Cool things about late readers
Ren Allen
The cool things about Jared, who learned to read at 12:
~when we were driving around town, he didn't read the signs, he saw
interesting patterns, or clouds, or colors...saw the world totally
different than a reader (once you can read, you can't NOT read...try
looking at a sign and not reading it!)
~he saw symbols and patterns everywhere...he could memorize literally
hundreds of symbols from games.
~his memorization skills were amazing, he knew every single Yu-gi-oh
card in his deck based on the picture. After we read it a few times,
he'd KNOW it....defense, attack etc... all from memory.
~he loves to draw. Because he wasn't concerned about letters or
reading, I think that was how he wanted to express himself. He has
spent many, many hours drawing since he was four years old and is
quite talented.
~you could probably say this about a lot of people, but I often wonder
if it has anything to do with late reading....he loves to sit and
ponder/daydream. I often wonder if pushing reading on any level would
have interfered with that thought process. He asks some very deep
questions and has a fantastic imagination. I know that most
unschoolers have these qualities too...so it has less to do with WHEN
a person reads, and more to do with not interfering with their own
internal guidance systems.:)
Can you even imagine seeing the world without words?? How COOL! To be
able to just see what is there, without reading the signs and messages
everywhere, what a gift.
Ren
learninginfreedom.com
~when we were driving around town, he didn't read the signs, he saw
interesting patterns, or clouds, or colors...saw the world totally
different than a reader (once you can read, you can't NOT read...try
looking at a sign and not reading it!)
~he saw symbols and patterns everywhere...he could memorize literally
hundreds of symbols from games.
~his memorization skills were amazing, he knew every single Yu-gi-oh
card in his deck based on the picture. After we read it a few times,
he'd KNOW it....defense, attack etc... all from memory.
~he loves to draw. Because he wasn't concerned about letters or
reading, I think that was how he wanted to express himself. He has
spent many, many hours drawing since he was four years old and is
quite talented.
~you could probably say this about a lot of people, but I often wonder
if it has anything to do with late reading....he loves to sit and
ponder/daydream. I often wonder if pushing reading on any level would
have interfered with that thought process. He asks some very deep
questions and has a fantastic imagination. I know that most
unschoolers have these qualities too...so it has less to do with WHEN
a person reads, and more to do with not interfering with their own
internal guidance systems.:)
Can you even imagine seeing the world without words?? How COOL! To be
able to just see what is there, without reading the signs and messages
everywhere, what a gift.
Ren
learninginfreedom.com
[email protected]
In a message dated 2/7/2006 3:34:00 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
starsuncloud@... writes:
when we were driving around town, he didn't read the signs, he saw
interesting patterns, or clouds, or colors...saw the world totally
different than a reader (once you can read, you can't NOT read...try
looking at a sign and not reading it!)
***************
To expand on that, they can't read the annoying signs in front of the
schools that push reading. A recent one in my neighborhood; "READ, READ, READ!!!!"
I didn't want to read after I saw that. :)
Leslie in SC
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
starsuncloud@... writes:
when we were driving around town, he didn't read the signs, he saw
interesting patterns, or clouds, or colors...saw the world totally
different than a reader (once you can read, you can't NOT read...try
looking at a sign and not reading it!)
***************
To expand on that, they can't read the annoying signs in front of the
schools that push reading. A recent one in my neighborhood; "READ, READ, READ!!!!"
I didn't want to read after I saw that. :)
Leslie in SC
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
April Morris
I noticed the same thing about Karl but never really associated it with not
reading at an early age. Karl didn't read anything until about 10, then he
read game manuals, game text and such as needed and now at 14 he just
started reading books. He was not remotely interested in reading untill he
discovered Pokemon and the many guide books. But his memorization skills
were and are astounding. He has had big parts in plays before he coule read,
he knew the stats of each and every pokemon he owned and what they could
become and why, their strengths and weaknesses and how they intereacted with
each other. Something interesting we discovered a few years ago. I think
Karl was 10 or 11. Not reading much yet. I came to unschooling rather slowly
and was hesitant about all the time he spent with Pokeomon. A good friend
who has his Phd in reading assessment or some such thing (and oddly enough,
has always been very supportive of homeschooling and unschooling). Anywya,
he took a job where he needed to give all these assessment tests. Many for
'learning disabilities' and closed head injuries. He wanted to practice his
test-giving skills and asked if Karl was willing to be a guinea pig. Karl
has a good relationship with this guy, the tests are like games and he
always fed him wll so Karl was more than willing. I agreed as long as my
friend understood that the results meant nothing to me and we would stop any
time Karl wanted to. And Karl would probably skew any stats. Anyway, he went
through the whole battery of tests. He actually took more than any one
'patient' would normally take, but they were having fun my friend gave as
many as Karl was willing to take. As I expected, he was above 'grade level'
in some areas, below in others....but what was astounding to my friend were
two results. Karl, a non-reader, had a vocabulary score that was off the
chart for college level. No big surprise to me, I knew he has been exposed
to lots of good information all his life, reading does not guarentee a good
vocabulary. And another test that measured memory skills, both short term
and long term. He again scored off the chart. When he described the test to
me I laughed. I told him that compared to what Karl needed to know for
Pokemon, the test was a peice of cake!! Mind you, I would have done poorly,
I never was good at memory stuff, but for Karl, it was a breeze. Another
test he did well on was some kind of congnitive reasoning test. He could
figure things out well. The tests that measured "knowledge" for his age he
was all over the spectrum. Really low to a bit above average. My friends
final comment was, he might not know what society says he's "supposed" to
know, but it won't matter, when he needs to know something, he has the tools
he needs. He still talks about the memory tests results. Though it wasn't
my goal when I agreed to the testing, it sure helped ease some of my
fears. I'm not advocating testing either, for the most part, I think a lots
of tests are flawed, admininstered incorrectly or used incorrectly. But
Karl had a lot of fun and it was interesting to see.
