When do kids star reading silently to themselves?

[minkin03]

My youngest just turned 6 and is really taking off in reading, she's reading at a 3rd grade level. But she cannot seem to grasp how to read silently to herself (in her head vs outloud). I'm fairly certain it's not obstinance on her part, although I wouldn't put it past her... Lol 

My older dd seemed to catch on at an early age how to read to herself but isn't as advanced when it comes to reading as younger dd is. 

[whatsnextmom]

DD started reading silently about a month after she started. DS took a bit longer. I don't think there is a real age connected to reading silently but I noticed with the struggling readers I tutored that reading silently developed once they hit a certain comfort and fluency level.

I bet it'll happen for your DD very soon.

[Daffodil]

My DS is about the same age and reading level, and he has no problem reading silently.  He wasn't doing a lot of silent reading until just a couple of months ago, but I'm pretty sure he could read silently before that.

[KCMichigan]

My DDs are 6 and a few months and reading at 3rd grade level as well.

Both have read silently for over a year, possibly more.

They read to themselves and relay funny parts-- but we also all read outloud to each other.

That said- their comprehension is BETTER when they read silently. I have asked their teacher to allow them to read testing material (reading assessment) silently---since they were being penalized for reading skipping words or slightly changing meaning when reading outloud- though comprehension was excellent.

Edited by KCMichigan - 2/1/12 at 2:42pm

[Aufilia]

DD started reading silently to herself as a 4 or maybe young 5-year-old.  Anyhow, she just turned 6 and has been a silent reader for awhile. 

Oral reading and silent reading do use different skills and comprehension is achieved in different ways. Oral readers add an extra step to the reading process by first pronouncing the words, then figuring out the meaning of what they've vocalized. Silent readers skip the intermediate step and go straight to figuring out the meaning of the text. After a certain age, when they are able to recognize words automatically and with high levels of accuracy (basically, when their sight-reading vocabulary is reasonably large), they usually naturally begin to read silently because in the long run it's a more efficient way to read. After a certain level silent reading is also faster.  I wish I could remember what I was reading recently that had a really good description of the transition from oral to silent reading, but alas... This page has a pretty good information on the transition from oral to silent reading: http://educ.ubc.ca/courses/etec540/Sept07/kublekk/Research/index.html

[Mom31]

Ds started at 5 or 6. He does not like to read out loud- tho I would like him to to be able to work on pronunciation.

[moominmamma]

This is a bit of a tangent, but my kids, none of them, have ever read aloud as beginning readers. Reading aloud was something they waited to do until they were fluent. I suppose because the only model they had of reading aloud was me reading aloud to them for their pleasure, with fluency, they assumed there was no point in reading aloud unless you wished to share what you were reading with them. 

Are my kids all weird exceptions? Is it typical that kids go through a stage of reading aloud before they learn to read silently? I always assumed that reading aloud was done because adults expected kids to do so in order to enforce practice and facilitate tracking reading level. But maybe it's a developmental stage?  Anyone else got kids who always read silently.

Miranda

[boston_slackermom]

My daughter never had a "read-out-loud" learning stage.  She could do it for her teachers when they asked, but otherwise, reading has always been "in her head".  Occasionally she will read something to me out loud in order to share information, or for pleasure.  I recently read the book "Some of My Best Friends are Books," and the author mentions that parents of early readers often stop reading to their children once they can read on their own.  She recommends continuing to read to them anyway, and having stopped a couple of years ago, I decided to try reading to her again. We have been reading the Moomintroll series to each other, and they are quite fun to read out loud with someone else!  I've found that reading together, to connect, is a very different reading experience from reading alone, to escape.

[moominmamma]

Originally Posted by boston_slackermom 

 the author mentions that parents of early readers often stop reading to their children once they can read on their own.  She recommends continuing to read to them anyway,

Oh, absolutely! I still read aloud to my 13-year-old almost every evening, and she has been reading independently for almost 10 years. 

Miranda

[FarmerBeth]

I think maybe this has more to do with learning style.  My two strongest readers both started reading silently, as well as my child who is not as strong a reader.  My best reader, my 10 yo daughter who is breezing through writing book reports on high school level books, sometimes loves reading out loud in her room to herself.  I've asked her about it and she says it's fun to make it sound really good.  She's very expressive and reads like a voice actor!  I read out loud to all three kids and they read to me (we always have a chapter book loved by all of us on the go at night) and we listen to talking books to pass the time during long car rides, so I think they've learned to see reading out loud as an art form.  My poorest reader is my oldest (2E, on the spectrum), but interestingly, he is like one of the above posters in that his reading comprehension is well above the curve if he reads silently, and in fact he does very well in language subjects.  I think reading out loud unprepared puts him on the spot in an uncomfortable way.  He doesn't mind reading out loud when he's prepared (for church, presentations, etc).

[A&A]

Originally Posted by moominmamma 

This is a bit of a tangent, but my kids, none of them, have ever read aloud as beginning readers. Reading aloud was something they waited to do until they were fluent. I suppose because the only model they had of reading aloud was me reading aloud to them for their pleasure, with fluency, they assumed there was no point in reading aloud unless you wished to share what you were reading with them. 

Are my kids all weird exceptions? Is it typical that kids go through a stage of reading aloud before they learn to read silently? I always assumed that reading aloud was done because adults expected kids to do so in order to enforce practice and facilitate tracking reading level. But maybe it's a developmental stage?  Anyone else got kids who always read silently.

Miranda

My dd has always been an "in her head" reader.