# When did you learn to read? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 6, 2006, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555 "2006-04-06T11:03:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kapow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/a587f6/32.png) [@Kapow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kapow)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 11:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/1 "2006-04-06T11:03:15Z")
Sorry if this is the wrong forum. I was talking to some friends of mine and we couldn’t agree when was the average age to begin reading. One of my friends has a daughter of 3 and is already worried that she can’t recognise many words, but I thought he was worrying too much. I don’t seem to remember reading until I was at least 4, probably closer to 5. Even then I wasn’t happy reading brand new things by myself until about 6. I was just wondering how old other people were when they could read by themselves. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 11:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/2 "2006-04-06T11:54:33Z")
I was four. ---
**Author:** ![ErinPuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dbc845/32.png) [@ErinPuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ErinPuff)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 12:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/3 "2006-04-06T12:20:49Z")
I was 2 1/2. ---
**Author:** ![Athena](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/35a633/32.png) [@Athena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Athena)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/4 "2006-04-06T12:27:36Z")
According to my mother, I was reading books - not just memorizing and repeating - when I was 3. Personally, I don’t remember ever not being able to read. I figure I sprang from the womb with the ability. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/5 "2006-04-06T12:37:17Z")
I was also four. ---
**Author:** ![Jennyrosity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@Jennyrosity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jennyrosity)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 1:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/6 "2006-04-06T13:07:54Z")
I honestly can’t remember not being able to read. I must have been pretty advanced by the time I started school, though, because I remember them having to ask the high school for books for me, as they had nothing appropriate to my ability. ---
**Author:** ![Trunk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/87869e/32.png) [@Trunk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trunk)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 1:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/7 "2006-04-06T13:10:52Z")
I don’t think I even tried until I was in kindergarten, which would have made me 5. That’s when I remember learning the alphabet. ---
**Author:** ![ParentalAdvisory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/53a042/32.png) [@ParentalAdvisory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ParentalAdvisory)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 1:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/8 "2006-04-06T13:13:37Z")
In the womb. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/9 "2006-04-06T13:22:40Z")
I was reading Shakespeare in the womb. ---
**Author:** ![Hamlet](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hamlet/32/2818_2.png) [@Hamlet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamlet)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/10 "2006-04-06T13:23:46Z")
Curse you **Parental Advisory**. A pox on both your houses! (See, I retained what I read in the womb.) ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/11 "2006-04-06T13:23:52Z")
Two and some, according to oral tradition. With my own kids, the first one learned by age two and a half, the second probably closer to five. There is zero correlation between how early they learned to read and how they’re doing in school these days. ---
**Author:** ![fishbicycle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aeb1de/32.png) [@fishbicycle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fishbicycle)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/12 "2006-04-06T13:46:00Z")
My mom taught me to read, write and spell from the beginning. When I got to kindergarten, they freaked out because I was reading at grade eight level. They’d never seen anyone like that before. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/13 "2006-04-06T14:02:15Z")
I was 5. Back then there was no push to get a kid to read early. Learning to read so “late” certainly didn’t hamper me academically. ---
**Author:** ![Arien](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arien](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arien)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/14 "2006-04-06T14:04:49Z")
I’d say around 3-4. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/15 "2006-04-06T14:06:50Z")
I read at 3; my mom says I taught myself. Having an older sibling might’ve had something to do with it. My wife also read at 3. Both my boys started reading and writing at 3. My youngest son wrote, when he was 3, the sentence “Daddy walk to the store” with all the letters nearly perfect. Today, at 4, he is writing up a storm, and he figures out things that his also brilliant 7yo brother still hasn’t. A child psych observed his reading, writing and vocabulary casually and said “his IQ is probably 160, 170.” :eek: I don’t believe that; I think the fact he’s reading early skews any IQ measurement at this stage. ---
**Author:** ![Sattua](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sattua/32/11906_2.png) [@Sattua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sattua)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/16 "2006-04-06T14:07:06Z")
In first grade, at age 6. I’d say I’ve done well for myself considering this heinous deficiency in my early life. ---
**Author:** ![Frosted\_Glass](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frosted_glass/32/3926_2.png) [@Frosted\_Glass](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frosted_Glass)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/17 "2006-04-06T14:20:21Z")
2 1/2. Of course, my mom is a child psychologist and her friends loved to evaluate new tests on me so I was more of a lab rat than an average child. My nieces learned at 3, 3 and 4. ---
**Author:** ![jali](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@jali](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jali)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/18 "2006-04-06T14:51:22Z")
I was about four I think, and I drove my mom nuts reading to her. I remember following her around the house with my latest Dr. Suess and explaining the stories to her after I’d read a page. She was a great mom and the one who taught me to read. ---
**Author:** ![Cluricaun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/bb73d2/32.png) [@Cluricaun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cluricaun)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/19 "2006-04-06T14:53:42Z")
Hmm, before kindergarten. My mom was a grade school teacher and taught all of us to read before we ever went to school using [McGuffy’s Readers](http://www.hstreasures.com/mcguffey.html). They might have been antiques, but they worked. ---
**Author:** ![AskNott](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/asknott/32/5790_2.png) [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)\ **Post date:** [April 6, 2006, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555/20 "2006-04-06T15:02:48Z")
Three, so I’m told. Mom didn’t like the method the city schools used, so she taught phonics to my older brother and me. At about that time, I could read as well upside down as right side up. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/when-did-you-learn-to-read/351555.md?page=2)