"Normal" versus "Early Educated" Milestones at 18 months

[TeachingMyToddlers]

These questions are in regards to my almost 19 month old daughter. I have an almost 6 month old as well, but he'll be benefiting more than my daughter did in his first year. I only very recently discovered Doman, right brain education, as well as LR & LM in the last couple of weeks which we are now using faithfully.


Prior to this we have been doing:
-Baby Signing time
-Signing Time
-Signing time books and flashcards to reinforce her signs
-YBCR semi-regularly
-Preschool Prep Company series, Meet the Shapes, Colors, Letters, Numbers and Sight Words about 16 months old. She responded VERY well to these and worked her way through of the DVD's in about 2 months or less. We're now finishing up with Meet the Sight words and working on the accompanying easy reader books, she knows 2/3 of her Preschool Prep sight words very well but has not yet translated that into book reading yet (that I am aware of anyway. We had NO IDEA she knew all of her Baby Signing Time signs because they never "came up in conversation." One day my husband asked her and she surprised us with a seemingly unknown sign, and then another, and another, she knew them all along...)


Her current level:
-Knows all shapes, colors, letters (Upper and lower case recognition, still working on learning the ABC song though), numbers (1-10 down pat, most of 11-20), 30-40 sight words-
-Picking up 1-2 new words everyday for the last month or so
-Very active, tries to do "forward rolls" on the living room floor, loves to climb, run, play, is fearless
-Studies and takes apart things, will inspect things to learn how they work and so forth, "tests" the world constantly
-Every day we do multiple projects- playdough, fingerpaint, talk about the learning posters I've hung around the house, crayons, markers, stickers, play with dried beans, random crafts, bang on pots and pans, pretend kitchen/doll play, etc
-Plays with foam letters and we make words for her out of them in the bathtub
-Water play in the baby pool usually 3-4 times per week
-Today we just started working on keyboarding and mouse control with the Leapfrog Click "My first computer", she gets the clicking part but isn't great at the dragging part yet
-A variety of youtube clips like phonics/abc songs, months and days of the week, some spanish clips, etc
-Basically daytime potty-trained
-She took her first steps at 10 months & 10 days old
-Super affectionate and just a great kid to be around. We're working on getting control of her emotional maturity and reducing crying fits which is one of her challenges.


New programs we are beginning or just began:
-LR & LM & many of the extra DL's
-LR Deluxe kit
-Tweedlewink
-Little Pim Spanish


What are some other activities/programs I can incorporate into our daily life that I am not already doing? I've seen people referring to the "Memory Magic" program. Is she too young or is that something I can play and let my kids watch and they can still benefit from it?



So, for her first 1.5 of life I have been working with her and reading to her all along but not utilizing the methods that I only recently learned about. I am grateful that I get to start with my son at an earlier age. I now realize that "average" is only "normal" because parents (like myself) don't know about the information that's out there.

Thoughts?

[nhockaday]

Your child is incredibly advanced for 18 months. Don't beat yourself up for time missed; it sounds like you made up for it. Keep working on the things that your are doing. I wish I had half the time to do what you are doing.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Thank you for the kind reply,my main goal with her is reading, because once we "unlock" reading, she can access all of the knowledge in the world.

[Sarah108]

Hi

As Maria Montessori said "relationship before results". If you teach your child the true right brain way, then there should be no testing, and it's very important to follow your child.

So, please do not worry about what the output is, but rather what her input is. In other words, teach her through the use of flashcards, and other right brain techniques, but don't get frustrated if she does not read immediately. In fact, some children who are taught this way, only start to read by 5 years of age - but noy, when they do - their progression is super rapid. What's important, is that her right brain receives no stress at all. It is the emotional side of the brain, and shuts down through stress (testing and if you get furstrated).

The best gift you could give her would be to continue your loving techniques, supplemented with Doman / Hickein / Shichida's methods (whichever you fancy) and most importantly, HOLD THE HIGHEST IMAGE OF YOUR CHILD and give her loads of love!

If you look through the threads in the forum, although most of the moms are very dedicated to teaching their children, they all are at different levels. As each child has their unique genius. Which means, that whilst your child may not read early, they may be really gifted at musci, or maths, or geography and so on. What's important, is that you help your child find their genius, and that you help them to nurture it. It's not the reading that's so important, as the exposure to all topics so that they can find what makes them unique.

Good luck and be gentle with yourself

[hypatia]

Thank you for the kind reply, but she's not even reading yet aside from sight words? I know that many children following these programs read phonetically by 12 months or so. That is my main goal with her, because once we "unlock" reading, she can access all of the knowledge in the world.

We need to put things in perspective. Babies reading phonetically at age 16m are rare and display amazing gifts. I mean, your 18mo does what a typical 3yo does. Tt's already amazing. But it's not a competition   
The only thing which matters to me is to spend quality time with my baby and have a great relationship, not to keep a log on her achievement and stressing over them, or comparing her with babies on this forum.
Sorry, don't want to be 'tough', but any parent not aware of early education would think there is something wrong with us wanting our babies to read phonetically at age 1!

[nhockaday]

Thank you for the kind reply, but she's not even reading yet aside from sight words? I know that many children following these programs read phonetically by 12 months or so. That is my main goal with her, because once we "unlock" reading, she can access all of the knowledge in the world.

