Raising Readers, Writers, and Spellers

An expert guide for parents.

by J. Richard Gentry

Baby/Toddler Reading: What Neuroscientists and Parents Need to Know

By J. Richard Gentry, Ph.D. on September 15, 2011 in Raising Readers, Writers, and Spellers

Here's a misleading statement: "Language is acquired quite well before the age of 6, but trying to force your children to read before the age of 4 is an effort that doesn't work very well because the brain is not very well equipped to tell the letter 'b' from the letter 'd' and so on," Read More

Question for the author

Submitted by X on September 17, 2011 - 5:23am.

What about the argument that teaching a child to read too soon can be harmful? Is the argument only valid in situations where reading is forced? Is it true that teaching a child to read very early can slow down progress on other areas of cognitive development? Or is the whole idea completely false?

To provide better insight into what I'm talking about I googled a debate on the matter:
http://www.helium.com/debates/240993-can-you-teach-a-child-to-read-too-early

Looking forward to hear your opinion.

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Author's Response

Submitted by J. Richard Gentry, Ph.D. on September 17, 2011 - 8:36am.

Dear X, thank you for your question. Baby/toddler reading should always be fun, interactive, informal, in short durations, and never forced. If the baby or toddler isn’t enjoying it, you are either doing something wrong or it’s time to stop. The notion that teaching a child to read early can slow down development in other areas is not supported by research, so unless someone can send us the study conducted with 1-, 2-, or 3-year-old readers that supports this unfounded claim, it would definitely say it’s completely false. Thank you for the link to the survey. It’s interesting that when asked “Can you teach a child to read too early,” 68% of the respondents said “No.” I agree with them.

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Thanks

Submitted by X on September 17, 2011 - 12:37pm.

Thank you for your reply.

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J. Richard Gentry, Ph.D., an expert on childhood literacy, reading, and spelling, is the author of Raising Confident Readers: How to Teach Your Child to Read and Write—Baby to Age 7.

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