Your 7+ year old is now able to recognize words and spellings and hence can read more fluently and without much help. Reading becomes a pleasurable habit to some kids now and your cute-heart is no different.
What you need to know
Now, they are capable of reading a comprehension and answering the questions based on it. They also have the ability to answer why, how, what-if and literal questions. They will be able to draw conclusions to a narration too. Most 7-8 year olds can repeat the story or information they have listened to more accurately now. So you can see the change when they will recount to you what they have observed, and ask questions for better clarity or for confirming their understanding. They can interpret drawn instructions. Gradually they will develop awareness of different forms of writing like letters, story, poems, etc.
Some kids might use writing as a way of expressing their feelings while there are some kids who show more interest in reading and learning rather than writing – this might pose a concern to parents at homework time. But this can be overcome by making them write what they like and slowly getting them interested in academic necessities with parent-teacher coordination. While writing the kids can now differentiate between the proper usage of upper & lower case letters and also correctly spell commonly used words.
