COVID-19   Law    Advocacy    Topics A-Z     Training    Wrights' Blog   Wrightslaw Store    Yellow Pages for Kids 

 Home > Topics > Reading > Late Bloomers: Are We Teaching Children to Read Before They Are Ready?


The Special Ed Advocate newsletter
It's Unique ... and Free!

Enter your email address below:

2024
Training Programs

Apr. 11 - Denver, CO

June 5-8 - San Antonio, TX

Sept. 24 - MD via ZOOM

Full Schedule


Wrightslaw

Home
Topics from A-Z
Free Newsletter
Seminars & Training
Yellow Pages for Kids
Press Room
FAQs
Sitemap

Books & Training

Wrightslaw Storesecure store lock
  Advocate's Store
  Student Bookstore
  Exam Copies
Training Center
Mail & Fax Orders

Advocacy Library

Articles
Cool Tools
Doing Your Homework
Ask the Advocate
FAQs
Newsletter Archives
Short Course Series
Success Stories
Tips

Law Library

Articles
Caselaw
Fed Court Complaints
IDEA 2004
McKinney-Vento Homeless
FERPA
Section 504

Topics

Advocacy
ADD/ADHD
Allergy/Anaphylaxis
American Indian
Assistive Technology
Autism Spectrum
Behavior & Discipline
Bullying
College/Continuing Ed
Damages
Discrimination
Due Process
Early Intervention
  (Part C)

Eligibility
Episodic, such as
   Allergies, Asthma,
   Diabetes, Epilepsy, etc

ESSA
ESY
Evaluations
FAPE
Flyers
Future Planning
Harassment
High-Stakes Tests
Homeless Children
IDEA 2004
Identification & Child Find
IEPs
Juvenile Justice
Law School & Clinics
Letters & Paper Trails
LRE / Inclusion
Mediation
Military / DOD
Parental Protections
PE and Adapted PE
Privacy & Records
Procedural Safeguards
Progress Monitoring
Reading
Related Services
Research Based
  Instruction

Response to Intervention
  (RTI)

Restraints / Seclusion
   and Abuse

Retention
Retaliation
School Report Cards
Section 504
Self-Advocacy
Teachers & Principals
Transition
Twice Exceptional (2e)
VA Special Education

Resources & Directories

Advocate's Bookstore
Advocacy Resources
Directories
  Disability Groups
  International
  State DOEs
  State PTIs
Free Flyers
Free Pubs
Free Newsletters
Legal & Advocacy
Glossaries
   Legal Terms
   Assessment Terms
Best School Websites

 

Print this page

Late Bloomers:
Are We Teaching Kids to Read Before They Are Ready?

"I am concerned about the push to begin reading instruction at earlier ages. What about the 'late bloomer whose cognitive skills are set by nature and will NOT be rushed, who is ready to read in the last half of Grade 1 ... or not until Grade 2, or Grade 3? By that time, reading instruction may be two years' beyond these kids, and they are 'left behind.'"

"Doesn't it make sense to go back to when Kindergarten students learned social skills and learned by playing and when literacy skills centered around learning the alphabet, and phonics were left until at least the first grade?" - A teacher from The John Carroll School in Bel Air, MD

Reid Lyon's Answer

What we know know about young kids is that they can learn reading readiness skills in preschool and Kindergarten if they are taught in a warm, nurturing environment that supports their emotional health and the development of their social competencies.

We also know that waiting to teach kids to read until the end of the first grade or second grade does not work. We have not found any support for the idea of "late bloomers" or "developmental lags." Instead, we find that the longer we delay formal reading instruction, the less likely it is that the child will ever catch up.

Note from Wrightslaw: In October 2004, Education Week sponsored a Live Chatwith Dr. Reid Lyon, research psychologist and chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health. Dr. Lyon answered questions about reading programs, evidenced-based research, reading myths, and the Reading First program. This question and answer is from the transcript of that chat.


Meet Reid Lyon

G. Reid Lyon is a research psychologist and the chief of the Child Development and Behavior Branch within the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development at the National Institutes of Health. He has been an influential proponent of the scientific approach to reading instruction and development.

Resources

Learning to Read

How to Catch Children Before they Fail at Reading

Why Children Succeed or Fail at Reading, Research from National Institute of Child Health and Human Development’s Program in Learning Disabilities

Putting Reading First - Southwest Education Development Laboratory

Synthesis of Research on Reading from the National Institute of Child Health and Human Development by Bonita Grossen, University of Oregon

Teaching Children to Read

Teaching Reading IS Rocket Science, What Expert Teachers Should Know and Be Able to Do by Louisa Moats, published by the American Federation of Teachers.

Orton-Gillingham and/or Multisensory Structured Language Approaches (2 pages, pdf) - Content (what is taught) and principles of instruction (how it is taught) of multisensory structured language programs that are essential for effective teaching. Includes list of methods that use structured, multisensory, alphabetic techniques.

Informed Instruction for Reading Success: Foundations for Teacher Preparation - A Position Paper of the International Dyslexia Association by Susan Brady, Ph.D., and Louisa Moats, Ed.D

Whole Language Lives on, The Illusion of "Balanced" Reading Instruction by Louisa Moats, published by the Thomas B. Fordham Foundation.

The Missing Foundation in Teacher Education by Louisa Moats, Ed.D by The Greenwood Institute.

Children of the Code

Children of the Code: A Social-Education Project and Television Documentary from PBS. This project aims to reframe how society thinks about reading and how children learn to read. The project has three components: 1) A three hour PBS documentary series; 2) A ten-hour college, university, and professional development DVD series; 3) A series of teacher and parent presentations and workshops.

Free Publications

A Child Becomes a Reader: Proven Ideas from Research for Parents (K-Grade 3). What to do at home, what to look for in classrooms, what every child should be able to do by the end of K, 1st, 2nd, 3rd grades. In html

Put Reading First: Building Blocks for Teaching Children to Read. Organized by topic for kindergarten through grade 3 (phonemic awareness instruction, phonics instruction, vocabulary instruction, fluency instruction, and text comprehension instruction), lists findings from the research, suggests how findings can be translated to practice.

Put Reading First: Helping Your Child Learn to Read - A Parent Guide. Provides an overview of findings of the National Reading Panel; gives ideas for what to expect from a school's reading program based on evidence from the research (preschool through grade 3); suggests ways parents can reinforce reading instruction at home.

To Top

Home

Email Newsletter icon, E-mail Newsletter icon, Email List icon, E-mail List icon The Special Ed Advocate: It's Free!

March Sale - SAVE 25%

Print, Immediate Downloads
and Advocacy Supplies
Order Wrightslaw Product
s
and Save 25% Now!



Check Out
The Advocate's Store!

Wrightslaw on FacebookWrightslaw on TwitterWrightslaw YouTube Channel 

Wrightslaw Books
Wrightslaw: Special Education Law, 3rd Edition, by Pam and Pete Wright
About the Book

Wrightslaw: From Emotions to Advocacy, 2nd Edition
About the Book

Wrightslaw: All About IEPs
About the Book

Wrightslaw: All About Tests and Assessments
About the Book

Wrightslaw: Special Education Legal Developments and Cases 2019
About the Book

Surviving Due Process: Stephen Jeffers v. School Board
About the DVD Video


The Advocate's Store


Understanding Your Child's
Test Scores (1.5 hrs)

Wrightslaw Special: $14.95