ABSTRACT
The science of reading can help us chart the intricate path from reading simple words like ‘cold’ and ‘day’ to comprehending infinitely complex stories that describe imagined worlds, and much more. Indeed, ‘real’ reading is so complex and multifaceted, that it is hard to study, so we deconstruct it into its component parts, such as decoding – synthesising the component sounds of words – word recognition, fluency and reading comprehension, etc. Structured phonics instruction, or deliberate attention-to-reading strategies, would appear to be not wholly necessary then for these precocious readers. The children are in part self-taught already and so the repetition of ‘basic’ reading strategies could be deemed dull. As small children begin to read the world around them – before they can read words on the page – they can make sense of visual cues, such as ‘reading’ common signs.
