Beyonce Knowles: My one year old daughter already knows how to read

[hunter]

31. I learned to read before I properly learned to talk.

I don't remember not knowing how to read, but I do remember not knowing how to talk. My parents read a lot to us and also used flash cards. I was reading very well when I started kindergarten.

In the first and second grade while the other kids were doing their reading exercises I was sent out to work with the speech therapist. I remember sessions where I just sat there stubbornly and silently. It was a lot of frustration for everyone involved.

My wife and I allowed our kids to learn to read at a more natural pace. We read to them often and they picked up reading from that, motivated by wanting to read books by themselves. Our kids are both excellent readers and brilliant writers. Our oldest has graduated from college and is now teaching English. I like to think our more naturalistic method of teaching our kids to read has turned out a little better than my parent's more assertive approach.

It's my personal opinion (not backed by any research, of course...) that while kid's are still in that "magic" phase of learning a language that verbal and listening skills ought to take precedence to reading skills, or at least be simultaneous with them. Learning to read in advance of adequate speaking or listening skills warped my facility with language in an unfavorable way.

Nevertheless, it's great to see Beyonce and Oprah promoting early education. Everyone with a brain ought to be pushing back against the anti-intellectualism of U.S. society.