I’m curious Chris – why 2 years old? That seems an arbitrary age that doesn’t account for each child’s needs. I think “learning to read” is such a significant and complex task that it should start from birth (or earlier!). Each child develops at their own pace and at those early ages the key is to provide positive experiences with reading and books and use them as a way to immerse a child in oral language. Why do I say that? Because, the earliest and most reliable predictor of reading success is oral vocabulary. In terms of formal literacy instruction if a child is showing readiness at 2 years of age because of their personality/interests/skills in other areas then by all means start then but if they are not showing those signs of readiness you can actually damage their long term relationship with literacy. We don’t just want kids to learn how to read as a technical skill we want them to learn to read so they can read to learn.
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