Reading Skills: What to expect at different ages. By Liana Chandler (Bach EC, M.T & M. Ed. Sp.)

​Kids develop at their own pace, but generally can be expected to meet certain milestones.  These are typical milestones for reading.
 
0-12 Months –
 

• Begin to reach for soft-covered books
• Look at and touch the pictures in a book
• Make cooing or nonsense sounds to respond to a familiar story
• Helps turn pages

 
12-36 Months –
 

• Name familiar pictures such as dog, cup and baby
• Answer questions about what they see in books
• Pretend to read by turning pages and making up a story (24+ months)
• Recite the words to favourite books
• Recognise the cover of favourite books

 
3-4 years –
 

• Know the correct way to hold and handle a book
• Recognise that the words tell a story
• Understand that the words are read from left to right and top to bottom
• Start hearing rhyming words
• Retells stories
• Recognise about half the letters of the alphabet
• Recognise and “read” familiar labels, signs and logos
• Start matching letter sounds to letters
• Perhaps recognise their own name and other often seen words

 
5 years –
 

• Read some sight words
• Use story language and vocabulary in play and conversation e.g. “the dump truck is here”, said the guy
• Begin matching words they hear with words on a page
• Recognise and match letter to letter-sounds
• Identify the beginning and ending (and sometimes the middle) sounds/letters in words like cat or sit
• Sound out simple words
• Tell the who, what, when, where, why and how of a story
• Put a story in order either by retelling or ordering pictures
• Predict what happens next in a story
• Begins writing or dictation their own stories
• Sounds out new words using phonics or word families (such as adding the beginning sounds to at to read cat, bat, sat, hat)
• Starts reading or asks to be read books for information as well as entertainment
• Answers basic questions about what they have read

 
6-8 years –
 

• Recognises up to 200 sight words
• Uses context clues (pictures, surrounding words, topic-specific vocabulary) to decode unfamiliar words
• Go back and re-reads when a mistake has been made (self-correcting)
• Starts answering questions that requires them to think about what they have read
• Starts writing stories using inventive spelling
• Imitates the styles of favourite authors when writing

 
9-13 years –
 

• Makes the move from learning to read to reading to learn
• Reads with purpose (entertainment, information, directions etc.)
• Explores different genres
• Recognises words without hesitation
• Puts the events of a story in order
• Reads out loud with accuracy and inflection
• Identifies and articulates the main idea
• Summaries what has been read
• Understands similes, metaphors and other descriptive devices
• Finds meaning in what has been read

 
14-17 years –
 

• Relates events in stories to their own lives
• Compares and contrasts different reading materials
• Discusses character motivation
• Makes inferences/makes conclusions about a story
• Supports a thesis/idea using examples from a story
• Identifies examples of imagery and symbolism
• Analyses, synthesises and evaluates ideas from texts

 
Learning to read isn’t always this clear cut, and not all children follow the same path.  If your child isn’t meeting these milestones, consider talking to his doctor or teacher about whether an evaluation to look at his skills might be helpful. Once you have a better idea of your child’s strengths and weaknesses, you can find strategies to make reading easier.