That’s all well and good, but what does one do with the 4 and 5 year olds who already know how to read?
There is no sarcasm in my question. My daughter was reading simple words by the time she was 3, and books I read in 2nd grade she was reading when in kindergarten. And I was considered above average in reading and comprehension.
Her best friend (both girls are 10) has struggled with her reading, yet her younger sister, who won’t be 4 until next month, is like my daughter when it comes to reading.
Two of my kids read early as well. The third one had a terrible time. Fortunately, I had read the book and just gave her the time she needed. She’s doing fine now.
The point the authors make is that in general, kids are not ready for formal classroom education until between 8 - 10. If they can do it before, that’s great. He’s not advocating not teaching them if they’re ready. He’s more advocating not pushing kids too soon because often they aren’t.
One thing to consider with a child who is having difficulty reading who is really obviously bright, is vision difficulties. Not just the kind that can be corrected with glasses. Sometimes reading difficulties can be from focusing and tracking problems; that is problems with both eyes being able to work together properly.
My oldest had that problem even though she learned to read at 4 and was a voracious reader. She did complain about headaches though but the vision problems didn’t really show up until she went to school for her senior year. Before that, she just compensated; when her eyes got tired, she just changed activities. Since that wasn’t an option in school, we became aware of the problem.
We had visual therapy done with her and she made remarkable progress in her eyes working together. It helped her a lot.
I think that the only thing to do with a really early reader is just make sure they have lots of good books at home to read. Someone on FR should start a reading list of good, clean books for kids to read and a list of books for boys. I found that finding books that got boys attention is hard. Most stuff is written for girls.