by Jay O'Toole

Created on: March 12, 2011   Last Updated: March 13, 2011

Learning to read is the natural extension of learning to speak.

To take the progression a little farther, learning to read solidifies communication skills for visual learners.

The Big Three Learning Styles are auditory, visual, and tactile/kinesthetic.

Research in the past few decades seems to point to early communication skills, as well as overall enhanced communication skills throughout the lifetime for tactile/visual communication, otherwise known as sign language.

In the life of this writer, this fact is experiential, not hearsay.

A few years ago we taught our child some basic sign language, before she could speak. We watched Baby Einstein's videos that taught sign language with Marlee Matlin. She spoke easily within the next year.  

Today, at seven and a half years of age, she reads like a ravenous lioness after a side of beef.

Admittedly, one child does not a trend make.  

However, if a testimonial means anything to anyone, then this one child who listened to Mozart in the womb and beyond, and who learned sign language as a precursor to verbal communication, has taken to reading like a fish to water.

Her ability to communicate verbally with great fluidity of thought, great dexterity of tongue, and effusive payloads of verbiage has this parent often drowning wonderfully in an ocean of communication.

"Can you teach a child to read too early?" seems to beg the question, "Is it harmful in any way for a child to be taught to read before the societal norm?"

Two points may be submitted here.  

First, it could be helpful to remember that anytime a societal norm is designated, some humans come before the designated point, some come after, and some are "right on the money," so to speak.

Secondly, learning any skill at a significantly early time or significantly quick pace would necessitate the watchful eye of a parent to prevent boredom or distraction.  If a child learns basic reading skills at a very early age, then that should be fine and good, especially when challenged to read at greater levels and with greater quantities of reading that are age-appropriate, so as to minimize frustration exhaustion.

If a child learns to walk at a much earlier than normal age, then this success is a cause for pride to the parents.

If a child learns to talk at a much earlier than normal age, the parental joy is boundless.

If a child learns to draw with amazing detail at a much earlier age (as ours did), then this is a great source of satisfaction for the parents.

Learning to read at a very early age is a very good thing in many wonderful ways.

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