How can you tell your baby knows?

[hypatia]

I often read about parents saying their babies knew their colors at 12m, or to read 100 words at 15mo, or count... Most of the time those are babies which-I'm assuming- do not speak yet.
So I'm just wondering how you know-for sure- your baby knows these things.

If I sit my 15mo down, put 2 words in front of her and say 'Which word is 'DOG'', she will most likely look down, look at me, get up and busy herself with a toy. Or she might look at both words, but at one more so, and i would then assume she looked more intensely at the correct word. Or she could point. To either ones. Which is why i never 'test' her as I can expect a very different outcome depending on her mood.

I've been showing her the alphabet on the alphabet wall and she will point to the letter O while saying "Hoooo" if i ask her to. But does she recognizes where the letter is on that specific alphabet poster and does she REALLY know that this shape means and sound like O?

I could go on and on. I mean I'd love to assume my daughter knows all her colours. God knows she's been hearing about them since she was born  . But I wouldn't think of putting ten crayons in front of her and go through the list hoping she would 'obey' me and pick all the right ones. I can just guess that when I ask her to pick the red crayon and she does, that she knows it. Then if she picks another color, she might simply be more interested in the green crayon at that very moment...

I know it is all about trusting your child's ability. I'd just like to know what makes you think it is real knowlegde-not just luck or habit. 

[waterdreamer]

My son showed me he knew his colors before he was able to talk by signing. Some kids like to show off more then other kids. My son gets a kick out of showing people what he knows. But he wasn't always that way. When he was little I had to really watch to know what he knew. He would play with his letter bus(he must have been 22months or so) and I casually asked him were is the W, and he pushed it. Then I ask him where the B was, he pushed it. When i asked him a 3rd he looked at me with big eyes like he was saying "HEY! You tricked me" So from then on I had to watch him say his letters before the narrator on Letter Factory or words on YBCR

[nhockaday]

My son was able to sign words that he read. If he couldn't sign something, like body parts, then he would just point to them. Now he either signs or says the word, if it's a word that he can say. He quickly learned all his letter sounds from leapfrog and Hooked on Phonics pre-k. He can identify all his letters and sounds. He still has trouble with his colors even though we have done them for so long.

[aangeles]

This is a little off topic but I was just curious, nhockaday, when you started teaching the alphabet and phonics to your son? I assume he was already reading whole words at that time? did you introduce the alphabet first then letter sounds or both at the same time? how old was he at that time?

[nhockaday]

He could sight read YBCR words at 13 months or so. I started showing him Leapfrog Letter Factory at 18 months or so. He picked up the letter sounds very quickly, and was able to recognize many letters. I started the Hooked on Phonics program about 3 months ago. It starts out teaching uppercase letters, but he already knew most of them. We just started the lowercase letter portion of the program, but he knows them too.

[shaman]

I tested my baby first when he was 7 months old. I would just hold up the cards and he would pull the right one off my hands or just touch it. I wanted to make sure there was no pattern in picking the cards (right first then left, then right again), so I would randomize that and he would still show me the right card. To make sure it is not by luck/ chance, I started keeping 3 word cards and asked him to pick the right one- he got it all right. Now he picks the correct flag from 4-5 flags. He has just started walking and is thoroughly enjoying it, so I ask him to walk towards a word/ object that I keep at a distance and watch him go for it

On some occasions, even I have noticed that he doesn't want to pick the right color etc, but that is probably because he doesn't want to, not because he doesn't know. So trust your child and continue doing what you are doing....he probably knows everything and he will definitely show it to you later (when you least expect it)

Good luck!

[Questers]

Same thing here...My kid does not show that he knows much, though I know that he does. Occasionally, he will answer to everything 100%. But if we ask him again, he will show the wrong ones deliberately and laugh. So follow your maternal instinct and your baby's cues and proceed further. Perhaps this is just a phase and there will come a phase when they would like to display what they know.

[Celeste]

You know, I was really worried about that and something interesting happened this week. I used to show my daughter flash cards of famous people since she was about 6 months old and the last time I showed her that particular set of cards was when she was 15 months. She is now 2.5 years old and just a few days ago, she was in the lounge while my father and I were watching a documentary on National Geographic about Nefertiti. She toddled into the room and said, "Look...that is Nefertiti!" My father was shocked and asked her if she liked Nefertiti and she nonchalantly replied, "No...I like Tutankhamun."  Now I last showed her those flash cards over a year ago but clearly, it got ingrained in her subconscious.

