Kiara.I Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 Question about developmental expectations. My third is nearly 5. She has heard "Johnny Appleseed" sung for several years, usually multiple times per week. She does not sing along, cannot remember the words, and hasn't a hope at the tune. For the last week or so I've been teaching her the days of the week. While I work with her, she remembers "Sunday, Monday, Tuesday" but often gets lost on "Wednesday." The next day, when I ask her, she starts with "Tuesday, Sunday..." Is this normal for the age and something I can expect to improve later on, or is it a flag? I don't really remember with my older two but I have a sense that they picked things up more quickly and retained them better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixpix5 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 (edited) It could be a flag but at that age their is a great deal of variation. Some kids really gel with the grammar stage and do, in every sense of the word, love those random peg bits of information shoved in their brains. I have known plenty of kids that required context at a young age and as soon as they had a need or desire to know and remember the info it stuck. This is my daughter. She thoroughly dislikes random facts. She is a big picture kids. When she learned days of the week it needed to be in context to the calendar, birthdays, events and what not. At almost 8 she is still this way. Geography is hard for her and I have to make each state, country, landmark meaningful and relevant to her for it to stick. Once I do, she never forgets it. One of my older boys was like this too. He has a memory now like a trapdoor and can synthesize information like no other. As a 5 year old things wouldn't stick at all. One of my 6 year olds memorizes every random thing that comes across his path. He taught himself every state and capital over the summer for fun. Kids are so fascinating in this way. Try not to worry too much and figure out what type or learner she is. Make things fun and multi-sensory. If she is still not able to retain information at 6 or 7 then I might be looking into it. Some kids also do not have the mental focus at that age. Development goes in stages yes, but sometimes at very different pacing ;) ETA: has she had her hearing checked? It might be worthwhile. My DD has bilateral moderate hearing loss and wears aids. We didn't know until she was 2yo. It changes how she learns for sure. Can she rhyme, does she have any sense of rhythm? It could be music is challenging for her as well. Edited September 7, 2017 by nixpix5 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiara.I Posted September 7, 2017 Author Share Posted September 7, 2017 ETA: has she had her hearing checked? It might be worthwhile. My DD has bilateral moderate hearing loss and wears aids. We didn't know until she was 2yo. It changes how she learns for sure. Can she rhyme, does she have any sense of rhythm? It could be music is challenging for her as well. She has had a full audiology panel done at 3, which came back fine. My father has...odd...hearing loss, so all three of my kids got tested just in case. We've had no reason to suspect anything has changed with it since, she still responds to speech the same way. She was a late talker. She didn't really speak until 2 3/4. She had a small handful of words before then. At age 2 she had 4 signs and 6 words. We referred at 2 yrs 1 month, and got assessed at 3 yrs 3 months. At the first meeting the SLP suggested she had word retrieval problems and would struggle with that all her life. It terrified me. By the time she did the testing over the next two sessions, she said DD was actually *ahead* in some areas, and low range of normal in the others. We had a follow-up 6 months later just because there had been some quirks, and she said DD was fine. But now....I wonder sometimes... She does recognize rhymes and is quite excited about them right now, when she figures them out herself. Rhythm? She loves to dance but hasn't done any classes yet, and I haven't really done clapping to music with her so not sure... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TX Native Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 (edited) I am not sure if it is a developmental delay or variable among kids, but my kids remembered the days of the week to the tune of "Oh My Darling, Clementine". 1st verse was "there are 7 days, there are 7 days, there are 7 days in the week (repeat)" and 2nd verse "Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday (repeat)." My oldest could possibly have quoted the days of the week without the song at that age, but my youngest needed to sing the song to quote them in order. Edited September 7, 2017 by TX native Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CadenceSophia Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 Only my 4th child memorizes songs and rhymes. The others don't even know all the words to the prayers we say over the food at dinner every single day. I don't know if it is a flag for anything, but I don't think there's anything wrong with my kids except that they have absolutely no rhythm or singing ability. My 6 year old in particular can't memorize a song for anything, but she will try and sing a retelling if you ask her to -- she synthesizes a meaning and story but can't remember the actual words. She's otherwise very advanced verbally, taught herself to read at 2, writes amazing poetry and long child-like stories that play on different literary elements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nixpix5 Posted September 7, 2017 Share Posted September 7, 2017 Only my 4th child memorizes songs and rhymes. The others don't even know all the words to the prayers we say over the food at dinner every single day. I don't know if it is a flag for anything, but I don't think there's anything wrong with my kids except that they have absolutely no rhythm or singing ability. My 6 year old in particular can't memorize a song for anything, but she will try and sing a retelling if you ask her to -- she synthesizes a meaning and story but can't remember the actual words. She's otherwise very advanced verbally, taught herself to read at 2, writes amazing poetry and long child-like stories that play on different literary elements. Yep, that is why I asked about rhythm. Some kids who have no sense of rhythm or are "tone deaf" struggle with memorizing poems, catchy songs and even some struggle with mnemonics. They just use different pathways through their brain to store information :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
greenfields Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 (edited) These early years are truly unpredictable for me. Edited September 14, 2017 by greenfields 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ExcitedMama Posted September 8, 2017 Share Posted September 8, 2017 Does she want to memorize what you've tried? Have you tried doing something shorter? My DD is 4 and has learned some of DS' poems here and there when I didn't realize she was listening. She wanted to learn John 3:16 for AWANA. We do MP Jr. K and they have adorable poems for number formation that she loves. She's seen DS have his own poems for years so she was really excited to learn her own. The first one is super short and simple, a straight line down and then you're done and that's how you make a one. I've tried teaching her the days of the week but they don't stick at all. She practices her numbers a few times a week and loves dot to dots but for some reason can never remember the name of the 20s but knows the 30s, 40s and 50s. I know DS at her age could just not memorize or get teen numbers or days if the week. Neither of them could even remember the month. I don't think it's a red flag but maybe consider finding something she wants to learn to memorize that interests her. My DD remembers things that hold her interest instead of more academic things that I try to teach. I play music a lot while I'm cooking and for some reason of all songs she really likes when Taylor Swift's You're So Mean comes on and she remembers a lot of the words but it's very repetitive. She of course knows a lot of Frozen songs. Have you found any music that she really likes? Try playing it more and singing it with her. I sing her a few songs at bedtime and she loves singing them with me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MomOfABunch Posted September 12, 2017 Share Posted September 12, 2017 This by itself does not sound alarming at all. However, if there are other things you are concerned about with her development, I strongly recommend speaking with her doctor and/or doing a Child Find (or whatever early intervention services are called in your area) evaluation. If there's something, you will have caught it early. If it's nothing, you can stop worrying about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blondeviolin Posted September 13, 2017 Share Posted September 13, 2017 This sounds like my four year old. He's actually worse. We suspect Auditory Processing Disorder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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