At 4-5 I could read two languages fluently (at the rate of a typical 7-8 year-old), having been taught phonetics for both languages. There were a lot of words I

At 4-5 I could read two languages fluently (at the rate of a typical 7-8 year-old), having been taught phonetics for both languages. There were a lot of words I didn't know, but I could at least look them up in the dictionary. > Reading (prolific) to a child teaches how to read ... So even though I wasn't read at a lot as a child, I was taught how to do it myself. Inquisitiveness goes a long way with a child. I started doing crosswords at 6-7, and that taught me other skills etc. TL;DR, I agree that you can't be a high academic achiever if you can't read well.