HELP!! I AM CONFUSED

in many parts of europe children are not taught to read until they are over 6.5 years of age.. the rudolph steiner method does not start teaching children until they are 7..
my dd didn’t start learning the alphabet until she was 5 and started school.. it didn’t seem to hurt her.. she can read in three different languages now..
same goes for numerals.. my dd didn’t know her numerals until she was at school but she does extemely well in maths.. maturity plays a role in learning..
3 and a half is really early and even though it may give the child an ‘edge’ in the first year at school, the other kids catch up and even surpass..
early childhood learning, especially inquiry learning, montesorri etc, place focus on imagination, creation and play..
i would say that its a bit early to start worrying about a learning disability in regards to your three and a half year old’s reading ability..

Yes, this is probably just age and physical development. My own daughter took after the rest of the family, verbally very quick and physically a “late bloomer.” She started reading at age two to three but could not write a legible sentence until she was at least seven. At that she beat me; I read at age four but could not write a legible sentence until after age eight, and I am eternally grateful to Mrs. Ross who taught us with dip pens and inkwells and showed me how to make this work. In both of our cases physical development is clearly a cause; our hands grew very late, mine after age fifteen and hers after age sixteen.

Anyway, as long as your child is interested in learning it is lots of fun to play with the letters of the alphabet and with sounds. Children love to discover and it is a good thing to lead your child into understanding the letter-sound code and to reading children’s books at an age where they are truly enjoyable. Don’t worry too much about writing, let it develop gradually. Age five to six is average and as in our cases, age seven to eight can happen even with an otherwise very good student.

When you teach a new letter or numeral, it is easier for the young child to make very large motions. Here we often use high-tech things like whiteboards and wipe-off markers, but a traditional blackboard and chalk are very good (not a very small slate) and so is forming letters in sand with a stick. DO teach proper directionality — nearly all my students here (who have been left to re-invent writing on their own) now are writing all mixed up, some up and some down, some forward and some back, and this needs to be straightened out before I can help their reading reversals; it is better to stop this bad habit before they have years to practice it.

If you would like my how-to-tutor notes, including two long outlines on a time-tested method of teaching the alphabet for both reading and writing, I email out a batch every few weeks; overdue to send this week. Just email a request to [email protected]

Yes, it is not developmentally appropriate to expect a 3 year old to write letters. Give your child big fat crayons and let him draw freely.

Janis