My daughter seems to have a strange way of learning.

[mummyloveslucy]

My daughter seems to have an unusuall learning style,she is now 3 years 10 months old. She didn't crawl or bum shuffel or anything and when she was 15 months just started walking, not falling over very often either. I've noticed that she seems to be like this in her learning too. I do wrighting with her dot to dot, and she traces it. Not long ago she couldn't do it at all, she's still not brilliant at it now, but she can wright independantly. If I say wright a "b" now a "a" she will do it. Sometimes I have to remind her what the letters look like, but it seems to have all come at once.
Last Christmas I remember feeling a bit worried that she had no pen controll at all, and a lot of the girls in her nursery class wrote their names, dot to dot in her christmas cards. I've noticed this year, that my daughter is as good if not better at wrighting.
she has a speech disorder so I'm really hoping that will come on in leaps ond bounds too soon.
I realised yesterday that she could count to 10 in french and could say hello and good by in french too. She picks up lyrics from songs very easily too.
I 've gon from worrying about her intellegence to thinking she might be very clever, it's hard to know how much she actually knows due to her speech problem.
Do anyone elses children learn in huge leaps like my daughter and seem to cut out the middle man as it were?

Can you make sure she learns to spell 'write' as 'write'?

I think mummyloveslucy is dyslexic, so that was a touch impolite to pick her up on her spelling.

I found DS was like that with numbers - that all of a sudden he could read and write and count numbers up to ten when he could only recite them by rote previously.

She does seem quite advanced for her age though, I think most children start recognising letters and writing freehand at four.

Sorry, had no idea. My apologies.

My son learns in exactly the same way. I think he knows it all before he lets me know, but i do think that it is a bit of a lack of confidence. Unless he knows that he can definitely do itperfectly he doesn't like to show anyone.

Well, Mummy's dyslexic so she is at a bit of a disadvantage.
I learnt through memory. At 9 I couldn't wright all the letters of the alphabet. I was statemented and they said to my Mum "don't be supprised if she never learns to read and wright". So I don't think I've done too badly.
I am aware that I might not be able to help my daughter as much as I'd like too, and that is frustrating. I'll continue to do my best though.

I don't think it is so unusual to leanr in fits and starts. Some children seem to be perfectionists and just do things as and when they are ready to do so confidently. She is probably older than many of her peer group (mid year b'day), some will grasp writing easily, others reading, others maths, others play and construction. Presumably her received language is currently much stronger than her expressive (SALT should be able to assess this)and at least it shows she hasn't got a hearing or significant language processing issue to be able to do the French , presumably in context. To her it is probably just like a song or rhyme to be recited back.

Cross posted

Thats o.k LadyBuntingofCupcake, I'm used to it.
It must be tempting when I'm talking about my daughters intellegence, while at the same time I'm spelling like a 7 year old.

She understands everything and has a wide vocab but it's very unclear. She gets the tune right for her songs but if you didn't know the song, you wouldn't know what she was singing.

I dont have any experience of a girl at your daughters age, as my dd is 1 and my ds is 8, but I think she sounds very intelligent. Sometimes kids seem to struggle with certain things and then all of a sudden they do it as if they have been doing it every day. Also, dont worry that your not helping your daughter, encouragement and support are just as important as all the other stuff. Sounds like your doing great.

Thank you Keels26. She is also very thoughtfull and caring. She tends to assess things, and work things out well too. I was like a bull in a china shop at her age apparently, but she's so gentle.

My Ds is like that. He swallowed a dictionery overnight 2 days before his 2nd birthday and was souting new words all day. He never learned to crawl properly and walked at 10 months and was running around by his first birthday. You could always tell when he was going to have a developmental spurt as we would have 2 weeks of frustration then he was an expert. It was like he was working out how to do it first then put it into practise. Funnily enough he is dyslexic.

DD did every thing on a gradual basis ie adding a new word every few days etc

They are both very bright/intelligent children but it has always astonished me how different their development has been.

She sounds lovely, and being able to work things out for herself shows she must understand a lot, and also shows she trusts her own opinion. That sort of confidence is very important for children. Also, theres nothing wrong with being a bull in a china shop,my ds has always been like that! We still love him!

It's not that unusuall then. It seems to be quite normal for some children, I find it fascinating how children develop. I've been told that my daughters literacy might be affected by the speech problem, but it's too early to tell. I suppose I'm trying to give her a bit of a head start.

Thank you. At parents evening they told us how our daughters speech never holds her back and how she'll happily stand in front of everyone and talk about her toy for show and tell. She does it every week.
I would've been far too shy at her age, I probubly wouldn't be confident doing that now.

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