What is the average age to start reading?

[momtoS]

I am curious. My daughter just turned 4 and has started to read simple books and is starting to sound out words. Is this about average?

[maddymama]

Depends on what source (study, gov't resource, etc.) you check if this is average or not. Generally between ages 4- 5 is normal to start beginning reading, but even by age 8 it is not considered late to learn how to read from a brain development standpoint.
~maddymama

[mata]

I don't know what average is-both of my daughters started when they were 4.

[brendaziz]

IMO there really is no average for something like this. There is a WIDE range of "normal".
I was reading fully before I turned 5 but my son is 5 and has NO interest in sounding out words or remembering small sight words at all. He knows his name and his letters and most of their sounds and I think that he is perfectly normal. But even if he were 6 or 7 and where he is now i wouldn't be worried.

[frontierpsych]

I think 4 or 5 is average, though I do remember when I was in Kindergarten that a lot of the kids still couldn't read.

[Lingmom]

I think between 4 and 7 is a typical age for reading.

[meemee]

even if they collect data and say what age kids read from i dont buy it. that is such a individual thing.

i have a couple of kids in my dd's first grade class who are suffering from this 'average' data (so pardon me if i vent coz those two boys are my v. favourite in the class and its v. unfair how they are being treated?

for instance if you look at a couple of threads going on here about reading into K you will find most kids enter K not reading.

so is age 4 the average? probably not if i go by how many kids enter K without reading.

but that doesnt say anything. everything has to do with individual interest. when they are interested they will take off. one of the little boy who is suffering in first grade and now has a tutor, his brother went thru the same thing. he didnt learn how to read according to grade level till second grade and then he took off and the next year he was in GATE.

so i would say 5 or 6 might be more of an average age.

[rainyday]

There's also the question of what everyone considers reading to be. Is it being able to recognize a few words on sight, like "exit," "stop," and so on? Is it being able to sound out three-letter words? Is it being able to string several of those together to be able to read a really basic BOB book (like, "Mat sat on the cat.")? Is it being able to read a basic Dr. Seuss book (like Red Fish, Blue Fish) independently? Is it being able to read a Henry and Mudge-type story? Is it reading an easy chapter book like Magic Treehouse? Is it being able to read a book to find information?

Because people have different ideas about what being able to read means, people will not always be talking about the same thing when they talk about when their children learned to read. I might say my child learned at 4 and mean he could sound out three-letter words, but my neighbor might say her child learned at six, when he could read an easy chapter book.

[SeekingSerenity]

I agree, it's individual. I knew someone whose 7-year old was barely reading. On the flip side, my 5-year old taught himself to read at age 4, starting with a few words he knew and taking off from there. He would be K-age if he was in school, and he currently reads on a 3rd-4th grade level, according to the books I have him working with.

My 3-year old is taking off, too, sounding things out and getting angry if I tell her what the word is before she asks. She mastered the alphabet about two months ago and has a sight-knowledge of about 20-25 words now. Trying to sound out many more. (She's also excessively independent... at this moment trying to clip her own fingernails... )

I was reading at a 6th-grade level, self-taught, in Kindergarten, which is notably rare (and in fairness, I've always sucked at math ). I haven't had a child who doesn't read early, but I do have one son who doesn't enjoy it as much as the others. He's 11 and would rather play video games (which his dad, unfortunately, allows).

So I guess it depends on the child's interest in reading as well as the parents' working with them (IMO!!).