psychologist so we could begin understand exactly
	what it was that we had on our hands.  asked for advice on how to keep
	him balanced emotionally, because he is still a three-year-old, even
	though he was reading at the five-year-old level.

now, age nearly 6:
	reads at about the eight-year-old level, around 2nd or 3rd grade
	ability.  he reads independently and teaches himself new concepts from
	what he reads.  so, his reading is self-sufficient.  by the way, he
	still loves to have books read to him at night, and we do it.

My recommendations:

1. talk to a child psychologist to learn about what early reading means.  ours
   tested him for development achievements, and we found what we had
   suspected: he is very bright, but emotionally on schedule, and even behind
   schedule.  he is physically on, or behind, schedule.

2. if your kid is like ours, she will probably always need help integrating
   her intellectual precociousness into her little-kid emotional needs.  this
   may mean some psychotherapy for her at key times in her life.

3. don't be ashamed that your kid may need some psychotherapy!  it may be very
   hard for her to understand why other kids don't think that same things that
   she does... and she is just a small kid!  she doesn't have the emotional
   maturity to deal with these differences in others.

4. seek out schools that have small class sizes.  kids like ours often need
   special attention that can only be given in small class settings.

5. do NOT skip your kid ahead in school.  she is far better off staying with
   her emotional peers.  it may not seem that there is much of a difference
   between five-year-olds and six-year-olds, now.  but later on there is a big
   difference between eleven-year-olds and twelve-year-olds, or twelve and
   thirteen.  this is my own opinion, but I feel strongly about it.

6. whether your child's special ability is reading, athletics, capacity for
   caring, persuasion, organization, or making money, your child needs to be
   grounded in a well-established emotional and spiritual base.  love her
   every day.
   

--
eddie caplan                  internet: gauegc@fnma.com
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