How to Teach a Four Year Old to Read?
Have you ever seen a four year old reading books? What sort of expectation would you have for a 4 year old child - to know some alphabet; be able to recognize their own name; know some simple words; or read at a grade 3 level? No, that's not a typo. Very young children can be taught to read years beyond what is expected of them. With some care and effort, a four year old child can be taught to read at a very advanced level.
But how is it possible that a young child can read at such an advanced level?
This can be achieved by teaching the child to read using a simple, systematic approach to learning to read, with a focus on phonemic awareness. Below, I'd like to share a quick video with you - 1:20 in length. It is a video of our daughter Raine reading at 4 years 2 months old.
Video of a Four Year Old Reading Books
Reading is a nightly activity that our entire family sits down together for each day. It takes place before sleep time, and helps the kids "cool down". It's something they thoroughly enjoy, and helps them develop a real love of 
reading. Our older daughter reads her own bedtime stories, while I read for the younger children, who cannot speak yet. The first book she read in the video is "Little Mermaid" - a step 4 book of the "Step Into Reading" series. Step 4 books are intended for children in grades 2 to 3. The second book is "Mercy Watson", a funny and fun to read book for children. She is able to read fluently, with little to no help from us.
Can all children learn to read at a young age?
Of course they can. Any normal child with no learning disabilities can be taught to read at a young age. As long as the parents are willing to spend a few minutes each day teaching them, and keep it up day after day. Why shouldn't children learn to read at a young age? This is a golden opportunity for them to learn one of the most important skills in life. The benefits are numerous, and last a life time.
Teaching a Five Year Old to Read
Whether your child is 3, 4, 5, or any age, the key to teaching him or her to read is through helping the child develop superb phonemic awareness skills. Helping children learn to read through developing phonemic awareness is a central theme that you'll find on our site here. Why? Because it works. It is absolutely one of the most effective, efficient, and relatively simple methods of teaching kids to read. It even works to teach two year olds to read.
We keep on talking about phonemic awareness here, but what do we have to back it up? The reason why we recommend teaching phonemic awareness so highly is because there is a large body of scientific research and evidence that supports the teaching of phonemic awareness skills as an effective approach to teaching children to read. More importantly, we have plenty of first hand experience with our own children, and with other parents who used our Reading program to teach their children to read. Here's what some parents had to say about our program.
We've received many success stories from parents, grandparents, and caregivers who have used our program to teach their children to read. There is a simple and defined process which you can follow, that will deliver fantastic results. With this process, we truly believe that any parent, as long as they are willing to spend 10 to 15 minutes each day, will be able to successfully teach their young children to become fluent readers using our simple, step-by-step learning to read program.
