Reading development in children

From about two months, a baby links how they feel to the way their carer speaks to them. At three to four months, they connect events with what they hear and may already recognise their own name. From four months, they can tell a friendly tone from a cross one.³

They make themselves heard too: cooing from about two months, little squeals and grunts at around three.³

At five to six months, the first chains of syllables appear, like da-da-da. At around eight months, a child understands their first words.³

In front of a picture, they're at the very beginning. The developmental psychologist Judy DeLoache describes nine-month-olds trying to put their mouths on a drawn bottle: they recognise what is shown without yet understanding that the picture stands for a thing.¹

Over time, children learn that a picture stands for a thing instead of being the thing itself. The source gives no age for this step, so watch your child: a picture can be read as the sign of a thing once they stop trying to grab it.¹

First words mostly arrive between 12 and 18 months. At 20 months, a child with typical development says between 50 and 200 words.⁴

Two-word sentences turn into three-word sentences.⁴

Feelings become more complex. Between 24 and 36 months, children begin to show feelings like embarrassment or shame, and two-year-olds already show empathy, for example by comforting another child who is crying.⁵

Sentences are joined with “and” or “then”, questions about why and how arrive, and rhymes are understood. A passing stammer is common at this age and usually harmless: the wish to speak runs ahead of the mouth.⁴

Subordinate clauses with “when” or “because” fall into place.⁴

In Ireland, a child can start primary school in Junior Infants in the September after turning four: they must be at least four on 1 September of the year they start. School becomes compulsory at six at the latest.⁹ Some schools decide for themselves whether to take four- or five-year-olds.⁹

For a growing number of Irish children, the school language is Irish: over 40,000 pupils attended 188 Gaelscoileanna at primary level in 2023.¹¹

At around school age, a child uses more than 3,000 words, builds main and subordinate clauses with ease, and most children can split a word into syllables.⁴

In the United States, when a child starts kindergarten depends on the state. California, Florida, Texas, Georgia and Michigan use 1 September as the cut-off date; North Carolina, Massachusetts and Washington use 31 August; Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana 1 August; New Jersey and Colorado 1 October.¹⁰

In England, children in Year 1, aged five to six, take the phonics screening check: they read 20 real words and 20 pseudo-words aloud to a teacher. Pseudo-words show whether a child can really sound out, since they can't have learnt them by heart.⁷ In 2022, 75% met the expected standard, compared with 82% in 2019.⁸

The first chapter books are rated for this age. Common Sense Media gives Magic Tree House and Junie B. Jones “age 6+”, and Charlotte's Web “age 7+”.¹⁴¹⁵¹⁶

Longer series take over. Common Sense Media rates the first Diary of a Wimpy Kid “age 9+”.¹⁸ BookTrust gives The Brilliant World of Tom Gates an interest age of 9 to 11.¹⁹

How children read is changing too. A meta-analysis of 54 studies, with readers from primary school to adulthood, found better comprehension on paper than on screen, especially under time pressure and for information texts.²⁰

Publishers and libraries now speak of nine and ten and up. Chicken House gives Inkheart as 9+, and the reviews of Ireland's public libraries put Marita Conlon-McKenna's Under the Hawthorn Tree at 10 to 12.²¹²²