Really really frustrated with teaching my child

[Kimba15]

I have been doing early education with my daughter since she was 3 months old and I'm about ready to chuck in the towel because i just feel like im getting absolutly no where with her.

The other day I was playing on the floor with her with her word box and we were putting two and three words together but she will only look at one card instead of looking at both cards from left to right and will pick one of the cards and do the action. I have also noticed that if she sees words that a similar she guess them or assumes it to be a word she already knows. For example when she sees the word gate she signs game, the word pretty is potty.

I beginning to wonder if I have done something wrong or I have stumbled across a learning difficulty she might have? I also do maths with her and loads of EK on power point presentations, Take her to Gymbaroo and swimming!

Does anyone have any advice because I wonder if I should keepo perservering or just give up. She does enjoy what we do she does sign for more after each presentation, and we have lots of fun, but I feel like im just getting no where and I thought by now she might be showing 'signs' that she is a little more brighter than the average bear without sounding like im trying to be mean about other kids her age!

[Nikita]

Maybe she is dyslexic. They dont normally test babies for it though, as they arent expected to be reading. So keep it up. Eventually a pair of unusual coloured glasses might fix the problem.

[Kimba15]

I will keep it up, its just so frustrating at times. I wish she was more verbal, never mind it will all come out soon enough!

[DadDude]

Gah.  No one-year-old is "dyslexic."  Give me a break.

My advice is just take it easy.  If you're not having fun, the kid probably isn't having fun, and then, well, it won't work.  Try something that you both enjoy.  There are so many different educational methods/tasks to try out.  Why stick with what doesn't seem to be working?

[LDSMom]

Maybe you need to start focusing more on phonics now that she is a little older and has been doing the whole word method for a while. Try DadDude's Fleshe (Sp?) cards - they may help her to see the subtle differences between similar words.

You can also try what I have which is to completely stop everything you're doing, and each day choose 1 reading activity to do and that's it, and then the next day do 1 different activity. It can be hard because you feel like you want to cram all the reading/learning in in one day. Even if you think that everyone is having fun, I think kids get sick of doing the same thing over and over again. My son would get sick of playing with playdoh every day if that's what we did. Same thing with doing reading activities. 

[ariel]

Hi Kimba,  Reading your message, I can understand your frustration.  My daughter is just turning 1, I have been doing doman reading and math for 6 months.  She really enjoys it!  However, when I ask her to choose the right object or card, she often times does get it wrong.  Uptill now, I have been dismissing the fact that she might not be learning and blaming it on her being <1.  I think I will be frustrated too when I find that she is in the same boat a at 1 and 1/2.  Until I read Doman, I thought testing is good cuz it forces your mind to think, remember and repeat.  But I don't test her at all due to Doman belief, and I think that is why she doesn't retain any of it.  She is interested in touching things and exploring new things but that is it.

I don't know how do other Doman mom's have found success.  One reason I liked Doman cuz for me it was easy to establish a routine and repeat. 

I like the idea of DadDad's cards...I am going to start those as soon as she recognizes the alphabet.  Any other advice from anyone...would be greatly appreciated.  We do read books but right now she is more interested in turning pages than listening to story ...ahahah..

[PY]

Ok Kimba what I recommend you is to have a break of learning for at least some few days and then go back to teaching. At this age maybe she is just exploring more her gross motor skills like wonder how to walk ..if she is not yet.But this age most children focused more in exploring their space and their senses too.Just be patient.
I don't think you are doing abything wrong is just maybe she is right know interested in something else, after your break maybe she will feel more interested.we can try..let us know.
Don't feel bad! We all parents sometimes feel the same way but it will be better.

[Krista G]

Do you read to your baby much?  Reading is such a fun and enjoyable activity.  Although it is awesome to teach your baby to read, if you don't, but you teach your child to love to read, you are accomplishing much more.  Maybe you should lay off for awhile and just have fun reading books.  You can point out familiar words to your baby while you are reading stories.  We want our babies to learn to read and then we want them to love to read.  Teaching them to read and reading to them are very important but if I had to choose one it would be to read to my child constantly.    When children are read to often they learn to read easily because they already understand the written word and have larger vocabularies.  The key is to get great books.  I have many book reviews on my blog that may be helpful.  I like to read books that you don't mind reading again and again and again.  This week we are reading Bedtime For Francis, Green Eggs and Ham and We're Going On A Bear Hunt.  My daughter knows them almost word for word and then I point to the text and bring words to her attention so she is learning the words at the same time.

