OKAY so our kids are now four but i see my son lacking in alot of areas

Brittney - posted on 03/12/2012

Read books to him, ask tons of questions, sing songs, interact with his toys, color with him, draw pictures. I have been doing this with my daughter since she was 5 months old. She is 17 months old now and knows shapes, colors, and the first 3 letters of the alphabet, and can say over 100 words. She just scribbles when she draws but the more often you let him draw, the better he will get. You cant always compare your child to others, he will grow at his own rate. And a head start program may just help. Ask the doctor about it or go in yourself and talk to them.

Christina - posted on 03/12/2012

check for a head start program in your area. it did wonders for my son from learning basics to him learnig to be more independent. he was in it for 2 years due to the way his birthday fell. it was great

Jean - posted on 04/24/2012

Well.... he is a boy and he is 4... :) That is the answer I get from a lot of parents! Sometimes that helps and sometimes it doesn't. Is he is in preschool, and if so have his teachers said anything about him being behind? I have a daughter who started reading at 2 1/2, yet my 4 year old just learned to sing the alphabet in the correct order. They are all soooooo different. Boys at that age can be very excitable and energetic - they really don't have time to settle down and 'learn'. I got a preschool book for my son so we could work together, but as a single working mother, it is hard to have time. I just found it buried under one of my piles! I work at a preschool and I think that the labeling idea is fantastic - I never thought about doing it around the house! We do it for everything at school. Keep reading him books, especially his favorites. Just have patience and keep doing fun learning projects together, even if you only have 20 minutes a day set aside for it. Good luck, let us know what works!!!

Amber - posted on 03/22/2012

I bought flash cards and made a fun game out of it. And he loves cars so he learned his colours from cars lol.. I always ask him questions like do you know what that is? And if he says no we discuss it. My son has autism so he had a whole lot of help. He had OT sessions and a resource teacher to help him with the transition Into school. But now he is in school and thriving because he has some wonderful EA's. The best advice I have is make learning fun :-)

[deleted account]

I love the label idea. My frustration with my son is that he is not writing his name yet or his letters. But slowly he will get there. In the meantime I'm having him trace letters. I'm trying to get him to make the connection between letters and sounds the letters make. On the plus side, he loves math. Camillle, each child develops at their own pace. You can always take him to his doctor and get him checked out.

Cs19862 - posted on 03/12/2012

i am going to try these i was going to lable his toys tomorrow so its funny you would suggest that thanks:) we usually categorize them but i was going to lable them so when grandma helped she would know what goes where and for me when i am in a hurry. yeah he is a little behind on learning things but he is awesome with manners, imaginative play and social skills. its just that i know some 4 year olds alot more advanced in the workings of alphabet and i see kids on youtube singing full songs of states and presidents and what not. thanks everyone this has given me alot of info, i even went to target and the local dollar store and picked up some activity books for preschool and kindergarten to work on them before. i even downloaded a playlist on youtube for preschoolers of shapes and letters and numbers so i too hope this helps:) thanks guys!

S. - posted on 03/12/2012

@deidre I'm going to be busy labeling every thing tomorrow what a great idea :)

My oldest girl was saying sentences in Chinese at four no kidding! she knew her ABC's by 2 if you sang it to her she would pick it up and she could write her name, my middle girl Sienna has a vocab bigger then any child I know but she's not interested in learning much, She can count ok and has just learnt to know what each number looks like now, she can write her name with dot's and she draws flowers faces and blob's lol i'v Just started teaching her how to spell her with a little song I made up but her attention soon drifts, iv been thinking about making some flash cards and games with her but I can garentee her attention span with me will last all of 5 mins, o and when were out we spot letters in signs and things we started with S as it in her name and now she can tell you what letters are in her name. I think each kid is different and will grow at there own pace even thou a little frustrating at times

Brittney - posted on 03/12/2012

@Deidre

That is a great idea, I'm going to try that! thank you!

Deidre - posted on 03/12/2012

Labeling everything in my house was the best idea I came up with in my whole life, I think!! My kids were reading by age 3 because of it. It's all about recognition to the object. Kind of like flash cards but way better because it's real life objects.

When my boys entered in to either Early Head Start and Our local Preschool Program called ECEAP, all the teachers were really impressed. I try to share with as many as I can this info, cause it changed our lives. My eldest son really got the crap end of the stick because when he was little I didn't know I was suppose to be so interactive with him when it came to his education. I always thought that was what Kindergarten was for. I was sooo wrong and he is the one who is still paying for my lack of knowledge. We held him back and he still has a hard time in school. He is nearly 13 and I am learning to be hands on NOW with him.

Anyway, I hope this really helps you, good luck :)