The 4 Stages of Reading: How Children Learn to Read

Reading is a skill that develops over time. It’s not something we’re born knowing how to do. Just like learning to walk or talk, children go through different stages as they build the skills needed for fluent reading.

At The Little Academy, we’ve worked with hundreds of children and families, guiding them through this journey. Understanding the four stages of reading can help parents support their child’s literacy development at home.

Stage 1: The Pre-Alphabetic Stage – Recognising Visual Cues

Have you ever noticed that toddlers can recognize the McDonald’s logo or a stop sign before they can read? That’s because, at this stage, children rely on visual cues rather than actual letters. They might “read” a word based on its colour, shape, or familiar context rather than understanding the letters themselves.

At this point, reading isn’t about decoding words, it’s about recognizing patterns in the environment.

How to support your child:

• Point out letters in everyday life, like store signs or food labels.
• Read aloud regularly to expose them to words and stories.
• Play matching games with pictures and words to build early recognition skills.

As children begin to recognize letters, they transition to the next stage where phonics comes into play.

Stage 2: The Partial Alphabetic Stage – Letter-Sound Awareness

This is when children start noticing that letters correspond to sounds. They may recognise the first letter of their name or guess words based on their beginning sounds.

For example, a child might see the word “dog” and recognize the “d” sound but still rely on pictures or context to guess the full word.

How to support your child:

• Introduce phonics games that focus on letter sounds.
• Encourage tracing and writing letters to reinforce recognition.
• Play “I Spy” using letter sounds (e.g., “I spy something that starts with ‘B’”).

Once children understand letter-sound relationships, they’re ready to take a big step and actually sounding out words!

Stage 3: The Full Alphabetic Stage – Decoding Words

This is where real reading begins. Children start blending individual sounds to form words. They can sound out words like “cat” by breaking them into parts—c-a-t—and blending them together.

At first, reading might be slow and effortful, but with practice, children become more confident in decoding unfamiliar words.

How to support your child:

• Encourage them to “sound it out” instead of guessing words.
• Use phonics-based books with simple three-letter words (CVC words like “bat,” “sun,” “pig”).
• Play word-building games to strengthen their blending skills.

As decoding becomes more automatic, children shift from focusing on individual letters to recognizing patterns and groups of words.

Stage 4: The Consolidated Alphabetic Stage – Fluency & Sight Words

At this stage, reading becomes more fluent. Instead of decoding every word letter by letter, children start recognizing common word patterns (like ‘-ing’ and ‘-tion’) and sight words (like “the” and “because”). This makes reading smoother and more automatic.

Children also develop better comprehension because they no longer have to focus on sounding out each word—they can concentrate on understanding the story instead.

How to support your child:

• Practice reading sight words regularly.
• Introduce word families to help with spelling and reading (e.g., “cat, bat, sat”).
• Read together daily, encouraging expressive reading and comprehension discussions.

The Reading Journey is Unique for Every Child

Every child progresses through these stages at their own pace, and that’s completely okay! The key is consistent exposure, encouragement, and making reading a positive experience.

By understanding these stages, parents can provide the right support at the right time, helping their children develop confidence and a lifelong love for reading.

Want more tips on how to support your child’s literacy journey? Follow us for more insights and resources! 📚