My darling daughter is 3 1/4 and over the last few months her reading has just skyrocket. We went to the local primary school a few months ago with a book that she could read easily and were told that it was about the 5 1/2-6yr old level. That impressed us but since then she has taught herself all her phonics and reads at an almost scary level. My mother took her to Auckland Zoo the other day and she read the sign at the entrance about joining friends of the zoo all by herself. Apparently the only word she couldn't read was "unlimited" and there were a couple of words that she read but didn't know what they meant.
Just wondering whether anyone knew of any online tests to work out her reading age. There was one listed on here a while ago and I had the list of words for 7.5yr old and she breezed through those but I didn't have the story that went with it.
It isn't just the words she reads either, she will actually use emotion and reads really fluently.
She can read the stories on Starfall.com at the highest level without too many difficulties.
There is no reason for us to find out, just curiousity really. Any help would be appreciated
There are some tests that you can download from http://www.literacytesting.com/, including a reading age test. Lots of 'when I was a lad...' stuff as well, but the tests seem reasonable.
These are more complex than the Burt Reading Test because they are testing comprehension as well.
If your daughter is anything like my son, who had a reading age of 12 a couple of years ago when he was 5 1/2 and now gets the most fun out of reading encyclopaedia articles and atlases, then I would recommend trying to embed some of the motor skills needed for writing. As my son's reading level increases he becomes more and more disappointed with his inability to put his thoughts down on paper - a spiral that is best avoided if possible.
The second one was the one I was thinking of and we had found the first one but had to wonder how accurate it was as it was the one saying she could read at 6yrs 10months.
She can read all the words on the 7.5yrs list on literacytesting but will have to wait til she gets up from her "rest" before we can try the story.
She is starting to write and can do a dozen or so letters but can type words quite well on the computer. I imagine she will take after me and have shocking handwriting as her brain will come up with words faster than she can write them!
Just curious as to how similar the NZ Burt test is compared the UK one if anyone knows.
Found it on my favourites today and showed to dd and she has now gone up to a reading age of 8.1yrs in about 6 weeks. I appreciate you should wait about 6 months but we didn't tell her any of the words she missed last time. Seems a big jump since last time, though with her I guess anything is possible!
My son who is 8 yrs old is a fantastic reader and is reading at about a 16 yr old level.
I can relate to alot of what Andrew was saying about his boy. Cody also is not very good at writing and it frustrates both him and us. Cody is also into reading the Dictionary, Atlases, Encyclopedia's etc.
It has only just in the last couple of days been suggested that he could be Gifted & Talented so I am somewhat overwhelmed and trying to find out as much as I can right now about what to do next etc etc so any advise would be most welcome.
Apparently he has a BIG anger problem at school as well and throws a @!#$ if things don't go HIS way or if he feels that the rules have been changed on him in someway.
Hi,
I have a little boy aged 7 who we think is gifted, but he has problems like Cody - anger, frustration, bad behaviour at home and at school. We are really at our wits end with him. We think he has severe asynchronicity - ie physical age about right (7), mental age about 14 or so (he is SOOO teenage! and has been for years and treats us like he is an adult too) but an emotional age of about 4!
We live in France, he is totally bilingual, top of his class, but it is a rural school, no competition, the teachers work to a strict routine, and he is getting so he doesn't want to go. Won't allow me to teach him a thing - has taught himself to read and write in English all by himself (I bought the exercise books but he is SOOO unco-operative we just fight over them and then he hates me too so I gave up). So no chance of home schooling, I can tell you. I'm billingual too by the way.
He won't even let me teach him riding his pony - thinks he knows best. When I describe him to people who haven't met him, they think I'm talking about a teenager.
Any ideas?
Hi Fil,
I have a preschooler who already has the 'Yes Mum', and the "Really, Gee I didn't know that!!"down pat ,and dislikes quite intensley being advised, corrected or taught. He sucks up information on his on however like its going out of fashion. My suggestion is let him guide you. What are his interests. I saw a post on a differnet forum that I think sums it up. Projects.
In our house our son has an interest so we follow it up in family time (his social needs are met socially at kindy but not his intellectual needs.) The most recent interest was powerstations for a while, we had the opportunity to experience going inside one on an open day, which was then followed by reading diagrams, seeing photos, exploring the interenet and watching a spillgate open, and constructing turbines to use in the bath. He has since moved onto questions about methane electricty production as at kindy they were working on rubbish.
You may find if you let him select an are of interest you can tie all sorts of other stuff into it that you need him to learn. For example if our son were older I would recmomend constructing a model (maths, science, art, problem solving), brainstorming how else you could make electricity (problem solving, science, language) , maybe how we could harness lightning, or create it ourselves to capture it. We could write a silly story or a poem about it, or make a newspaper. (Language, art) Maybe create a board or computer game and integrate money or something. (Art, maths, language, science).
