Again about Ana....

[conuly]

Somebody is really eager to read. She routinely stops me when I s-p-e-l-l things o-u-t and asks "What does that mean?". She is more than ever asking to read stories too us, carefully running her finger under the words.

And today? She sat down with a pen and a piece of paper and wrote a note. She wrote her name in it, and then carefully made a (long!) series of uniformly small shapes and scribbles, grouped neatly into "words". IN LINES. I can't write as neat as that, even with lined paper!

In addition, she set aside some space where she made clear, pre-writing shapes. Series of curves, of lines. She even made a few letters.

Her favorite activity, she asks to do this every day, is to go on my computer to play "her game". Starfall.com - lots of cute little flash games about letter sounds. And I don't think she's "being fooled into learning" - she does realize she's learning something, and she wants more of it.

It's a little frightening. It really came on all of a sudden, it seems.

Edit: Naturally, of course, I make this post while simultaneously trying to convince somebody that three year olds don't need to know their letters or numbers, that there's far more important skills to learn (especially in the context of preschool readiness). For that matter, while Ana seems to be slightly ahead in this area, she's a bit behind in a few of the things I think are more crucial for preschool. Like anything that involves participation... she can, at least some of the time, but that doesn't mean she will. I didn't realize how much she avoids participating in things until I realized that Su, at 2, joined in everything. And then I saw that Su is the more normal one here. (Su tends to be scarily bright, so I don't look to her for examples!) Ana's getting much better at this social stuff, especially in groups, but she's still not quite where the other kids are. (And that's fine - my family, we're not exactly joiners. My mother was startled that I even considered this a potential problem, since Jenn and I were apparently both "just like that". This was half a year ago.)

Comments

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Starfall is fantastic, there is another site too that the kids love, sparktop .org but not sure how easy/hard the material is. It's a site for kids with LDs but it took us months to realize that (we're a bit slow here). It's fun because it teaches in different ways.

[conuly]

You wanna talk? I mean, y'know, talk instead of arguing at cross-purposes?

I can't talk now, I ought to be asleep, but I'm always willing to. Now that I'm not being upset and maybe you're not.

Thank you for the link - we've been through every letter at starfall several times now :)

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

I'm just letting it go, have to not take things so personally...I dont know how rational I can be, anymore, about certain topics, because I am coming unglued. Or could.

[conuly]

I think that sounds like a good idea. I could use some of that too.

*hugs*

I know, things are really tough right now. The only advice I can give is, based on what I've read from other parents-of-autistic-kids, things do turn around. They get easier for you, even if they don't objectively become easier.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

It's funny, Gareth and I were talking about this this morning (there was an ad on the radio for some public television show that will "help you have your child make an easy transition to kindergarten" and we were arguing over whether that meant "we will show you how to teach your child to read!"). In any case, my point then (as now) is that kids will learn when they are good and ready, not before and not after, and so if they're showing interest there's nothing wrong with encouraging them; and if they're not, then don't force them to.

G. was victim to a fad in the UK that said that parents should absolutely not take any involvement in helping their kids learn to read because the professionals do it better. Problem was, the stuff they gave him in school was deathly boring and he didn't want to read it, and his parents weren't supposed to let him read anything from outside while he was learning, so he didn't learn until pretty late, even though he'd been starting to learn before he started primary school. (Reminded me of this scene in To Kill a Mockingbird, actually—hence the icon.)

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

Starfall is fantastic, there is another site too that the kids love, sparktop .org but not sure how easy/hard the material is. It's a site for kids with LDs but it took us months to realize that (we're a bit slow here). It's fun because it teaches in different ways.

[conuly]

You wanna talk? I mean, y'know, talk instead of arguing at cross-purposes?

I can't talk now, I ought to be asleep, but I'm always willing to. Now that I'm not being upset and maybe you're not.

Thank you for the link - we've been through every letter at starfall several times now :)

[kibbles.livejournal.com]

I'm just letting it go, have to not take things so personally...I dont know how rational I can be, anymore, about certain topics, because I am coming unglued. Or could.

[conuly]

I think that sounds like a good idea. I could use some of that too.

*hugs*

I know, things are really tough right now. The only advice I can give is, based on what I've read from other parents-of-autistic-kids, things do turn around. They get easier for you, even if they don't objectively become easier.

[sparkofcreation.livejournal.com]

It's funny, Gareth and I were talking about this this morning (there was an ad on the radio for some public television show that will "help you have your child make an easy transition to kindergarten" and we were arguing over whether that meant "we will show you how to teach your child to read!"). In any case, my point then (as now) is that kids will learn when they are good and ready, not before and not after, and so if they're showing interest there's nothing wrong with encouraging them; and if they're not, then don't force them to.

G. was victim to a fad in the UK that said that parents should absolutely not take any involvement in helping their kids learn to read because the professionals do it better. Problem was, the stuff they gave him in school was deathly boring and he didn't want to read it, and his parents weren't supposed to let him read anything from outside while he was learning, so he didn't learn until pretty late, even though he'd been starting to learn before he started primary school. (Reminded me of this scene in To Kill a Mockingbird, actually—hence the icon.)