Learning to Read: Why We Start in Infancy

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If you’ve been following any form of media, you will no doubt have heard about one of the biggest concerns for the children from Gen Alpha (those born after the year 2010).

Alphas “are some of the hardest-hit kids when it comes to reading”, says Shervaughnna Anderson-Byrd, director of the California Reading and Literature Project. “Only 43 per cent of our students are on grade level in California”. Reading is essential for all academic work from late primary school forward, she adds. Yet even English teachers are not trained to teach phonics and other remedial skills beyond the early grades. That has left fourth-graders who were somewhat behind when the pandemic hit in 2020 still functionally illiterate in eighth grade (SCMP).

I wrote the following article about a decade ago but the points made are still as valid today as they were back then.

Literacy vs Functional Literacy

A CIA fact sheet proudly proclaims that the United States is 99 percent literate. That sounds good, but it’s meaningless. What’s important is functional literacy and whether Americans read well enough to handle their own affairs in an era where the competition is global and the intellectual demands on reading are at their highest. An increasing number of children who go into their last years of high school are functional illiterates — clearly not ready for college and rarely in a position to compete for meaningful jobs (HuffPost Education).

Literacy refers to the ability to read and write at any level. Functional illiteracy is defined as having reading and writing skills that are inadequate “to manage daily living and employment tasks that require reading skills beyond a basic level” (Wikipedia).

Two-thirds of students who cannot read proficiently by the end of the fourth grade will end up in jail or on welfare. The 4^th grade is the watershed year. We can predict that if a child is not reading proficiently in the 4^th grade, he or she will have approximately a 78% chance of catching up (Literary and Incarceration in America).

Benefits of Early Reading

In a study from the University of Leicester, they found that early word recognition is key to lifelong reading skills (Science Daily).

Children with early literacy skills are more likely to have:

• An academic advantage over children who do not have early literacy skills.
• Expanded vocabulary and writing skills.
• Healthy social and emotional development.
• Longer attention spans, promoting better retention of information in school.
• Enhanced imaginative and critical thinking skills.
• A sense of closeness and intimacy with their parents.
• Enhanced memory and higher levels of concentration.

Children who learn to read from age 6 onwards are disadvantaged compared to children who learn to read earlier. Early readers end up being smarter later in life because “a fast start to reading unlocks an upward spiral of skills, achievement, positive attitudes, and willing practice. Conversely, a slow start tends to touch off difficulty, discouragement, dislike, and avoidance.”

When it comes to reading, earlier is better:

• A child’s early reading experience is critical to the development of his lifelong reading skills.
• The age at which a child learns words is key to how he will read later in life.

According to Dr Tessa Webb in the School of Psychology at the University of Leicester: “Children read differently from adults, but as they grow older, they develop the same reading patterns. When adults read words they learned when they were younger, they recognise them faster and more accurately than those they learned later in life” (Science Daily).

Raising Readers – Start Early, Finish Strong: How to Help Every Child Become a Reader:

• Recent research into human brain development is proving that parents truly are their children’s first teachers. What parents do, or don’t do, has a lasting impact on their child’s reading skill and literacy.
• As parents talk, sing, and read to children, the children’s brain cells are literally turned on (Shore, 1997). Existing links among brain cells are strengthened and new cells and links are formed. The opportunity for creating the foundation for reading begins in the earliest years.
• By cooing, singing lullabies, or reading aloud to a baby, toddler, or preschooler, parents stimulate their children’s developing minds and help build a base for literacy skills.
• Positive parental attitudes toward literacy can also help children become more successful readers (Baker et al., 1995).

Benefits of Early Reading – Teach Reading Early:

• Reading helps to develop a young child’s brain.
• Reading opens the door to your child’s early academic success, imparts a love of learning and leads to higher grades in every subject.
• Early reading ignites your child’s creativity and imagination.
• Starting early also reduces the pressure on your child when formal reading begins in school.
• Children who can read independently have access to more books, knowledge, and ideas.

Earlier is Easier

Last but not least… Why start early? Simply because it is easier. Primarily because there is less competition for attention. Here’s what one father has to say about teaching his daughter to read from 9 months old:

I believe that it’s the best time to teach because it’s also the EASIEST time to teach. And the main reason why it’s much easier to teach at an early age is because there are more and more distractions later on, as a child matures.

Let’s take Felicity as an example. I first started seriously teaching her to read when she was nine months old. At that age, she could crawl, but she couldn’t stand, walk, talk, nor do much else. I taught her using various tools and methods, including many personalized books that I made for her. Whatever I showed her, she totally lapped up. She was absolutely hungry for whatever I put in front of her—so much so that it was I who had to stop the lessons despite her protests for more!

In the months and years following that, her interests grew along with her physical and mental development. At three, all Felicity wanted to do was to draw. Next she was fixated on dinosaurs. Then dragons. Then horses. And the list goes on. Boy, was I glad that she had already learned to read, because learning to read at that age would pale in comparison to playing with dragons, drawing horses, and play-pretending with her play mates!

In short, I would have found it so much more difficult to engage Felicity’s attention at age three than when she was one.

Furthermore, I only really made deliberate efforts to teach her to read (in English, anyway) between the ages of nine months and eighteen months. After that, reading instruction required only minimal effort on my part to read bedtime storybooks with her. Felicity built on her reading skills herself after that. The great thing was: because she could already read, she could enjoy her interests so much more by reading up about those interests herself!

Related:

• Phonics: Encouraging Literacy at Home
• Reading Flashcards
• Doman Reading Program
• Reading with Phonics