ABSTRACT
One of the objectives of this enquiry has been the identification of possible links between reading in infancy (before child age 2 years), and reading in later childhood (age 5-7 years). This chapter looks again at this theme, but from a perspective which is both linguistic and psychoanalytic. The intention is to revisit Rhys’ and Ceri’s first systematic contacts with books in the first year, follow them in detail until age 2 years and look forward to patterns of behaviour as they emerge at age 5-7 years. The aim is to demonstrate the extent to which these two infants ‘go on being’ in their reading. That is to say, there are characteristic patterns in their active responses as individuals which suggest continuity of development over several years. The nature of these characteristics and how they evolve over time constitute the linguistic argument to this chapter.
