One more thing ...

Every night since my daughter was able to focus her eyes on something, she and i hhave sat every night and read a book.

I didn't wait for her to learn to speak first, I just pointed at things on pages and made appropriate sounds ...

at first, this meant pointing at pictures and saying "bus" or "dog"

Later, as she grew older, this moved on to "A" an "B" etc

Here's the point ...

... she doesn't need to look at a book if she wants to talk to me.

She is fully capable of improvising sentences on her own without loking aat a page.

The idea that being able to read means you cant' speak, or in musical terms, play without dots, is simply not true.