I myself find that asking and listening means we can provide the resources they need to bury themselves in their own learning, So long as we are there to be able to answer there questions, or more importantaly encourage them to think about where they can go to access the answers, and help them access those resources, we will have children who are satisfied, more in control of their lives and hence happier and more co-operative. The more we take this approach in our house, the more open our son is to learning and on occassions as of late has been heard to say. I can't do this Mum. Will you please teach me. He is also happier going to kindy to simply be with his peers as he is getting the stimulation and connection adult company which he seeks at home.
Hi Mel
My daughter is now 5 1/2 and she was reading exactly like your daughter at her age! We supported and encouraged it and she loves to read! At her primary school they havn't told me her 'reading age' but shown me running records of 'where she is at'...clearly for me it seems she is about 3 to 4 years ahead of her age. Then the big word of comprehension appears. She is doing just fine for her age but her comprehension ability does not match her reading age because she cannot express her thoughts onto paper as maturely as a 9 year old. I am not too concerned over this because she is so young and her comprehension will catch up soon, plus she is happy at school.
My advice to you is to stop and talk about each story your daughter reads or you read together, even after every page so that she can slowly become skillfill and aquire the knowledge of how to express her thoughts about what she has read so that when she starts writing she will hopefully uses those wonderful words she has read in her stories! It is crucial that they understand what they have read.
Watching my daughter learn to read before she was 2 and following on from that has been a vey special experience for me personally as a mother - it reallly is a gift to celebrate! Good luck!
Thanks Lee for your advice on reading for comprehension. I find reading to our 3 year old frustrating as she constantly interrupts to ask questions. Now I've asked her to wait until the end of the page and we discuss the illustrations together. This helps me a lot.
Also I have a question. My 6 year old was recently assessed with a reading age of 12. He mainly reads encyclopedias about dinosaurs, and uses these to write numerous books about dinosaurs. I'd like to see him read more fiction. He likes Roald Dahl but not Harry Potter. Can anyone suggest some books I might find at the library?
Stig of the dump - I forget the author. The Silver Sword (ditto) - might wait due to its war content - but I remember reading when I was 8 and LOVED it. There's moonfleet - which is harder but a fabulous story for a youngster with good reading skills.
Depending upon interest, there's;
The Swallows and Amazons series - v.good and old fashioned so no violence, bad language etc.
Ludo and the Star Horse - Mary Stewart
The Book of Three (the first book in a series of 6 which I absolutely adored and consequently still have for my children) by Lloyd Alexander
All of CS Lewis's stuff.
Miss Angelina (who is now 6.3yrs) has new favourite books in the Lemony Snicket, Series of Unfortunate Events.
They are quite dark books - the 3 orphans who have piles of terrible things happen to them - but they are actually very good to read and I'm quite happy to read them with her as a bed time book - it definitly beats Wind in the Willows as far as I'm concerned! - as the writing is very engaging.
She is a huge Roald Dahl fan and owns all the books which she has read a million times, but never got into Harry Potter either so your son may like them Bridget?
Bridget- try the Tashi books which are at the library- great fantasy stories about a little boy and his imaginary friend. There is also the Horrid Henry series and Captain Cal series.
They are not super hard reading but the boys love them for the subject matter,and should be able to read them independently.
My kids all enjoyed the Artemis Fowl books and the Spiderwicke Chronicles and Lemony Snicket series. One adored Harry Potter but the other two wouldn't read them.
Thanks everyone for your suggestions. I've made a reading list and managed to find quite a few at the library. Author's name helps a lot too. Ruth - we read a Horrid Henry last night, M. just loved it, and I liked it too, it feels good to desensitise myself to all the sibling rivalry which goes on at our place!
Hi, I'm a New Zealand teacher and currently have a gifted boy in my new entrant class I'm reading various responses suggesting different reading age tests. Many of these are just vocab and therefore become a decoding age rather than a reading age. You need to test with meaty comprehension that demands the use of inference, reorganisation, uderstanding etc... You may find that your child doesn't wish to answer the question aspect as it is much more difficult and you may discover a real difference between non fiction and fictional reading age. In many ways it isn't particularly important to have an exact reading age, it is much more important to have a happy and stimulated learner. If your son is feeling frustrated and angry in the school setting try and find out why and talk to his teacher. He may be bored and misunderstood. Ask him if he would like to something out of school, and if so, what? Instinctively I would give him music, languages, i.c.t and whatever makes him excited. Gifted children are wonderful and challenging. As a teacher there is a sense of responsibility and a delight in the exciting possibilities, good luck, Linda
My daughter wasn't much of a reader until 11 !
but no I am very suprised that she can read and pronunce most words from the physiology and anatomy books and is a brilliant writer.
