The First Story- Hello Euphoria.

The next two blogs will look at the Good and Ugly of Reading Development. I am focusing here due the digression in the chapter. Wolf begins to look at the two stories. The first story encapsulates the how and why's of child development in the perfect conditions. Whereas, the second story argues what happens when reading and healthy emotions are not tied to language and literacy. In the last blog, I spent some about how emotional connections are made when young children begin to experience text. This blog will entertain the ideas behind the what and when in the foundations of reading.

Can't it all be good.. 

What's in a letter's name
Symbols make letters. Letters form words. Words form individual meaning. Words put together into sentences, sentences into paragraphs. Big meaning occurs. But, what is in a letter's name? How does a= /a/? Furthermore, how do we identify the letter as a letter? Before identifying can actually occur new neurons have to develop. These neurons become visual cortex "specialists". After the brain creates new neurons and pathways, the more learning occurs the more refined the brain actually becomes. Naming objects and naming letters are the first two pieces of creating a modern, re-arranged literate brain. The brain actually changes to cause the brain to read. So, what is in a letter's name? The all-creating power to develop neurons and pathways to create meaning. Socrates... why you had to be so grumpy?

When should a young child begin to read
This always stirs up a little bit of controversy. Using myself as a case study, I learned to read in Kindergarten. However, I had a momma who read to me constantly-- she probably read to me while in the womb. Interestingly enough, in the United States, some two-year-old can name all the letters, but some five-year-old (particularly boys) must still word hard at this (Wolf, pg. 93)
So, do boys learn to read slower? It was found by behavior neurologist Norman Geschwind that most myelination of the angular gyrus region was not fully developed till school age, being between the ages of 5 and 7. He hypothesized that myelination occurs at a slower rate in some boys, which could provide the reasoning for why boys learn to read and becoming fluent readers slower than girls.  '
What I can conclude from other studies conducted in this section, ideally children should be reading by seven. In contradiction, writer Penelope Fitzgerald advocates reading comes in its own biological timing. Just let the myelination occur in its own timing!