~April
Mom to Kate-19, Lisa-16, Karl-14, & Ben-10.
*REACH Homeschool Grp, an inclusive group in Oakland County
http://www.homeschoolingonashoestring.com/REACH_home.html
* Michigan Unschoolers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/michigan_unschoolers/
*Check out Chuck's art www.artkunst23.com
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
Gandalf the Grey
reading at an early age. Karl didn't read anything until about 10, then he
read game manuals, game text and such as needed and now at 14 he just
started reading books. He was not remotely interested in reading untill he
discovered Pokemon and the many guide books. But his memorization skills
were and are astounding. He has had big parts in plays before he coule read,
he knew the stats of each and every pokemon he owned and what they could
become and why, their strengths and weaknesses and how they intereacted with
each other. Something interesting we discovered a few years ago. I think
Karl was 10 or 11. Not reading much yet. I came to unschooling rather slowly
and was hesitant about all the time he spent with Pokeomon. A good friend
who has his Phd in reading assessment or some such thing (and oddly enough,
has always been very supportive of homeschooling and unschooling). Anywya,
he took a job where he needed to give all these assessment tests. Many for
'learning disabilities' and closed head injuries. He wanted to practice his
test-giving skills and asked if Karl was willing to be a guinea pig. Karl
has a good relationship with this guy, the tests are like games and he
always fed him wll so Karl was more than willing. I agreed as long as my
friend understood that the results meant nothing to me and we would stop any
time Karl wanted to. And Karl would probably skew any stats. Anyway, he went
through the whole battery of tests. He actually took more than any one
'patient' would normally take, but they were having fun my friend gave as
many as Karl was willing to take. As I expected, he was above 'grade level'
in some areas, below in others....but what was astounding to my friend were
two results. Karl, a non-reader, had a vocabulary score that was off the
chart for college level. No big surprise to me, I knew he has been exposed
to lots of good information all his life, reading does not guarentee a good
vocabulary. And another test that measured memory skills, both short term
and long term. He again scored off the chart. When he described the test to
me I laughed. I told him that compared to what Karl needed to know for
Pokemon, the test was a peice of cake!! Mind you, I would have done poorly,
I never was good at memory stuff, but for Karl, it was a breeze. Another
test he did well on was some kind of congnitive reasoning test. He could
figure things out well. The tests that measured "knowledge" for his age he
was all over the spectrum. Really low to a bit above average. My friends
final comment was, he might not know what society says he's "supposed" to
know, but it won't matter, when he needs to know something, he has the tools
he needs. He still talks about the memory tests results. Though it wasn't
my goal when I agreed to the testing, it sure helped ease some of my
fears. I'm not advocating testing either, for the most part, I think a lots
of tests are flawed, admininstered incorrectly or used incorrectly. But
Karl had a lot of fun and it was interesting to see.
~April
Mom to Kate-19, Lisa-16, Karl-14, & Ben-10.
*REACH Homeschool Grp, an inclusive group in Oakland County
http://www.homeschoolingonashoestring.com/REACH_home.html
* Michigan Unschoolers
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/michigan_unschoolers/
*Check out Chuck's art www.artkunst23.com
"All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us."
Gandalf the Grey
On 2/7/06, Ren Allen <starsuncloud@...> wrote:
>
> The cool things about Jared, who learned to read at 12:
>
> ~when we were driving around town, he didn't read the signs, he saw
> interesting patterns, or clouds, or colors...saw the world totally
> different than a reader (once you can read, you can't NOT read...try
> looking at a sign and not reading it!)
>
> ~he saw symbols and patterns everywhere...he could memorize literally
> hundreds of symbols from games.
>
> ~his memorization skills were amazing, he knew every single Yu-gi-oh
> card in his deck based on the picture. After we read it a few times,
> he'd KNOW it....defense, attack etc... all from memory.
>
> ~he loves to draw. Because he wasn't concerned about letters or
> reading, I think that was how he wanted to express himself. He has
> spent many, many hours drawing since he was four years old and is
> quite talented.
>
> ~you could probably say this about a lot of people, but I often wonder
> if it has anything to do with late reading....he loves to sit and
> ponder/daydream. I often wonder if pushing reading on any level would
> have interfered with that thought process. He asks some very deep
> questions and has a fantastic imagination. I know that most
> unschoolers have these qualities too...so it has less to do with WHEN
> a person reads, and more to do with not interfering with their own
> internal guidance systems.:)
>
> Can you even imagine seeing the world without words?? How COOL! To be
> able to just see what is there, without reading the signs and messages
> everywhere, what a gift.
>
> Ren
> learninginfreedom.com
>
>
>
> --
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Lisa H
Extrodinary Communication skills. Over the years, when dd chooses to do a presentation of sorts to a group of people, she doesn't rely on reading prepared written text. She really knows the material, makes eye contact with her audience and can explain the subject matter well and feild questions.
Extreme Resourcefullness. DD has taught art/craft classes, created camps and generates income. All this requires marketing, sales, communication and people skills, budgeting and planning, money handling etc. Not reading has never stopped her. She finds assistants to accomplish the tasks for which she is less skilled.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Extreme Resourcefullness. DD has taught art/craft classes, created camps and generates income. All this requires marketing, sales, communication and people skills, budgeting and planning, money handling etc. Not reading has never stopped her. She finds assistants to accomplish the tasks for which she is less skilled.
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]