A baby reading phonetically at 12 months? That's pretty much unheard of. Most parents are lucky to have their child reading phonetically by 3. All kids are different and learn at different rates and times. I'm telling you that your baby is doing very well for her age. Please don't set unrealistic expectations. It sounds like you are doing a very good job with her.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Okay, it sounds like the early-early reading is the exception, not the rule then. I was under the impression that all the kids who used LR or who were faithful to YBCR or How to Teach Your Baby to Read where just like the "Felicity"s on youtube (that gorgeous, smart little daughter of the founder of this site). I guess then that is more uncommon than common.

Thank for you the reality check. I will keep loving and adoring my kids and teaching them both what I can, when I can. We *never* do anything she doesn't want to do. (She just walked away from Little Pim to go play outside, and that's ok in my book).

Thanks for the feedback and encouragement.

Blessings.

[tatianna]

i absolutely agree
there are no preset milestones for your child to reach
every child is different and so are the parents and teach styles
i did the doman methods with my daughter since birth
but she is only now starting to read (at three and a half)
yet i am so thankful we began all the doman programs
if nothing else because it gave me a great respect for my tiny child
she wasn't interested in reading but she could tell the difference between a Picasso and a Van Gogh at two years old
what i love about most of these early learning methods is that your the expert and there is no wrong way to teach  
if i could change anything about the last three years it would be to not have focus so much on reading perfectly by 2
but instead just enjoyed all the fun we were having together

i want to second what Sarah108 said about stress
even having a firm expectation or timetable could cause subconscious pressure on your child  
it's so important to keep learning super fun and stop before you child wants to stop

all that being said in doman's physical superb book
there is a detailed chart covering a lot of the topics your looking for and more
i highly recommend that book as well as the other in the series

best of luck
and karma to you for all you've done for you child
tatianna
  

[DadDude]

I've never heard of such a thing as Doman milestones.  If Glenn Doman or someone at the IAHP has declared some milestones, I'd be curious what they were.  Milestones as reported in books like the "What to Expect" books are averages based on observations.  Nobody has made any careful studies/surveys of Doman-educated kids, I'm pretty sure.

No offense, but kicking yourself because you didn't discover Glenn Doman until recently seems kind of silly.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

DadDude, the reason I asked is because Doman's book "How Smart is Your Baby" has a chart with developmental milestones ranging in the below average, average, and superior based on age. The book explains in detail that you are supposed to chart your babies progress and work on them in areas they might be deficient. If you have the book, it's page 44 "The Institutes Developmental Profile." The book is really geared more to the first 12 months though.

I am glad I went and reread this chart right now, although much of the chart is kind of ambiguous in my opinion, I missed it the first time but it *does* give a reading milestone.

Sophisticated Cortex,  Visual Competence- Reading with total understanding:

• Slow-144 months
• Average- 72 months
• Superior 36- months

I'm not being too hard on myself, I just wish I had done more research early on, that's all. I can't change yesterday, but tomorrow is a different story.

[DadDude]

Well, you learn something new every day.  No, I don't have the book.

"Reading with total understanding"--what does "total understanding" mean, and reading what with total understanding?  Child psychologists and reading specialists have tests they use to gauge levels both of decoding skills and of reading comprehension, which are regarded as distinct skills.  Reading in either sense is not an all-or-nothing matter but something amenable to graded levels.  I can't help but think that you've left out some info--not that it really matters that much, I mean, you're the one who asked the question and it seems you've found an answer yourself.  I'm just curious about the answer as well, and what it means...

[tatianna]

LilyAndOwensMom

that is the same chart as in the How To Teach You Child To Be Physically Superb book
i found the chart to be very helpful myself 

[TeachingMyToddlers]

DadDude- I tend to agree, what does that even mean, "total understanding?" A lot of the milestones are written in similar language, which is why I said it's all kind of ambiguous.

Tatianna- I don't have Doman's physical book (we are just trying to keep the kids active, encouraging crawling, etc) but maybe down the road I will purchase it. I just purchased his other books from amazon, I am going to start with them first. Unfortunately my library only had 2 of his books, How Smart is You Baby?" and the swimming book which I have to go pick up, it's on hold waiting for me.

[TeachingMyToddlers]

I found the chart online for anyone interested in taking a look-

http://www.iahp.org/The-I.204.0.html

[2010BEBES]

Karma for that chart lily and owen mom.
I realized it is not something to take (al pie de la letra) as something exact word by word but it is a good reference or at least some way of seeing more or less where my grandson is. I have to work more the physical development which i am not fond of doing. I'll try to pay more attention to that.
Yesterday he ask me to read to him at bed time but I ask his father to do it and he was very very happy because normally I AM the one that reinforces reading skills.
Today he called me and literally look for me and took me to the room where his father (my son)  was showing him encyclopedic card reading the information on the back. he was really excited to see that his dad had time an enjoy doing that with him. He even mention that he forgot to say about BROCCOLI that 'his 2 year old cousin likes to eat'.
My husband, son and grandons had a really nice FATHER's DAY.
As long as you see your child happy and interest in what you are showing, that by itself is a great reward.

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