Reading is a fundamental skill that enhances learning, communication, and social interaction from the earliest years of life. From a neurodevelopmental perspective, understanding how reading develops and the factors that influence it is crucial for identifying both strengths and potential challenges in children.
In this article, we aim to provide parents and professionals with a guide to the development of reading, the milestones to observe, and strategies to support children at every stage.
First, let us tell you that the process of learning to read begins long before a child holds a book. Reading is the result of a combination of foundational skills that include oral language, memory, visual perception, and fine motor skills.
The brain needs to develop a series of complex neural connections, from decoding (understanding that symbols represent sounds and words) to comprehension (making sense of words and sentences).
That’s why we always emphasize that reading is a process. And like any process, it takes time. The best we can do is to support the child as they confidently and securely navigate each stage of this journey. Skipping steps along the way can result in losing “valuable passengers” that we will miss at some point.
Now, you might be wondering how reading relates to a one-year-old. The answer is: quite a lot. Below, we’ll detail the different stages so you can see how the process unfolds.
The Pre-Reading Stage
This stage begins at birth and can extend until about age 3. It’s important to note that these ages are approximate, as neurodevelopmental timelines vary based on environmental factors and individual differences.
During this stage, children develop pre-reading skills that are essential for later learning. Exposure to language through repetitive songs, stories, and rhythms is crucial, as it helps children recognize sounds, understand language patterns, perceive that printed text carries meaning, and connect it to spoken language. They also begin to discern differences and similarities in sounds between words.
This is why early childhood educators often use repetitive phrases, songs, rhythms, and movements that accompany language.
The Initial Reading Stage
This stage spans the second phase of early childhood education (ages 3 to 5). Here, children start to make direct connections between letters and sounds. Gradually, they learn to identify letters and begin recognizing their written name.
At this stage, it’s crucial to focus on what we call phonological awareness—allowing children to play with sounds and words.
This is when children begin to realize that not all images are “read” because not all images are letters. They also understand that reading follows specific patterns—top to bottom, left to right. It’s not uncommon to hear them say, “I don’t know how to read; you do it,” as they become aware that each letter corresponds to a sound, and combinations of these sounds have meaning. However, they may not yet know all the letters, their sounds, or their combinations.
They can, however, “tell stories” using pictures. While this isn’t reading in the strict sense, it teaches them about temporality and sequence, which can later be applied to words. This is why we encourage responses like, “You’re reading just like a four-year-old should. When you’re five, you’ll read like a five-year-old,” and so on.
The Consolidation Stage
This stage begins with entry into primary school (which DOES NOT MEAN a child knows how to read in first grade) and lasts until around third grade, when we say a child has learned to read.
It’s not until ages 8 or 9 that children read fluently and extract meaning from what they read. At this point, reading becomes a tool for learning. Before this stage, READING IS LEARNING, which makes it unreasonable to expect children to acquire knowledge solely through written language.
As you can see, it takes 8 or 9 years to develop reading as we understand it as adults. The earlier stages are critical as they lay the foundation for becoming proficient readers.
This is why it’s so important to focus on the basics and not rush toward the final result. As mentioned earlier, skipping steps means losing key elements that will eventually be missed.
As always, we like to leave you with some actionable ideas to support this process:
- Encourage reading habits from an early age: Create reading routines to spark interest in books and curiosity about written words.
- Play with words and sounds: Listen, sing, and dance to repetitive children’s songs with rhymes and movements. Recognize environmental sounds, identify rhyming words, and distinguish whether words sound the same or different. Listen as much as possible.
- Provide access to books and other reading materials:** Make books, magazines, stories, brochures, and catalogs readily available as objects of curiosity and exploration.
- Avoid pressure: Don’t push the child, teachers, or family members. Often, in our eagerness to “encourage” reading, we inadvertently create the opposite effect. Reading is a monumental effort, so it’s natural for children to be drawn to other activities (especially screens). The goal is to motivate, not force. This requires time and involvement. For families: read together, discuss, play, visit libraries. For schools: read collectively, play, dramatize, and allow children to choose topics of interest to find books they enjoy.
Everyone—families, teachers, and the child themselves—wants to achieve effective reading. The best way to do this is for everyone to play their part. Teachers understand the process, families know the child, and the child knows their own limits and ambitions.
As we’ve seen, reading development is an integral part of a child’s growth. It’s not just about recognizing letters and forming words; it involves language, cognitive, and emotional skills. Working together, sharing strategies, and exchanging perspectives always improve outcomes for everyone involved, leading to success.
