I asked Grandma, a former first grade teacher, if she thought Pookie could read, or if he was just fooling us with memorized things.  Grandma gave me a textbook called “Teaching Language Arts” by Carole Cox.  Alot of it was over my head, but I did get a few things.  One thing that I liked was called the “Camel Test” which measures how well a child uses invented spelling and understands phonics.  The test :

1.  Ask the child to spell CAMEL- a word he or she has heard but probably not seen in print.  If the child writes C-A-M-L it demonstrates awareness of the four phonemes and the ability to match the letters to phonemes in the word.

2.  If the child spells CAMEL correctly, substitute another word such as EAGLE (EGL), BACON (BAKN) or MAGIC (MAJEK)

I do not understand the full significance of this test, because I am not an educator.  But as a parent, I can tell you that I liked what I saw out of Pookie.  He listened to the words and then spelled them, the best he could.  His answers made sense and I KNOW they were not just memorized.  One way I know is that when he memorizes things…he memorizes them CORRECTLY.  He spelled every one of the words wrong, but close enough to prove that he was sounding them out in his head and he understands what sounds each letter makes.  Very impressive for a boy that has NEVER been taught phonics in school; there is just no time for it at his preschool.  Geetle, on the other hand, does study phonics at her preschool.  She also took the test.  Their answers are below.

Word                      Pookie’s Answer               Geetle’s Answer

Bacon                        Baekn                                    Biy

Magic                        Migek                                    Miagh

Eagle                        Eggol                                       Eihl

Swing                       Swaewng                               Sopoa

Ladder                    Leadd**                                 Lriner

King                         Kin                                        Cqrs

*I did not do “camel” because that is a word I know he has seen in print repeatedly.  He has a book with a story about a camel.

**I was surprised that he put 2 “d”s in Ladder.   He spelled the word “lead”, paused for a few seconds and then added another “d”.  I think he remembered seeing that word in print and was trying to spell it correctly by considering how it sounded and what he remembered from seeing it in print.

I was pleased with how they both did.  I think Geetle could have done better if she had not thought it was a competition.  She gets a bit overzealous with competitions.  She was trying to spell them fast, in case speed counted.   I plan on showing this to Pookie’s teacher at our meeting next week.  We are constantly reminding everyone (the school, society, ourselves and even Pookie himself) that he is capable than more than you might think.  He is barely 5 years old.  He has autism.  He has taught himself how to read.