Average age at which children learn to read

This is kind of inspired by the "Do we learn anything in school" thread, but I didn't want to post there for fear of being too off-topic.

Anyway, what actually is the average age at which kids start to learn how to read? I'm asking this out of curiosity because I was taught how to read by my mum when I was 3 (before I attended kindergarten) and I'm not sure if that's average or early. I remember being way ahead of my classmates when I first started school, but that just might have been the school I was in at the time, lol!

If this is earlier than average, then there's definitely something to be said for kids being actively taught reading and writing skills by their parents before they start school.

I was reading in the womb. That's how special I am.

Kids usually get to read around 3 or 4. I think I was around 5 though, because my parents both worked. I've had assist a teacher to help preschoolers before, and some of them where reading better then me. They aged between 3-5.

I started to read at around 5 or 6 years of age, and I think my little sister did, too, maybe a little earlier. But, wow, 3 years old? You have skills.

Well my linguistics course has me believe that the general age of learning to read is 3-4.

It took me some time to actually start reading. I never read a real book until I was 10 and until then I had always struggled. Once I started though, there was no stopping me :3

I was able to read at 4-5 years old.

Wow it is amazing to hear a child at the age of 3 is able to start reading.

hm, I think I was able to read by 5 or 6. I can't particuarly remember.

I was able to read by 3 and a half, according to my parents. By 5, I was reading that Harry Potter books. : / I have no idea whether that's good or not, seeing as I have no idea what the average age is.

I honestly don't remember learning to read or being taught to read. I could just...read. I know I could read by myself when I was five, but I do remember reading some when I was four. I know I didn't learn in school, because I could read before then. Not too sure if we learned in preschool. I actually think my parents or one of my grandparents might've taught me.

Meh :>

All I know is that during the first grade, when we sat around a circle and read parts of a story, I was always struggling.

But now reading and writing just comes naturally to me as if I had been born reading.

I'd say the average is 3 or 4.

According to my parents, I learned to read at around the same time as my sister. Which isn't bad, considering she's two years older than me. I was two years old at the time.

I could read when I was 3. :3

I learned reading at 2 by myself. :3

I learned to read when I was 3. However, in the early 90s when I started school, there was only one other child who could read in my kindergarten classes, and they didn't really expect us to be able to read at school until the end of grade 1, by which time most of the kids are 6, the rest 5.

A few years back I did some work in an elementary school, and the pattern seemed to be the same.

Maybe we're slow here? I would wager that the responses to this thread show unusually young ages, though.

I woulda been 3 when I started to read I think. My parents say that I was inspired to learn to read because of Zelda OoT. I had to keep calling my mom in to tell me what they would be saying. So eventually I learned to read because of that.

Originally Posted by Sign of Madness

I woulda been 3 when I started to read I think. My parents say that I was inspired to learn to read because of Zelda OoT. I had to keep calling my mom in to tell me what they would be saying. So eventually I learned to read because of that.

Lol that's brilliant! And people say video games are a bad influence on children. *tsk*

I learned to read when I was around 3, and write (so more than just me could read it) when I was 4. My older brother was a year earlier on both counts.

But I must say, I'd always been ahead vocabulary-wise throughout school.

(One of) My younger brother is five though, and he can only read, not write. Well... he knows letters, but can't form words very well unless they're words he sees all the time, like "car" or "ball". I'm not a very good judge though.

In Sweden, the age we get "educated" to read (as in, when they start teaching us how to), is around 6. However, most learn to read before that.

This among with the lack of challenges led to me reading Donald Duck the first three grades as I had nothing else to do. :/

I have no idea when I started being able to read, but I can guarantee you that I was no special case.

However, my little brother who is six, can read.. so I guess 5/6?