Wednesday, June 2, 2010

Learning to Read

I love nearing/reaching milestones with my kids. Why is it so intrinsically joyous to watch our children progress? I don't know. I think it's one of those few altruistic capacities available to humans.

Where I so often discuss Asher's speech progression, Brennan's current milestones are in his learning to read/spell. It wasn't that long ago that I finally taught him how to spell his name and he just took off from there. A few weeks ago he told me that he knew how to spell "book" (which he does) and when I asked how he learned that, he told me from (the TV show) Word World. We've been working on reading inconsistently the last few weeks, but Brennan seems to just progress on his own even on days I slack. Like, he read "pop" on his cereal box and came to me to spell it, as well as seeing, reading, and spelling for me FOX as seen on the TV channel. (Yeah, TV is coming up a lot in this, eh? I think Brennan is a visual learner, actually). Just two days ago Brennan got up and came down stairs and instead of saying "good-morning" he said, "I know how to spell bad... b-a-d." I asked him where he'd learned it, and he responded that he was laying in bed thinking about it and figured it out. Each day he rehearses the words he knows well, and tries new ones, and constantly asks me how to spell simple words.

I guess my favorite part is that Brennan is excited about it. I was a little worried, to be honest. I think he's a smart enough child, but I've had a hard time putting my finger on his learning style. Asher had demonstrated amazing ability to pick things up through songs, or just what he hears, like a parrot, but with Brennan it all just comes when he's ready and I can't predict it. I've worried that he wouldn't be "ready" to learn to read until the later end of the spectrum. It is so exciting to see Brennan not only learning this skill, but practicing on his own and enjoying it. I don't have to push or prod. When the student is ready, the teacher will come. Well, teacher (hey, ME!), hurry up and come 'cause the student is as ready as he'll ever be!

1 comment:

Kelly said...

Good job, Brennan! I can't believe he is old enough to learn to read. Actually, he's not! He's early!

That experience of first learning to read is so exciting for both parent and kid! What a fun adventure for you all. Only downside - no more spelling things so he can't know what you're talking about. :-)

I read your other post about Asher, too. Language development going on like crazy at your house! That's very cool.