How did you learn to read, and at what age?

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Not sure of the exact age but I know it was before i'd started school. I was jealous of my big brothers 'word tin'

S'where I was (according to mom) when she first heard me sounding out a book on my own. Location was just luck of the draw.

I was about 4.5-5. I remember reading signs and buisness names in the car right after I started kindergarden. My dad asked me what I wanted most out of school and my response was to read. I remember we went to a store when I was 5 and my dad went in and left me in the car, when he came back out I had asked him what "Adult Toys" meant. We never went there again.

Wow, I always kinda thought my mother was exaggerating or that I was just the biggest freak ever, but it's interesting to read that other people taught themselves to read at the age of two, three, four years old.

I was talking to my other son about it before & he said he didn't really pass over the laboriousness of the task, into any level of ability that was enjoyable, until he was 14. He's surprising me with the things he chooses to read now. He's reading on his own, the sort of books I only would read if it was required by a class... he reads them for recreation or actually, for his own self enrichment.

You know, I never knew that before, until I asked. Up until the age of 14 he still struggled to decode words (still does sometimes, or meanings.... but it has passed over to the side where that's less of a problem because he's developed to the point he's at today (only a few years later). I'm glad I didn't know, because I would have been afraid for him, that he'd never get it. (He put up a good front... he's a memorizer.) Or I guess I just somehow didn't know that it takes some people a lot of time and effort to get into it. As some other people posted, I have always known how to read since before I could remember.... I might have believed that "slow" just meant "limited" because I am learning most of what I know about different ways of development at this very moment, right here with you people.

He said he still reads very slowly and wishes he could catch on to the concepts quicker, but he reads thoroughly (not my strong point esp. nowadays) and he really understands what he reads, and writes very fluently, with a lot of insight.

I'm not sure exactly what age I was when I learned to read, but I'm guessing about 4. I learned pretty easily. Unlike math, which I STILL haven't really been able to learn, haha.

I began reading at about 2 years old.

It was when i was visiting my grandparents who lived nearby when i was that age, i'd walk into my grandfather's den, point at a book. He'd grab it off the shelf, and give it to me.
I loved the neat looking diagrams and I'd point to a word and ask him "what this?" and he'd tell me. We did that a lot. I had assistance in other means, but this was by far the bulk of it.

The book in question was "Chilton's Auto Repair Manual"
I'm not sure which vehicle/year, he had a few.

I was told I started reading at 3 or 4 years. I think I learned because my brother was just learning to read in school and I took his books. I still do that only now I'm taking his calculus and AP English books. I also got a psychology book from one of my other older brother's(I have 3 older brothers) college bookstore.

Wow, whoever told your parents that obviously didn't understand the way brains work. It is at that time that it is MOST IMPORTANT to learn to read, as you age your ability to learn from new experiences slowly decreases. 2 is the peak for being able to understand and learn quickly.

I remember not really understanding the concept of phonics. I was taught sight words in kindergarden but that didn't really make sence to me either. I got by by memorising my kindergarden reader. I could pick out a few words here and there but I couldn't really read word for word but one day all of a sudden knowing how to read. I think I was seven. I could never sit down with a chapter book until my late teens becuase I had such a short attention span and felt I had to read it in one sitting. My mom says that reading comprehension was something I had intense trouble with. I could read something word for word but have no idea what it was about. Perhaps I just didn't know how to express what the character was feeling or know how to tell about the story in words that would make sence to another person. I don't know.

It's not that uncommon to be able to read at a higher level than one understands. For example, the neighbor across the street used to sneak me over to her house when she had a guest and hand me a newspaper to read out loud to impress her guests. (My mom says she hated that the neighbor would do that and used to go over and yell at her for making a freak show out of me.) I could read the newspaper perfectly, but a lot of times I had absolutely no idea what I was reading because I didn't know what things like House Committee or Supreme Court even were.

I learned to read when I was 3. Reading came very naturally to me; it was like I just...could. I don't remember learning how to read but I know I wasn't taught in school. My mom must have taught me.

I'm told I was reading at age 2, 3 at the latest.

I learned to read at age six. It was with me learning the sound of the letters and the 'sh' and 'ch' and 'oo' and then my teacher would give me a short story to read that was a page long using the sounds I had just learned. But I didn't learn to read for real until I was eight. I just picked up in it after I started my new school and was in my new class which was regular ed now. Pretty much everything involved reading and we had reading courses. Plus my mom started to make me read than her reading to me. I was seven when she started and I found it very hard.

I can relate to that. I had that same issue and still do. I used to read books as a kid and not understand what was going on in the story. Now I understand better.

There's a photo of me reading a celebrity gossip magazine that was developed when I was 18 months old, so earlier than that, probably.

Is it possible that he could be dyslexic?

Check his eyesight first, my mother struggled with reading until she was 14 because she had a very bad eyesight and no one saw it.

Then, check of dyslexia, it's not unusual to have learning disorder in "autistic families" (and it can happen in any family, especially since many people have not been diagnosed because in their time no one diagnosed that).
Dyslexia does not mean he is not bright of course, I know many dyslexic people who are very intelligent.

(it could also be the method used which is not adapted to your child).

And to answer to your question.

I am nowhere near a genius or a freak, I've learnt to read at 6 (5-6 because I was born in December) with the other kids at school and with the help of my mother. I have difficulties with reading and can be a slow reader (though I was a fast reader on wesneday yay XD), I have dyspraxia and it seems that it is not unusual to have characteristics of dyslexia and dyscalculia when you have it (my doctor says it's just a consequence of my dyspraxia).

I love to read, I enjoy reading complicated books and can understand them but I sometimes mix the letters and I read badly when I have to read aloud (it's better in my head).

I know that I had no speech delay but was relatively normal, it's just that when I started to talk I never stopped and had a great vocabulary, I walked at 9 months so that's early but normal (except when you think about my dyspraxia, it's strange), the only strange thing I did was teaching myself the Greek alphabet and the Braille System when I was 7.

I know many people who have taught themselves how to read pretty early and others who were taught by their parents but I'm not one of them. It used to make me feel stupid but really, intelligence hasn othing to do with your ability to read.

What stupid! When I showed my skills, I was taught more other things like basic Math, some English words, blood types, blood cells and other things. I think it was very good for me, I knew and I still know more than other people at my age.


To people who learned reading very soon:
Do you make ort mistakes? I don't. I think it's because I see the words in my mind, not hear them.