Learning to read and personality type

[Polaris]

I have no idea when I learned how to read, but I doubt it was any time early. I came from the type of household where that sort of thing would have been one of the last priorities. It didn't take long, though, for me to catch up with my classmates. I can remember being able to read like lightning by the time I turned eight. /shameful bragging

 

[Matthew_Z]

I don't recall the age I learned to read, but I know I could before the 1st grade. Seeing as I can't remember not being able to read and my memory goes back to around 4 years of age, I'd say I learned to read at 4-5. Nothing too advanced, but I definitely wasn't behind in reading level.

For me, reading came with learning how to use a computer. (Another thing I can't remember not knowing. Us digital age kids...)

 

[Cimarron]

You can't learn to read fluently without doing a lot of that. As long as what was initially learned is correct, a strong Si preference is going to be a huge advantage because deviations from the internalised norms will produce stronger gut reactions. These will be the people who can most easily spot that a spelling "just doesn't look right".

I have always read quickly and while I can miss details because I go so fast, I usually had a really good big-picture overview of what I have read (I grasp the "essence" of it); slower linear readers seem to get lost or bored or frustrated more often.

That was all really true for me, coming from the other side of the issue. I was definitely a slower, linear reader. The big-picture overview was probably not something I grasped at an early age, that took a while to develop.

 

[TickTock]

I learnt at 4. I read with lots of different people. I remember my Grandad would never let me find the word he would say it as soon as I hesitated, so I got faster to beat him to it. Someone else taught me to break the word down. Other people would wait until I got the word on my own, encouraging me. From then on I can't look at anything without reading it.

I am detailed orientated so read slowly, and I do sound the words out in my head. I also don't remember the words on recall but the gist. A friend of mine reads fast and seems to remember everything word for word. So Im not sure if there's anything in that.

Persoanlly, being able to break the word down (from practice) means Im good at linking words and finding meaning along with detail focused, finding meaning in the whole sentence. I'm not a bad thesaures either.

 

[Trepidation]

Apparently I was reading and writing when I was three. In my early schooling years I was always reading the most advanced books and blah blah blah. I used to be proud of stuff like that, but I don't really care anymore. I just want to make things.

 

[Chloe]

bumping this thread..

i just remember the other day i started for real learn to read when i was 10, and when i was around 13-14 i knew for real to read.
when i was 9/10 they were measuring in class how fast we read and i was worst, only one or 2 guys who went to special program and were borderline retarded were worse than me, but close to me.
i just couldnt concentrate to learn to read before 10, and nobody forced me to.
i knew all letters of course but was very slow at it... :/
I dunno is it linked to ADD, or something, or only lazyness
but funny thing is i had straight As from first class to the end of HS, so even though i didnt know how to read for real i had As in primary school :/

 

[sofmarhof]

I don't want to get into the whole story, because it's long, but I was one of the worst readers in my class in first grade, and one of the best from second grade on. No special intervention or tutoring; the change happened seemingly overnight. I don't remember, but I usually attribute this to discovering American Girl books (i.e. books I enjoyed and wanted to read).

So, I really learned to read at age... 7?

Once thing I did learn in first grade was The Tale of Peter Rabbit... for some reason we not only read it, but memorized it. I still know it by heart up to "whom should he meet but Mr. MacGregor."

My teacher actually got mad at me in Kindergarten and sent me to the principle's office because I said "You mean they're all illiterate? You're not doing a very good job then, are you?" when she explained why she was surprised I could read signs in the classroom, and she thought it was a curse word.

The principle didn't punish me when I told them what happened, though. Had to explain to the teacher what the word "illiterate" meant. She was really embarrassed and frustrated.

I don't know whether this story is horrifying or reassuring... horrifying because of the quality of our teachers, reassuring because kids seem to be doing okay anyway.

 

[Kaveri]

My big sister learned to read at about age three. My mom has told me that she had told my sister, the little three-year-old girl by then, that she didn't have time to read a story for her at the moment. She was shocked when my sister had said: "Fine! I'll read it, myself, then." And she read out loud the story that she had asked her mom to read for her.

In fact, my mom has told me that my sister was two years at that time, but I suspect her accuracy because she sometimes tends to exaggerate things to make them sound more incredible.

I learned to read and write when I was four. My sister taught me.

My sister is probably an INFP and I am an INxx (probably F).

