First, in many Waldorf and Montessori schools that test is given to determine academic (math and reading) readiness. Look here and here and here for just a few examples. Also it is not uncommon for that test to be administered in other countries as well. Sally Goddard Blythe, a consultant in Neuro-Development Education in the UK, advocates that physical readiness, development of gross and fine motor skills, must be present for a child to do well when beginning school. You can read one of her articles here.
Other factors I look at to tell whether my children are ready to read:
- Holds a book properly, turns pages, and can answer questions about the story after it is read to them.
- Recognizes their name in print and starts to imitate handwriting on paper by copying letters they see around them.
- Realizes there is a correlation between letters as symbols and the spoken word.
- Starts to rhyme words.
- Speaks clearly and in complete sentences.
These sites have reading readiness checklists:
10 Reading Readiness Skills for Kindergarteners
Reading Readiness for Visual Spatial Learners
Get Your Preschooler Ready to Read
And for some fun here are a couple online tests you can administer to your child to help determine reading readiness:
Readiness Test from Covenant Home
Reading Readiness Test from Succeed2Read
I tried looking at the Dept of Education site but that site is so bogged down with everything else I couldn’t even sift through the search results to look for any ‘official’ checklist.
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My oldest was very delayed in speech, which also affected her auditory processing. She understood the correlation between printed and spoken words, but had a very difficult time understanding stories and had a difficult time speaking clearly. Yet, she took to reading immediately and loved it. By the time she turned five, she was an excellent reader. I think reading provided great mental stimulation because she had difficulties understanding in an auditory manner.
-Marie
This list is so awesome. i wish I could just take the next week off to read EVERY post!
OH, what a great resource you have put together. I think it is amazing!
I asked my 5yo if he could do the ear thing from last week. It was pretty funny, he did it and then asked me, “Why am I doing this Mom it is weird!”
We already read together, but I appreciate the list. It has been fun to teach him in Kindergarten because I didn’t get to do this with my other 2 boys.
I am really looking forward to the next few weeks. 🙂 What a great bunch of bloggers to read.
What a great reference. Thanks so much for your help.
Excellent-thanks!