[kimber413]

Okay, neither DH nor I have been around a lot of children, so we have no idea what the learning order is for a child learning to recognize her ABCs or numbers. I was just wondering if this is normal:

The other day I was helping DD put together her hopscotch squares, and I told her which number, in sequence, to give to me. She was able to recognize all numbers between 1-10 and hand them over. However, if I point to a number, such as 3, and ask her what that number is, she can't always tell me. For sure she can tell me 1, 2, and 4, but has problems with the rest. Is this a normal pattern of learning for a child? Same thing goes for ABCs, more or less. DD turned 4 a couple of months ago, and we've been working on these things even though she won't start Kindergarten until 2008. She just wants to read so badly we thought we'd give her a little boost.

[2Bulgarianbeauties]

Very normal! My two daughters followed the same pattern. Must be something in brain development. If you ask for a number by name, they are told the name, and then can remember the shape and make the match. But, to have to remember the name of something is harder.

She sounds like she is doing great. Just as an FYI, when my oldest was ready to start learning sounds of the letters, we used the Leap Frog Letter Factory tape. It was amazing. She watched it 4 times and knew all the sounds of her letters.

Kay

[Drazil]

Kim, Adrian turned 4 in December and he has has been doing his ABC's and numbers in sequence with complete recognition and out of sequence as well for about a year now. We purchased flash cards for ABC's and numbers when he was about 2 1/2 and we have worked with these ever since. We let him go at his own pace but I could tell that he was improving everytime we used them. We also use several interactive, educational computer games (since about the same time, 2 1/2) and he has also learned alot from those as well. We started with age range 3 and 4 when he was 2 1/2 and last summer (at 3 1/2) we went up to the kindergarten, 5 and 6 age group range. He loves the Dr. Suess Kindergarten computer CD and its all about numbers and letters (and sounding out words and spelling) as well as addition and subtraction. You would be surprised how much sinks in (concepts, sequence) when they are playing these games. Good Luck!

[kimber413]

Kay, thanks for the suggestion. I'll check those tapes out. She's been reciting her ABCs and counting to 30 for quite a while now, jut the recognition isn't quite there yet. I don't think she had a lot of verbal interaction with anyone up until we got her at 2, so she's slightly behind, but catching up quite a bit lately since I've been home with her and we read and talk, and of course she watches quite a bit of educational TV.

Sharon, it IS amazing how much sinks in for them. We've been watching the Schoolhouse Rocks DVDs, and she can sing the entire interjection song. Hopefully she remembers that when she gets to that point in English class.

I'm glad she's progressing normally, though.

[lovestruck]

This is very normal!! She'll get it! When my kids were younger when we read at night we used various abc books and number books. I started out telling them what they were and then advanced to asking them the letter or number. But if I didn't ask for a while, sometimes it was like starting over. It's just repetition (sp?) and exposure.

Just a short story. We worry so much about things these days that our parents didn't. Use to be you didn't even learn to read until first grade. Now it's Kindergarten or prek even.

I had a friend. Her first child learned everything early early. But with her second child she just didn't have the time to work with all the education stuff like she did with the older one. The time she had with her she wanted it to be just enjoying each other. Well when she started Kindergarten she didn't know any of her letters or numbers. In two weeks she knew them all and as well as their sounds and was starting to read.

She's doing great. It will come!

[kizibits]

I would tend to agree with everyone else here that it is normal. I compare it to my own abilities with foreign languages. When someone speaks to me in Russian, for example, I can understand what they are saying, but if I have to construct a sentence myself I often struggle to find the right word or words. I know what it is--it's just that it's much more difficult to come up with the new word or concept than it is to understand and recognize it when I hear it.

[orenmommy]

Sounds like your daughter is doing GREAT !! Especially since she heard Russian for 2 years first!!!

[tbristow]

It sounds perfectly normal to me. Being around now my 4th child in that age range, I've had them learn the ABC's by sight and sound at 2 (the only boy in the bunch no less and my Russian-born one at that) to almost 8 for my eldest step-DD who has FAS. The closer to school she gets, the easier it will be for her. I think with all the kids, the numbers came last. We're using the Hooked on Phonics pre-school program for Hunter. I figure he's the one most likely to read before kindergarten. We have the Leap Frog Alphabet Factory DVD too. Hunter loves it!!

[GCS]

totally normal! I agree with Kay and Theresa's mention of the Leapfrog Alphabet factory DVD. It's great! Sophia watched with Sam a lot last year and she learned her letters from it as well.
I need to look into the Dr Suess CD!

[Schnooks]

Yep.. Leapfrog all the way.. Max was obsessed with his Leap radio and the way I discovered he knew his letter sounds was when he went up to the communion table at church, pointed to the "M" in remembrance and said "MMMM".. so then I started asking him other letter sounds and he knew them. I guess if you press a talking letter over and over 50 times a day, it sinks in.

Schnooks

[kimber413]

I just wanted to thank Kay for the suggestion of the Leap Frog videos. Within a couple of viewings, DD knew all the sounds of the letters. I purchased the follow-up DVD, word factory, and now she's starting to sound out and recognize short words! It's amazing. Now if she could just recognize all the leters by name instead of sound. If you point to an F, she calls it ffffffffffff instead of eff. But we're working on that.

Thanks! These DVDs are terrific.

[waitinginnj]

Since she is liking the letter factory and word factory - you can buy a word whammer and she can start spelling words etc. My daughter likes it a lot and uses it more that the fridge phonics.

The Bob beginner reader series has been really goo too.