 

[VagrantFarce]

I don't remember if I was specifically better at reading than others, but I always seemed to stumble into good grades in English class

 

[NewEra]

First to whine: SJs

first to hate: you

 

[JustHer]

Hehe, I did everything before the other kids so I'm pretty sure reading was on that list too. Not that I ever really like to read, it was mostly due to my violently competitive ENTJ spirit. If someone could do something I couldn't I'd just make them cry or hit them.

 

[DiscoBiscuit]

Hehe, I did everything before the other kids so I'm pretty sure reading was on that list too. Not that I ever really like to read, it was mostly due to my violently competitive ENTJ spirit. If someone could do something I couldn't I'd just make them cry or hit them.

lol

 

[Walking Tourist]

My mom discovered that I knew how to read when I was four years old. She was very tired one evening. I think that must have been after she went back to school. She had a husband and four kids and all of that kept her very busy and tired. My mom decided that she would read a book to me but she would abridge it so that she could get to bed a little bit earlier.
She didn't count on my response: "But, Mommy, you left out all of those words!"
"What words did I leave out, honey?"
I read the entire book to her.
My mom later told me that she thought that I had memorized the book but she wanted to test that theory. She said, "Wait a minute, honey." And she got out another book, one that she had just bought for me.
"Read this book," my mother said.
I read the book. My mother then knew that I was a reader.
Yet, when I went to first grade, I was bumped from fast reading group (I already knew how to read so that's where I was placed) to middle reading group to the slow reading group... all because I could not do the phonics drills. I never could do phonics, mainly because I have an auditory processing disorder. To this day, I see words as pictures that represent words. I never sound out words at all.
Reading was just a code that needed to be broken. When I broke it, I became a reader.
And, yes, I love to read... except when the weather is good and I'd rather be outside, having adventures and seeing the world.

 

[compulsiverambler]

Yet, when I went to first grade, I was bumped from fast reading group (I already knew how to read so that's where I was placed) to middle reading group to the slow reading group... all because I could not do the phonics drills. I never could do phonics, mainly because I have an auditory processing disorder. To this day, I see words as pictures that represent words. I never sound out words at all.
Reading was just a code that needed to be broken. When I broke it, I became a reader.

That's very impressive. Sounds like you effectively had to learn a new language. Dyslexics see words as pictures as well, and they have auditory processing problems, but it makes them bad at reading. I wonder what makes you different. I don't understand though, how you cracked the code while not being able to do phonics, when the written English language is a phonetic code. Can you explain?

 

[Walking Tourist]

I was diagnosed with an auditory processing disorder when I was in my thirties. I went through a lot of speech-language therapy to help me with decoding problems and with other problems, such as difficulty understanding what I hear when there is background noise, especially multiple conversations. During the therapy, it was discovered that there are certain sounds that I don't hear at all. I could not understand words when they were broken into their sounds and said very slowly. It just sounded like unintelligible noises to me.
But I don't read the English language in the way that you describe. I just see entire words. But I do recognize prefixes and suffixes and can recognize visual similarities between words.
All I can say about being good at reading despite not being able to sound out words is that my visual memory makes up for any auditory weaknesses (which are very specific to spoken language and don't interfere with my musical skills). I can remember a place that I've been in after being there once or twice and I never get lost. I can read many words by sight and will immediately identify if they are spelled correctly or not (although, if they are badly misspelled, I will not be able to read them, even if they are spelled phonetically).
Hope that helps.

That's very impressive. Sounds like you effectively had to learn a new language. Dyslexics see words as pictures as well, and they have auditory processing problems, but it makes them bad at reading. I wonder what makes you different. I don't understand though, how you cracked the code while not being able to do phonics, when the written English language is a phonetic code. Can you explain?

 

[compulsiverambler]

Oh, cool, thanks for explaining.

 

[Walking Tourist]

You're welcome.
(I like your avatar.)

Oh, cool, thanks for explaining.

 

[brainheart]

Tourist, this is interesting to me because it makes me wonder how I am about words. I know I just see them- phonics was a phenomenal waste of time, fortunately there wasn't as much of an emphasis on it once I came along. But I can figure out a word if it's mispelled, same with if it's written backward, whatever. I can read backward writing, upside down writing pretty much as easily as if it's normal. Sometimes I won't even notice if something's written backwards, I'll just read it.