Starting To Read At 12

Two home schooled children whom I have known for many years have just started to read within the last year. Both are twelve years old. Their experience should have much to say to homeschooling parents who are worried about late starting readers.

How are the children doing? Just fine. In the less than a year that they have been reading, both have made rapid progress. Their parents have not given them reading tests and do not plan to, but from what I know of their reading I would say that one is reading at least as well as most third graders and the other a year or two beyond that. Not long ago one of them wrote me a very interesting and amusing letter which would have done credit to most ten-year-olds. I have no doubt at all that within two years and perhaps much less they will be reading as well as or better than most in-school children of their age, and since they began reading because they wanted to and when they were ready, they will enjoy it much more.

One thing that may surprise some people a little is that both are girls. Both have brothers and sisters, some of whom are excellent readers and students. This, by the way, is very common - in the many years I have known children I have almost never met or heard of a slow or late reader who did not have at least one brother or sister, younger or older, who read very well. More about this later.

Both girls, for all the years I have known them, have been energetic, active, affectionate, curious, happy children. Nobody knowing them would have suspected that they were non-readers, and indeed it was only after I had known them for quite a number of years that I began to realize this myself. They were not in any way frightened, shy, or withdrawn, but were very much at ease in many social situations and when in the company of people mostly older than themselves.

As far as I can tell, none of the parents of these girls ever worried about their not reading, except, of course, for worrying a little about what the schools might do if they knew. What their private thoughts may have been, I do not know, but these families are very good friends of mine, and I think it likely that if they had been concerned, they would have said something to me about it. (We get many such letters and phone calls.) If they had, I would have said to them what I say to all people with such concerns, which is, do not worry, the chances of your child growing up illiterate are about the same as the chances of her or him turning into a crocodile. But as far as I know, they never worried at all. In this they showed great courage, good sense, and faith in their children, and we should all do our best to follow their example.

What did these parents “do” about their children’s non-reading? Nothing. That is to say, they treated the girls just like their other children - welcomed them into their adult lives, shared their interests and concerns with them, and did all they could to encourage and support the many interests of the girls themselves. What would have happened if these children had been compelled to go to school? We can answer that question with great certainty. They would have been called Learning Disabled, and like almost all children who have this label stuck on them, would have been put into special classes, would have been cruelly teased by most of the “normal” children, and would have lost most or all of their energy, confidence, and pleasure in life. In a word, most of their intelligence and character would have been destroyed. And, like virtually all children called Learning Disabled, they would in fact never have learned to read, and, like a number of adults I have known, would have gone through life trying to hide this, and when they could not, explaining (despite their “official” alibi, often with a blush of shame) that they were “dyslexic.”

Why did the girls wait so long before starting? I don’t know. I’m not sure they know, though if they do, I hope someday they’ll tell me. My guess is that they may have been intimidated by the example of the early and skilled readers in their family. Children like to compete, but only when they have a chance of doing well; when they see they are hopelessly outclassed, they stop. A slow-running child playing tag may take a few steps after a much faster child, but when she sees that she has no chance of catching her will soon look for an easier target, since to keep running after someone you have no chance of catching is not only shaming but silly. Children are realists; in a race in which they have no chance of winning or even doing well, they will soon drop out.

My picture is of someone who starts in a big race, sees all the others pull far ahead, and after a while simply stops running and sits down by the side of the road, saying to himself, “I’ll just wait here until all the others are so far out of sight that there is no longer any question of running against them, and then I’ll start running again, just for my own pleasure.”

Let me hasten to add here that if these two late-reading children did feel or fear that they were running in a hopeless race, it was not because of anything that their families did; it just looked that way to them. And children are in any case very likely to follow this tactic in fields that have nothing to do with reading; if an older child is very good at painting or singing or dancing or music, the younger is very likely to think, “OK, that’s her turf,” and take up something else. The example of a skilled older brother or sister can sometimes inspire, but it can just as easily intimidate.

I tell this story mostly to encourage the parents of late-starting readers. If some of these parents are under pressure from their schools to have their children tested or, worse, put into some special class, they may in some cases find it helpful to show this story, and other late-reading stories from GWS, to their school officials. But we can’t expect that such stories will persuade more than a tiny handful of schools, like the Friskole in Denmark, Summerhill in England, and one or two I have known in this country, to make it their policy not to try to pressure children into reading but to let them read if, when, and as much as they want. The number of these late-reading stories is bound to be very small, so small that it may take generations of homeschooling to gather anything very convincing in the way of statistics. It is only among homeschoolers that we can expect children to be allowed to wait to start reading until they feel like it, and even among homeschoolers there may not be many who would let their children delay reading until the age of twelve without feeling they had to do something about it. In any case, these two children, plus one boy I knew when I was visiting the school in Denmark, are the only children I know of who, in a totally unpressured reading environment, did not start until they were twelve. No, come to think of it, I remember that Neill said that in the long history of Summerhill only one child left the school not knowing how to read, a boy who became a tool and die maker, work which requires great skill and pays very well.

One other question, which some readers may have in their minds. Do I think that there is something that the parents of these twelve-year-old beginning readers might have done to get them to start earlier? My answer is No - and I think they would have been wrong to try. Anything they did along those lines could only have undermined the children’s sense that their parents trusted them, and so undermined their confidence in themselves, and so done harm rather than good. In any case, all such questions miss the whole point of this story ­ if children who start reading when they feel like it soon read just as well as or better than most people, what difference does it make when they start?

So if you have, now or in the future, children who start reading later than most, tell us about them ­ and don’t worry. - JH

UNDERSTANDING WHEN HE NEEDS TO

From Theo Giesy (VA):

. . . A friend’s son has always apparently had difficulty reading and following directions. But at Christmas time he had no problem at all reading all the directions on an order form to order Ninja stickers. He brought her the form completely filled out correctly and the correct amount of cash so that all she needed to do was write a check to enclose. Shortly after that a robot which he had gotten for Christmas ceased to work. He called the number provided and was told to return it for a new one. He did not feel that that was very helpful, went off with the instruction book, and returned a couple of hours later saying that it was working, the programming had just been messed up. She was very pleased to see that when it mattered to him, he had no trouble at all following directions . . .