My Four Year Old Struggeling with Shapes, Days of the Week Etc.

I wouldn't worry.

Sometimes it takes a while for the lightbulb to go on. Just keep doing what you're doing!

My stepdaughter was SEVEN (and they passed her through first grade mind you) and she couldn't name the days of the week in order, the seasons or the months of the year! However, by just working with her day after day, one day the lightbulb just came on and she was fine.

Now she's ahead of her grade in all subjects.

So, even if he's delayed, he will be FINE! Every kid learns at their own pace.

Hi T.,

it might be comforting to you to know that this focus on intellectual ability is a speciality of most of the US, and in other parts of the world this focus is considered odd. In Austria, the Netherlands and Germany many people would not bother to try to have a 4-y-o-child learn the alphabet or numbers, unless that child is motivated to do so. Once he is ready AND interested, i bet he will learn like magic! Don't push him , he will lose fun and energy at the expense of other abilities and exlorations that he should focus on right now. His difficulties sound typical of that age (figuring out time etc) and i find the preschool's reaction strange indeed. We may value the intellect most -- but this might biase us in the early years of the child. I also want to add that i see no evidence that culture with less of a focus on academic skill (and academic drill) early in childhood have poorer outcome of academic success later. The opposite may be true.

Good luck!
D.

I'm guessing (just guessing here) but he might do better with visual cues. Some things to try might be a kids calendar and a set of pictures on a velcro strip that can be rearranged for the day's activities, and visual reminders for whatever tasks need to be done. One child I cared for had a hard time remembering his tasks when he came home for preschool, so I made a Job Train out of cardstock, pictures of each job on their own car (cap and coat on one; toilet and hands w/ soap on one; lunchbox and schoolbag on one; etc.) with a pic of him as the "engineer". This worked really well--all I had to do was point out the pieces and ask him to "build the train".

You can also try singing the days of the week, but honestly, at this age, kids are still living in the present and so days of the week can feel abstract for some kids.

For what it's worth, I'm a preschool teacher and I see a LOT of parents sweating over what we call 'the basics'. I don't know if you are concerned about your child being prepared for kindergarten, but my feeling is this: let him go to preschool to learn how to trust other adults, to learn how to follow the transitions and cues of the group as they move through the day, and to practice their self-help and social skills. This is the foundation most kindergarten teachers need. They are very skilled in teaching shapes (which are tricky at times) and days of the week, etc. At this age, it is most important that children do much of their learning through play, so spending time enjoying shape and pattern blocks will be more pleasant than quizzing him for both of you--you can talk about the shapes as you work. It may be that the bar is being set a little too high for your little guy. He will likely learn all he needs to, and it may not be as fast as his peers, but I'm guessing that if an assessment doesn't show anything unusual, your son sounds like a pretty par-for-the-course kiddo to me!

T.,

Based on what you are saying I don't see any reason to be concerned. If his preschool thinks it might be an auditory processing disorder it makes me wonder if there is more happening then you stated. I have a 5 & 4 year old and I don't tell them about birthday parties until the day of because they will continually ask me when we are going. My 4 year old struggles with a couple of his shapes as well. He will get them one day and then the next he will call it the wrong shape. Days of the week forget about it. I think my little boy is pretty bright as well. I am amazed at what he recalls at times as well. I think the thing to keep in mind right now is that he is 4. We have started putting so much pressure on our kids to be smarter that they don't get a chance to be a kid. My son is learning how to write in his 3 year old class. I didn't learn how to do that until I was in first grade. Yes, right now their minds are like sponges and they can really learn a ton, but I don't see any reason to be concerned based on what you just said.

M.

I am not sure how to answer what might be normal, so I'll stay out of that, although nothing you say would give me concern at that age. But I'm wondering if it is your mommy instinct - in which case, listen to yourself. I just wanted to give you a tip that I did with my kids to teach them the days of the week. I think that is so hard - even for adults to keep track of LOL! I know the preschool and kindergarten and first grade are all still teaching this concept - and some kids still don't get it well after multiple years of being taught the days of the week. For my kids when they were 3 years old, I made a day of the week chart. At the top I wrote out the day - but since they couldn't read, I drew a visual clue so they could maybe guess what day. Sunday was easy - I drew a sun. For Monday I drew some coins - money - which they recognized. Then I'd ask them what day starts with "Mon" like "money". For Tuesday - I put the number 2. For Wednesday - I drew a couple being married in a "wedding". Thursday I drew someone who was "thirsty". Friday of course was french "fries". For Saturday - drew a person who "sat" on a chair. They soon learned the names from the drawings. Then under each day, I drew what routine they typically did on that day - my kids sometimes went to preschool, sometimes I was home, sometimes both my husband and I were home, or sometimes their grandmother had them. Then you can add to that an area where you could pin a paper that had whatever special event might be happening in that week. That way, they could figure out for themselves what day the event was happening. I hope that helps!

What I've learned and am doing right now with teaching preschool two my 3 year old daughter and 2 year old niece is take one shape, number, color or letter etc. a week and work on it for a whole week then after a couple of weeks do a review hope this helps we are using www.letteroftheweek.com curriculum.

He sounds like a typical 4 year old to me. I mean sure there are 4 year olds that are better at this kind of stuff. My daughter is just finishing up her 1st year of preschool (will be 5 in Sept). She still is working on recognizing letters. She counts to 14 then gets a little messed up from that point on. She also tends to constantly ask me if the event I told her about that is days away is that day every morning when she wakes up. (And I've heard other moms complain of the same thing from their children) From what I've been told all those tasks will be expected to be learned in Kindergarten, letters, numbers and shapes by the first semester but days of the week and that stuff is also things they will work on that year. So in my opinion I wouldn't worry about it too much at this point, but then I know nothing of this disorder you are talking about.

I agree that this sounds totally normal. Especially for someone who JUST turned 4! Our kids learn a "days of the week" song in preK preschool and in kindergarten. In preschool I think it's more just a song to them, than understanding which days there are. By kindergarten they "get" which day of the week it is, what comes next, etc. Its a hard concept.

As far as shapes, try getting him some puzzles. We have several Melissa and Doug wooden puzzles. They help with shapes, colors, etc. It seemed like as soon as our kids "got it", they became bored with the puzzles because they were "too babyish".

I have known several children who wouldn't write their names, hardly knew their letters, shapes, etc. entering the preK class. This is totally normal.

Try to make games out of learning. We also had placemats that had shapes and colors on them...my kids LOVE playing games during breakfast (chewing). We started with Elmo shapes and colors and now do a map of the United States with capitols and the world. My kids are 5 and 6 and they love finding the states!

He just turned 4. At this age most kids have a hard time focusing on much of anything. My daughter just turned 5 and is finishing up her second year of pre school. Last year she had difficulty with numbers, shapes, letters etc. The doctor and preschool both said that there is not a concern unless they are struggling when they are in kindergarden. Also, at age 4, they have NO concept of time! Of course he is going to confuse days of the week. If you really are concerned, make an appointment with your pediatrician. There is no point in worrying yet.