If you’ve ever been told, “Don’t worry, they’ll catch up,” about your child’s language or reading development — this post is for you.

Because here’s the thing: in Australia right now, we have a reading problem. And the research is increasingly clear that the best time to address this is well before your child steps into a classroom.

The numbers are confronting

2024 NAPLAN results showed more than 258,000 Australian students in Years 3, 5, and 7 didn’t meet a strong reading proficiency standard. That’s roughly one in four children — not meeting the benchmark after years of schooling.

Even more sobering: almost 90,000 students began high school in 2023 without the literacy skills they needed to keep up. And research consistently shows that those students are less likely to finish school and face greater disadvantage throughout their working lives.

This isn’t a story about children who weren’t capable. It’s a story about children who weren’t identified and supported early enough.

The brain case for starting at 3

During the first three years of life, the brain undergoes its most dramatic period of development. By 3 years of age, a child’s brain has around 1,000 trillion brain connections (synapses). This is when children build the foundational capacity to think, speak, learn, and reason — and when the brain is most plastic, most ready to form new connections quickly and efficiently.

Between the ages of 3 and 5 is “prime time” to leverage the learning capacity that occurs as children’s language, social, and emotional foundations develop. This “prime time” period between ages 3 and 5 is characterised by a 400% increase in vocabulary (from roughly 1,000 to up to 5,000 words). While the first three years are often cited as the most intensive period for acquiring foundational skills, the 3–5 year window is where these foundations are refined into complex, adult-like communication.

It is more difficult for children to take advantage of learning environments, such as school, if they have not had optimal early learning experiences or a nurturing home environment.

“Children are more likely to cope with the challenges of school when they are self-reliant and confident; are willing to try new things, can listen to and follow instructions, can take care of their own belongings, can interact confidently and co-operatively with other children and adults, and can cope with inevitable frustrations,” – Associate Professor Kay Margetts,  Lecturer in Early Childhood and Primary Teacher Education.

Neuroscience research has shown that early measures of language and sound awareness don’t just reflect where a child is right now — they predict reading performance years down the track, into primary school and beyond. The foundation is set earlier than most parents realise.

What South Australia showed us

In 2018, South Australia became the first Australian state to introduce the Year 1 Phonics Screening Check — a simple assessment of how well students were decoding words using their knowledge of letter-sound relationships.

The initial results were a wake-up call: just 43% of Year 1 students met the expected standard.

By 2023, that figure had risen to 71% — a remarkable shift driven by earlier identification, targeted support, and a move toward evidence-based phonics instruction.

That improvement didn’t happen by accident. It happened because children who were struggling were identified sooner and given structured support before the gap became too wide to close easily.

Other states have since followed. 

Victoria is now mandating phonics screening. The shift is national — and it’s being driven by the evidence.

Children who fall behind early tend to stay behind

This is the finding that should matter most to every parent.

Australian and international research consistently shows that children who fall behind in language and reading in the early years rarely catch up without targeted intervention. The gap doesn’t close on its own — in fact, it typically widens as children move through school, because reading underpins learning across every subject.

Early literacy researchers call this the “Matthew effect” — a term drawn from the biblical idea that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. In reading terms, children who start strong read more, which builds more vocabulary, more knowledge, and more confidence. Children who struggle early read less, which compounds the gap year after year.

The earlier a difficulty is identified and addressed, the easier — and more effective — the intervention.

Phonological awareness: the skill that changes everything

One of the strongest early predictors of reading success is phonological awareness — the ability to hear and play with the sounds inside words. Can your child hear that “cat” and “bat” rhyme? Can they tell you the first sound in “dog”? Can they clap out the syllables in their name?

These aren’t just cute party tricks. They’re the building blocks of reading.

Australian research has consistently found that early interventions focused on oral language and phonological awareness are effective in lifting children’s literacy outcomes — particularly for children who are already showing signs of delay. And the earlier those interventions start, the greater the benefit.

The good news is that phonological awareness can absolutely be taught. With the right support at the right time, most children can develop the foundations they need to become confident readers.

What “early support” actually looks like at age 3 or 4

You don’t need to turn playtime into school time. Early literacy support for a three or four-year-old looks nothing like sitting at a desk with worksheets.

At its best, it looks like:

• Playful, structured activities that build sound awareness through games, songs, and stories – we do this in every Reading Bees lesson for our PreKinder and Kinder program
• Conversations that stretch vocabulary and fire up curiosity – this can be done at any time, outside of our program
• Gentle, expert guidance on where your child is developmentally — and what they need next – speak to our educators to better understand where your child is in their learning journey 
• Catching small gaps before they become big ones

At Reading Bees, we work with children from age 3 using a structured, phonics-based approach that’s grounded in the science of how children learn to read, write and spell. 

Our small group sessions are designed to be engaging and confidence-building — and our educators are trained to spot the early signs that a child needs a little extra support.

“Learning to read is not easy or natural. It is a complex process. Oral language and pre-literacy skills, including phonological awareness, support early reading and writing development. Skilled readers have good decoding skills (word recognition); understand what they read (comprehension), and read with fluency,” Maureen Pollard, Director of Little Learners Love Literacy.

The bottom line

Australia’s literacy data tells us clearly: too many children are reaching high school without the reading skills they need, because their difficulties weren’t identified or addressed early enough.

The research is equally clear on the solution: early identification, structured support, and evidence-based instruction — starting well before formal schooling begins.

If your child is between 3 and 5 and you want to ensure you give them the best learning foundations, please don’t wait to “see how they go.”

Book a free trial class today. The earlier we start, the better the outcome.

Reading Bees offers structured, phonics-based literacy programs for children from age 3 across 8 Melbourne studio locations.