There are a lot of theories running around regarding early acquisition of reading skills. A psycholinguist that I ascribe much of my philosophy to is Frank Smith, a maverick in the world community of reading experts. His excellent book "Reading Without Nonsense" is required reading by all PhotoReading Instructors. Consider getting hold of that book.
My position as a father of 3 boys was to read to them a lot. Encourage reading by finding ways to read with them. Show them that there are options...like reading a kids book from the last word forward to the first word. It's hilarious and teaches a lot about syntax or sentence construction.
The main thing is that kids feel that they have joined the "club" of those who read. They need to learn the finer points of discovering what it means to be a member.
My 3 kids took the PhotoReading course at ages 12, 10, and 9 respectively. When the youngest took it the first time, his older brothers repeated the course at 17 and 15. They are all bright, labeled gifted, and excellent readers. All of them have different ways of approaching their reading and all have differing levels of motivation to read.
