By Learning Disorders

The following list of reading milestones can help you determine if your child’s reading skills are on track. Obviously, you should value the input of your child’s teacher(s) as well when evaluating their abilities. 

Early Preschool (3-4 Years Old)

  • Developing an awareness that sentences and words can be pulled apart
  • Demonstrates an interest in the sounds of language (e.g., repeats nursery rhymes)
  • Can identify ten alphabet letters (generally ones found in their name)

Late Preschool (4-5 Years Old)

  • Can break words into syllables (forest becomes for…est)
  • Is able to identify a significant portion of the alphabet

Beginning of Kindergarten (5-5.5 Years Old)

  • Can break words into phonemes (man becomes mmmm…aah…n)
  • Is able to identify whether two words rhyme
  • Provides a rhyme for basic words (e.g., cat)
  • Identifies the majority of uppercase and lowercase letters

End of Kindergarten (5.5-6 Years Old)

Spoken Language

  • When shown three pictures or given three words, can identify which one begins with the same sound as a provided word (e.g., the child is shown pictures of a car, house, and dog, and is asked which one begins with the same sound as door)
  • When shown three pictures or given three words, can identify which one ends with the same sound as a provided word (e.g., the child is shown pictures of a car, house, and dog, and is asked which one ends with the same sound as frog)
  • Can identify the number of phonemes in small words (e.g., there are two phonemes in the word me, mmmm…eee)
  • Provides the beginning sound in words (e.g., mat begins with mmmm…)
  • Combines phonemes to form basic words (e.g., zzzz… and oo… make zoo)

Print

  • Names all of the letters
  • Knows the sounds of most letters
  • Can sound out simple words
  • Recognizes basic words on sight
  • Uses invented spelling to attempt to spell words (e.g., krr for car)
  • Can write most uppercase and lowercase letters
  • Writes their name and the names of pets and family members

First Grade (6-7 Years Old)

Spoken Language

  • Can identify the number of phonemes in most words
  • Identifies what sound remains if part of a word is taken away (e.g., what word you get if you say bat without the b)
  • Combines phonemes to form longer words
  • Pronounces the phonemes in basic words

Print

  • Can accurately read and understand first grade material
  • Attempts to sound out unknown words
  • Identifies one syllable words
  • Recognizes common letter groups (e.g., -ite)
  • Can accurately read basic irregular words (e.g., two or said)
  • Has a reading vocabulary of 300-500 words
  • Self-corrects their reading when a word does not fit the context
  • Follows simple written directions
  • Reads regularly
  • Can spell short words

Second Grade (7-8 Years Old)

Spoken Language

  • Can break down or combine phonemes for most words
  • Is able to remove the middle sounds from words (e.g., removing the t sound from stay leaves you with say)

Print

  • Can read multisyllable words
  • Is able to read more smoothly and rapidly, with appropriate inflection
  • Accurately reads and understand second grade material
  • Captures all of the sounds of words when spelling, even if the word is spelled incorrectly
  • Reads on their own voluntarily

Third Grade (8-9 Years Old)

Print

  • Can fluently read third grade material aloud
  • Uses prefixes, suffixes, and roots to identify the meanings of words
  • Reads chapter books
  • Summarizes the main points from readings
  • Correctly spells previously studied words
  • Uses a dictionary to learn unknown words

Fourth Grade and Older (9+ Years Old)

  • Reads to learn
  • Reads for pleasure

If you believe your child is behind where they should be, a formal assessment can help to determine if an underlying issue is present.

Reference:

Shaywitz, S., & Shaywitz, J. (2020). Overcoming dyslexia (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Penguin Random House LLC.