Our almost 5 yo daughter has taken to writing things over and over again. Somedays there will be pages and pages of words. Some she writes with letters that are 2 inches high. The words she likes to write most are DADE, MOME and EMMA. She has been writing her name the longest. Sometimes when she writes her name she forgets one of the Ms and you will see it written above or below the EMA. One night a couple weeks ago, she had a paper on which she had already written MOME and DADE. I watched her add her name to it. She realized after writing the E that she had no room to write the 2 M’s and the A. I was amazed to see her write her name backwards writing the M next to the E, then another M next to that and finally the A.
When we first started homeschooling there were people around who would have been concerned at seeing the spelling that she has for DADE and MOME. The thing is, she figured out that spelling on her own. And we do not correct her. Eventually, she will learn the correct spelling. If she is 17 and still spelling it that way, then we have something to worry about. It is much more important to foster her desire to learn and figure things out than it is to have her do everything correctly, as though she were an adult, now.
If it hadn’t been that I had seen her write it and I were less experienced I might be concerned about the AMME. Where we used to live there were some folks who were borderline on being paranoid about children being dyslexic. The private school Addison went to for K & 1 tested children for dyslexia starting at grade one. Many years later, Andrea found studies which showed that the symptoms of dyslexia are often present in children that young. Most 6yo who show signs of dyslexia lose them by the time they are age 8 or 9. Having seen her write it, I was somewhat in awe that she is able manipulate the image she sees and recognize her name. She has shown that ability with other things beside her name as well.
If there were a thought that I had on my mind when I decided to write this, it would be that we should be looking for talents and abilities in our children rather than flaws.
Recent Comments