At this Level your child’s sight development reaches a new level of sophistication as she begins to see more meaning in the world around her. Your child should now know that objects and animals such as chairs, beds, dogs and cats are called chairs, beds, dogs and cats. She should also know that a chair is not called a cat, a bed is not called a dog, and a dog is not called a cat. What your child has learnt to do is attach a word of the language she speaks (be it English, Swahili or another) to an activity, object or animal that she sees. At this Level 6 your child will be able to learn the meaning of, not only words that she hears, but also of symbols that she sees.  She will be able to learn, for example, that a symbol such as a Big W logo means the store where she can see many interesting toys. She can also learn that the symbol that is the McDonald’s ‘M’ logo is found above the store where she sees a statue of Ronald McDonald.  And she might learn to recognise and know the meaning of other symbols that she sees from time to time in her particular part of the world. In different societies and cultures the symbols can be different and may be, for example, red signs that mean stop; or drawings on road signs that look like crocodiles or koalas that mean that those animals might be near. At this Level 6 your child will develop the ability to know the meaning of symbols she sees.

When your child can recognise a symbol and knows its meaning she has taken the first step to being an excellent reader. All excellent readers begin at this Level.

Your child also begins reading if she recognises numbers (which are also symbols) such as 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 And she knows how many 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, and 7 are. Your child also begins to read if she reads her name; or other words such as dog or cat. She also begins to read if she recognises logos of organisations such as the United Nations or Greenpeace and relates the logo to a UN or Greenpeace activity; or if she recognises logos of basketball or football teams and relates the logo to the team, or if she recognises the logo of a vehicle manufacturer such as Ford, Nissan or Hyundai and she knows those symbols (logos) identify particular cars.  

When your child sees a number, word, written name or logo and says “3”, “three”, “Mary” or “Ford” she is demonstrating that she probably recognises the symbol and its meaning; but she may not. She might only know for example, that the letter 3 is known by the name 3. She might not know that 3 means a group of this many things  *  *  *     Recognising a symbol and knowing its meaning is not much different to seeing a chair or car and saying “chair” or “car”. But, when your child sees a number, word, letter or logo at this Level, she realises for the first time that a symbol can have a meaning that is more than just the symbol she sees. And, if she knows the meaning of the symbol, then she is reading; albeit at a very fundamental level. 

We can assume that your child understands a symbol has meaning if, for example she sees a Big W logo at a new location and wants you to take her over to it; and then she takes you inside looking for toys. We can reasonably conclude that she understands that the toy department she enjoys is likely to be near the logo.  

From these small beginnings your child will begin to learn the meaning of more symbols such as more numbers or logos. Then she will perhaps learn to read her own name and a few words; and then more words. From this Level on, learning to read mid-primary level school books (average reading age about 9 years) will likely take a two year old magnificentchidren.love child about 3 to 5 more years, depending on, (i) how often she sees and understands words and, (ii) how much she learns to enjoy reading. The book Magnificent Reading explains how baby can learn to read well within only a few years and, if you have not already read it, it is recommended reading.

At this Level your child’s vision development is beginning to become focused on reading. Reading requires the high level of vision development that she should have when she completes this level. Her visual memory should then be developed to the level where she has the ability to begin recognising (that is reading) the literally thousands of written words in a language such as English.