by Sassy Jones

Created on: June 03, 2009   Last Updated: June 06, 2009

What could possibly be wrong with teaching children to read at an early age? A lot, it turns out.

That teaching children to read early is a bad seems counter-intuitive. We want our children to have the best in life and to be successful, so giving them a head start in their academics seems like it would be the best idea. And yet, the earlier we teach kids to read, the more cases of dyslexia occur. Especially among boys. While researchers have not been able to pinpoint the exact reason for this, there are a couple promising leads. First, male eyes are not developed enough before the age of six or seven to be able to sufficiently discern the different squiggles (letters) on the page. When a child tries to use his eyes in a way that his eyes are not developed enough for, his brain makes neuron pathways that are faulty, and thus the child cannot properly discern the letters. Another hypothesis states that because English has so many phonemes and ways to make those sounds, children younger than six or seven cannot cognitively determine all those yet. Children who learn to read before six or seven in places that have languages with simpler phonemes than English have much lower rates of dyslexia than English speaking countries do.

Many European countries teach their children to read later and achieve a better literacy rate. Among them are Sweden, Germany, and Finland. How is this possible? There are two probable reasons: cognitive and emotional. Cognitively, children do not develop the capacity for taking abstract squiggles and translating them to concrete ideas until they are six or seven. Yes, some children are able to "read" before that age, but they are often memorizing sight words, not learning the decoding skills that will help them achieve literacy.

The emotional aspect comes from asking children to do something they are not able to do well or even at all yet. When their first experiences of reading are negative, that negative association will be very difficult to overcome. If the negative experiences in reading continue, then all that will be associated with reading will be negative. Which not only hampers literacy, but all academic areas.

This isn't to say that you shouldn't develop literacy skills in children. But you have to do it in more creative ways than a formalized, structured setting. Reading to children is one of the best ways to foster literacy skills. This encourages their attention spans to develop, gives them a basis for grammar and sentence structure, and strengthens their imaginations. You can also make up stories together to foster their imaginations, play dress up, and make music by whatever means are close at hand. When children use their imaginations, they also improve their problem solving skills. All of these are skills that form a basis for reading well. Reading is so much more than just looking at words on a page and voicing the sounds correctly. To truly be literate, one needs to be able to attach meaning and significance to the words, to translate the words into pictures in the mind. When you take the joy out of reading and learning, though, these skills can never develop.

It is easier to assess how "smart" a child is by how "well" they can "read." But the pressure associated with that philosophy often hampers learning and literacy instead of fostering it. Letting kids be, well, kids is often the best way to help them be more successful in life.

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