So dont worry...something does sink in and it may just all come out later when you least expect it. Dont test them because then they feel as if they are being put on the spot and deliberately say the wrong answer. Basically, your child will tell you when he/she knows and not vice versa!

[Kappasweet]

I did not know until he started saying the words.  Testing him did not work out for us, I felt it was just stressful and he wasn't interested.  If you are patient, before you know it he will be showing you that he knows things that you just taught him once or twice, and you will realize if he knows these things he must have absorbed all the other things you've been showing him so far as well.

[laughingwater]

I started showing my daughter flash cards, both words and facts, as soon as I thought her eyesight was developed enough, which was around 2-3 months.  When I pulled out a new set she was very interested, but after seeing them for a few days she would look away clearly bored. At that time she couldn't talk, so I assumed that when she was bored she knew them and I moved on to the next set.  She started crawling when she was 6 months which was the first time that I could really see that she understood what I had been teaching her. I would put various sets of cards on the floor and say to her "Go and get the birds" and she would crawl to the birds and bring them back to me. We also did this with all her toys and household items. I would lay them on the floor, name them all, then ask her to put the spoon (or whatever other item) in her toy box, and she would crawl to it, pick it up, and put it in her toy box.  This game has also proved to be very worthwhile for me, because now she is very good at putting her toys back in the toybox after she has played with them. She is now 13 months and chats up a storm.  Every words is not distiguishable, but many are. She will look through books and see a gorilla or giraffe or clock or whatever other item it is and point to it and say the words.  She also likes to point things out to me while we are out on walks. If she sees a dog, she will point and say dog, or girl, or boy, or swing, etc.  Since she is now talking it is pretty clear that she has learnt the basics that I have taught her.  I still have not seen any indication that she knows the American Presidents, famous people, or other more complicated things that I have taughts her. I don't test her, unless there is a game that I can incorporate it into and make it fun for her.  Every child is different, I think you just have to wait for your child to show you that he or she knows something - which may happen at the most unexpected time.

[hypatia]

Thank you all for your replies. I would agree with waterdreamer that some kids like to 'show off' and others who are very cautious about being tested.
I 'caught' my daughter by surprise the other day. She gave me an answer (I pointed to the letter E as she was playing with her foam letters and said 'what's this letter?'') and she replied in less than a second.
I remember that when i started on Doman when she was 6mo or so, i called my mum a few times saying, that's amazing, she just grabbed/pointed to the word i was asking for.
Not anymore :-)

[ayana]

It is unfair to test them, please don't just enjoy teaching without any returns. One thing is for sure that every drop in the ocean counts. Your baby will surprise you ,just remember there will be light at the end of the tunnel please don't push it.
This will give negative energy which can throw them off for a very long time .
This is my personal experience that I am sharing with you the rest is up to you..

[Vidyut]

Go with your gut feeling. When I read your post, I sense that you feel quite certain that he knows red, and might pick up green just because of his mood. If you were not certain, you'd speak of him picking up any random colours - say yellow and green. So, you may not be aware of it, but you are "reading" him instinctively. Even testing can't be as accurate as that.

My son is less than three months. Forget signing, he can't even point yet. How do I know that he's hungry when he opens and closes his hands in the sign for milk? Mostly, its gut. Then I can find data to support it. He rarely does that movement other times. He watches me intently when I do it. He calms down if I do it back to him when he is doing it (since I always do it just before and while feeding). I could say its random and not trust my instinct. It gets me nowhere. If I trust what I sense, it empowers both of us. And if I'm wrong...... then what? Hey, he's a kid, we'll learn it if it turns out we were wrong. Its not a doctorate.

[hypatia]

Loving your blog, Vidyut. It's great that you record all this, it'll be beautiful memories when your son is older. K to you.

[Vidyut]

Hi Hypatia,

Thank you for reading my blog, and for appreciating it - music to my ears (eyes).

Shameless bragging - did you read my recent post about how my not yet 3 month old may be picking up his second sign? He does "milk" and may now be doing "wave"

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