Children's reading age

nzmegs

Both my kids are pretty bright - I knew this already. But had a meeting with their teachers last night and found that my daught (age 7) has a reading age of nearly 10 and my son who is 10 has a reading age of 15+ (this is as high as they go - so it could be even higher than that).
My son is in the able readers and writers group at school and my daughter is also top of her class in pretty much every subject.

Are there any teachers out there who know what we as parents should do? We encourage reading and as a writer myself we have books all over the house. it is daunting as we want to be sure we are giving them every possible opportunity - but we can't afford extra after school activities.

The last thing I want to happen is for them to get to the end of their schooling and not to have achieved their full potential.
No disrespect to parents of children with special needs, but I wish there was way of getting the same sort of help with very bright children as seems to be available for children with problems.

Pee

I always had a very advanced reading age but I didn't need any particular help with it. I read a lot as I enjoyed it, with my parents trying to stop me reading in the main, which worked well with my rebellious nature.

To be honest, I needed "help" in focusing on other subjects.

galvanizersbaby

nzmegs wrote: »

Both my kids are pretty bright - I knew this already. But had a meeting with their teachers last night and found that my daught (age 7) has a reading age of nearly 10 and my son who is 10 has a reading age of 15+ (this is as high as they go - so it could be even higher than that).
My son is in the able readers and writers group at school and my daughter is also top of her class in pretty much every subject.

Are there any teachers out there who know what we as parents should do? We encourage reading and as a writer myself we have books all over the house. it is daunting as we want to be sure we are giving them every possible opportunity - but we can't afford extra after school activities.

The last thing I want to happen is for them to get to the end of their schooling and not to have achieved their full potential.
No disrespect to parents of children with special needs, but I wish there was way of getting the same sort of help with very bright children as seems to be available for children with problems.

Does their current school provide any other after connected school activities other than the able readers and writers group that you mention?

My 6 year old niece has the reading age of a 10 year old and she reads in a special reading class outside of her year group - does your current school offer anything like this?

It sounds to me as though as a parent you are doing a great job already in encouraging the children

Edited to add - just thought - is there any sort of scheme running in your current school for gifted and talented pupils?

Lunar_Eclipse

nzmegs wrote: »

Both my kids are pretty bright - I knew this already. But had a meeting with their teachers last night and found that my daught (age 7) has a reading age of nearly 10 and my son who is 10 has a reading age of 15+ (this is as high as they go - so it could be even higher than that).
My son is in the able readers and writers group at school and my daughter is also top of her class in pretty much every subject.

Are there any teachers out there who know what we as parents should do? We encourage reading and as a writer myself we have books all over the house. it is daunting as we want to be sure we are giving them every possible opportunity - but we can't afford extra after school activities.

The last thing I want to happen is for them to get to the end of their schooling and not to have achieved their full potential.
No disrespect to parents of children with special needs, but I wish there was way of getting the same sort of help with very bright children as seems to be available for children with problems.

Many children supposedly have an exceptionally high reading age, although this doesn't necessarily follow through to their overall academic performance. Sometimes I wonder if it's just because reading standards are lower; I can clearly recall reading Jane Eyre for the first time when I was 9 (Y4) and this was nothing remarkable at the time. I think my 8 year daughter had a reading age of 11 when she did her Key Stage 1 SATS (Y2, 7 1/2) and my eldest's was also marked at 15 last year, when she was 9. She loves reading and reads well, but nothing exceptional tbh.

I'm not a teacher, but wanted to say that whether they achieve their full potential or not will mostly depend on their raw ability (IQ), application and motivation. This will be influenced by your home environment and family values, the type of school your children are at and also their peers. They are more likely to achieve their academic potential if they are surrounded by children of similar ability. If they stand out as being the only 'bright kid', that could have a detrimental effect on their achievement vs potential, although it could also have positive effects on their self-esteem and actually they could end up getting more individual attention from teachers. (That's the summary of a chat I had with daughter's Headmaster last week!)

I suggest a chat with the school to find out how well their needs are being met.

fernliebee

I had a very advanced reading age. I read at 3, and had a 15+ reading age at 7. The school were little help (it was a while ago ) so my mum just made sure I had plenty of reading material suited to my reading level, as all my school stuff was very basic and I would get bored. Just be careful to check the content, as a problem I found when I was younger, was that I 'could' read anything, however there were plenty of books that I 'should not' read. I read Jane Eyre when I was 8 and to this day the mad auntie burning to death traumatises me.

I agree with Pee about needing a bit of encouragement in other areas. I was in top groups for everything, however you tend to get 'typecast' as a good reader, so it is human nature to fall on your strengths, and I wouldn't try very hard in other areas. Also, bright children tend to find criticism hard and can take it quite badly when they aren't top of the group. I know that not being the best tended to make me think I was really bad at a subject, and I gave up quickly, as I had never had to try very hard.

The other thing is that the top reading age is 15+ as really once you can read any word, then you can't really get any better than that, you can just become more well read. Also as you have probably noticed whilst reading my post, I have tended to get lazy, and since finishing Uni and having my DD, my english has gone to pot!

fernliebee

lunar- Just noticed your Jane Eyre comment! Scared the living daylights out of me at that age! Still gives me the creeps now!

consultant31

nzmegs wrote: »

The last thing I want to happen is for them to get to the end of their schooling and not to have achieved their full potential.
No disrespect to parents of children with special needs, but I wish there was way of getting the same sort of help with very bright children as seems to be available for children with problems.

The best thing you can do is encourage the children to read any and everything you deem suitable for them, including travel books, wildlife, etc etc so that they widen their interests as well. Being able to read well doesn't necessarily mean they are exceptionally bright in any other way.

All three of my children were reading at between 3 and 4 years of age but only one of them went on to get a first class law degree. The other two are happy, bright, fulfilled individuals which is all we can hope for IMO.

mintymoneysaver

I am a teacher, and those reading ages are very good, but as others say this does not mean they will need any other stimulation. Let them read good quality books, enjoy reading and all the other skills will follow. A reading age of 10 at 7 is not uncommon ( I would say about 6 children in my class would be at this level) although your children are obviously very able. Are they happy at school? Working well? Fulfilling their potential? Then personally that would be enough for me. I have a bright child ( 100% in her RE GCSE a year early) but I have never felt the need to do any more than encourage her to do the best she can. At secondary school level they will be set ( if they're not already) and be given work which suits their ability. Obviously there are the odd exceptions to this, but generally I am not a fan of pushing children to levels that they do not need to get to yet.

Savvy_Sue

Going to the local library may be all you need to do ...

scrimpingbadger

High reading ages are great, but only show reading ability. They do not reflect motivation, writing and reasoning abilities.
Really really able children (which yours may well be, I have no idea) are considered as having 'special needs' at school and be assured that this will be picked up on by the school and tailored towards, just as low ability children would be.
I'm a teacher btw.

squirrelchops

I would just be pleased that they enjoy reading! I too had a very high reading age when I was a child and it has stood me in good stead throughout my life as I have always found enjoyment out of reading.

Now as a mature student I have found the reading realtively easy to cope with and I am also quite a quick reader which certainly helps with the tomes we have to read. I attribute this to having always read a lot or it could just be me!

AS others have said reading age is just one marker of overall academic prowess.