Whatever you do, have fun and enjoy this age, it passes all too quickly.

[reei]

patience patience patience..

good one from dr. suzuki - patience is merely the absence of expectations..

maybe let your kid lead you to what they want to do, rather than leading them , for a change.

let kids lead.. they wont be wrong..

[hypatia]

Kimba,
I don't expect nearly as much from my daughter (about a month older than yours)
Yours seems to sign many words, and does read, even if she sometimes point to the wrong word, she sits with you and focuses.. that's already a huge achievement!

I do not test my child and we do very little in terms of reading (she's never been big on flashcards, and i felt 'obliged'. Now she is the one asking for more, so that's a good sign).
LR once a day, 1 or two books (i try to point most of the time) and a 1 or 2 educational dvds..
On the other hand, physically she does really well. She is always always on the go and spends many hours outside running, climbing, and entertaining herself for long streches. She wanders a lot as well (I'm always nearby but let her discover etc. without interfering much) For example, she has an amazing way of communicating with dogs. She talks to them, hugs, pat, have them lie down, feeds them etc... and dogs adore her, even when they meet for the first time. I think this is a special gift, being able to be surrounded with animals and trusting them.
I know that, as my daughter matures and concentrates more, we'll increase her reading time and she'll make progress soon.
So do not worry.. she is doing really really well!

[Kimba15]

Hi everyone!


Thank you all for your responses, they do say that patience is a virtue and it is certainly not one of mine and is something i'm going to have to work on myself. Your responses are very uplifiting and maybe taking a break would be a good idea for a week or 2. mainly to re-group myself and take the pressure of myself.

I always worry that I am not doing enough with her, and maybe the big thing here is not to beat MYSELF up so much, I do more with her than the other parents I know and Krista your Idea about breaking from the flash cards and maybe just reading to her ( I read to her anyway) for a week and just relaxing who knows what she will show me.

Thank you for your responses.

Kimba

[Kappasweet]

You are doing enough, your baby is doing great.  Just because they don't "perform" the way we want them to when we want them to it does not mean they don't understand, just try to be as giving as possible and please don't judge your daughter's response as she is integrating a lot of skills that you have taught her, plus the ordinary growing up stages.  Good luck, you are a super Mom, and don't doubt that your daughter will be amazing.

[sofic]

Kimba it sounds like your child is doing great. Definitely don't give up.  I didn't start flash cards etc with my son until he was about 15 months and when he was finally verbalizing his knowledge at first he was exhibiting the same signs as your daughter.  It's like at times he wasn't looking at the whole word.  He was jumping the gun and saying a word that he knew began with the first letter or the first two letters, Even though I knew that he knew the word.  My son still occasionally does that when encountering more complicated words, but after a couple of times of seeing the new words, he's great at remembering them.  However, now I can tell it is more phonics related.  In fact it seems that that particular glich was just a sign that he would go on to intuit phonics early on. ( that's how I've explained it to myself anyway)  He currently reads Dr. Seuss beginner books with very little help from me.  He tries to sound out newer more complicated words on his own without fear.  I used to get frustrated just like you but  I felt good about the simple fact I was doing something with him that some parents think is wasted effort.  I perservered through the frustration and continued flashing and of course reading daily and he has more than exceeded my expectations of him at 27 month old.   It's funny, but like many parents on this forum I'm sure, I sometimes feel ..not embarrassed... but "funny"  letting people know that my son can read as good as their 5 or 6 year old.  I don't want to come across to my extended family and friends as if though I'm bragging and I figure that they probably wouldn't believe it to it's full extent since it may not seem plausible to them.  Yet I am content in knowing that I have given my son this wonderful gift of learning how to read at a period of his life where his learning window allowed him to do it without the frustration "he" would have encountered if he had waited until he was 5 or 6 to start learning.  As it is, we are already able to start working on reading comprehension and more advanced phonics in a less stressful and individually paced environment.  Don't give up, your efforts will pay many dividends over and over for both you and your child.

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