Precocious readers represent a small portion of children who enter school each year. Researchers have investigated the environmental characteristics, acquisition process, psycholinguistic and neuropsychological characteristics, and academic skills of these children. Despite the research findings in the area, researchers and clinicians are still unable to predict who these children will be, describe how precocious readers fit into our current theories of emergent literacy and reading development, and confidently state whether this knowledge could be generalized beyond the precocious reader to the typically reading child. Forty years of research in this area is reviewed. Suggestions for improving the accessibility and generalizability of knowledge about precocious readers are provided.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
AnbarA (1986). Reading acquisition of preschool children without systematic instruction. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 1, 69–83
2.
BackmanJ (1983). The role of psycholinguist skills in reading acquisition: A look at early readers. Reading Research Quarterly, 18, 466–479
3.
BarlowD. H.HersenM. (1984). Single case experimental designs: Strategies for studying behavior change (2nd ed.). Elmsford, NY: Pergamon Press
4.
BrennaB. A. (1995). The metacognitive reading strategies of five early readers. Journal of Research in Reading, 18, 53–62
5.
BriggsC.ElkindD. (1973). Cognitive development in early readers. Developmental Psychology, 9, 279–280
6.
BriggsC.ElkindD. (1977). Characteristics of early readers. Perceptual and Motor Skills, 44, 1231–1237
7.
BurnsJ. M.CollinsM. D. (1987). Parents' perceptions of factors affecting the reading development of intellectually superior accelerated readers and intellectually superior nonreaders. Reading Research and Instruction, 26, 255–262
8.
BurnsJ. M.CollinsM. D.PaulsellJ. C. (1991). A comparison of intellectually superior preschool accelerated readers and non-readers: Four years later. Gifted Child Quarterly, 35, 118–124
9.
BusA.van IJzendoornM. (1999). Phonological awareness and early reading: A meta-analysis of experimental training studies. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 403–414
10.
CaldwellS. T. (1985). Highly gifted preschool readers. Journal for the Education of the Gifted, 8, 165–174
11.
ClarkM (1976). Young fluent readers.London: Heinemann Educational Books
12.
CoxC. M. (1926). Genetic studies of genius: Vol. 2. The early mental traits of three hundred geniuses.Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press
13.
DavidsonR.SnowC. E. (1995). The linguistic environment of early readers. Journal of Research in Childhood Education, 10, 5–21
14.
DurkinD (1966). Children who read early: Two longitudinal studies.New York: Teachers College Press
15.
ElbroC (1996). Early linguistic abilities and reading development: A review and a hypothesis. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 8, 453–485
16.
EvansJ. R.SmithL. J. (1976). Psycholinguistic skills of early readers. Reading Teacher, 30, 39–43
17.
ForesterA. D. (1977). What teachers can learn from “natural readers.”Reading Teacher, 31, 160–166
18.
GrossM. U. M. (2004). Exceptionally gifted children (2nd ed.). London: RoutledgeFalmer
19.
HendersonS. J.JacksonN. E.MukamalR. A. (1993). Early development of language and literacy skills of an extremely precocious reader. Gifted Child Quarterly, 37, 78–83
20.
JacksonN. E. (1992). Precocious reading of English: Origins, structure, & predictive significance. In KlineP.TannenbaumA. (Eds.), To be young and gifted (pp. 171–203. Norwood, NJ: Ablex
21.
JacksonN. E.BiemillerA. J. (1985). Letter, word, and text reading times of precocious and average readers. Child Development, 56, 196–206
22.
JacksonN. E.DonaldsonG. W.ClelandL. N. (1988). The structure of precocious reading ability. Journal of Educational Psychology, 80, 234–243
23.
JacksonN. E.MyersM. G. (1982). Letter naming time, digit span, and precocious reading achievement. Intelligence, 6, 311–329
KaminskiR. A.GoodR. H. (1996). Toward a technology for assessing basic early literacy skills. School Psychology Review, 25, 215–227
26.
KingE. M.FriesenD. T. (1972). Children who read in kindergarten. The Alberta Journal of Educational Research, 18, 147–161
27.
KonstantopoulosS.ModiM.HedgesL. V. (2001). Who are America's gifted?American Journal of Education, 109, 344–382
28.
KoratO (2005). Contextual and noncontextual knowledge in emergent literacy development: A comparison between children from low SES and middle SES communities. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 20, 220–238
29.
KrippnerS (1963). The boy who read at eighteen months. Exceptional Children, 30, 105–109
30.
LassB (1983). Portrait of my son as an early reader II. Reading Teacher, 43, 508–515
31.
MillsJ. R.JacksonN. E. (1990). Predictive significance of early giftedness: The case of precocious reading. Journal of Educational Psychology, 82, 410–419
32.
PatelP. G.PattersonP. (1982). Precocious reading acquisition: Psycholinguistic development, IQ, and home background. First Language, 3, 139–153
33.
PenningtonB. F.JohnsonC.WelshM. C. (1987). Unexpected reading precocity in a normal preschooler: Implications for hyperlexia. Brain and Language, 30, 165–180
34.
PerfettiC.BeckI.BellL.HughesC. (1987). Phonemic knowledge and learning to read are reciprocal: A longitudinal study of first grade children. Merrill Palmer Quarterly, 33, 283–319
35.
PlessasG. P.OakesC. R. (1964). Prereading experiences of selected early readers. Reading Teacher, 17, 241–245
36.
RackJ.HulmeC.SnowlingM. (1993). Learningto read: A theoretical synthesis. In ReeseH. W (Ed.), Advances in child development and behavior (pp. 99–132. San Diego, CA: Academic Press
37.
SalzerR. T. (1984). Early reading and giftedness: Some observation and questions. Gifted Child Quarterly, 28, 95–96
38.
SilvenM.PoskipartaE.NiemiP. (2004). The odds of becoming a precocious reader of Finnish. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 152–164
39.
SnowlingM. J. (2002). Reading development and dyslexia. In GoswamiU. (Ed.), Blackwell handbook of childhood cognitive development (pp. 394–411. Maiden, MA: Blackwell
40.
StainthorpR.HughesD. (1998). Phonological sensitivity and reading: Evidence from precocious readers. Journal of Research in Reading, 21, 53–68
41.
StainthorpR.HughesD. (2004a). What happens to precocious readers' performance by the age of eleven?Journal of Research in Reading,27, 357–372
42.
StainthorpR.HughesD. (2004b). An illustrative case study of precocious reading ability. Gifted Child Quarterly,48, 107–120
43.
StroebelS.EvansJ. (1988). Neuropsychological and environmental characteristics of early readers. Journal of School Psychology, 26, 243–252
44.
SuldoS. M.OlsonL. A.EvansJ. R. (2001). Qualitative EEG evidence of increased alpha peak frequency in children with precocious readingability. Journal of Neurotherapy, 5, 39–50
45.
TealeW. H. (1978). Positive environments for learning to read: What studies of early readers tell us. Language Arts, 55, 922–932
46.
ThomasB (1984). Early toy preferences of four-year-old readers and nonreaders. Child Development, 55, 424–430
47.
TorreyJ. W. (1969). Learning to read without a teacher: A case study. Elementary English, 46, 550–556, 658
48.
ZirkelbachT (1984). A personal view of early reading. Reading Teacher, 37, 468–471
