how do you evaluate ur chid’s acquisition of the language he’s learning?
What do you do to check whether u r walking with him on the right path or not?
plz help
thanx
You’re not really supposed to test your child, but you can play games to see if he/she knows some words. Try doing something like laying out 2 cards with just words written on them. Ask your child which one says a particular word. Once he/she consistently chooses the right word, you will know that he/she knows the word. Or you can do matching with objects and words. For example, if you wanted to see if he/she recognized certain animals, you could lay the word cards out and lay some toy animals out and ask him/her to match the animals to their names.
But remember, it takes time for children to show signs of recognition, especially younger children. All children learn at different paces. So don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t seem like your child is learning. Keep at it, and before you know it, you’ll have a little reader!
thanx alot for the advice. actually I started losing faith in my child’s ability to learn. I started feeling guilty for beginning that late (my son is 17 onths old now). he eventually discourages me all the time, he seems always distracted by something else, like running around or singing. I know I have to be patient, and I will try to test ur method to check whether I made some progress or not.
thanx
Can I say Karma to you because u really worth it.
You now have 10 posts so you can give karma! Just press the applaud button under someone’s name!
17 months is definately not too old to teach reading! From birth to age 4 or 5 is the optimal time. Think about it, most kids are not learning to read until after the age of 5, and it is very difficaullt for them! You are doing your son a big favor by teaching him early. I know it is harder since your son is at the age where he enjoys being active, but there are things you can try to get his attention.
Try the games like I suggested. Children that age love games! Try being silly. Use silly voices and actions when reading words. Try different time of the day. Maybe he is more attentive when he is tired, or just after a nap? Maybe if he is sitting in a highchair at meal time?
Have you tried Your Baby Can Read? It is a wonderful program that encourages children to say act out words they see on the screen. There are also fun songs and animals that catch your child’s attention.
Just do not lose faith or feel guilty! You are doing a wonderful thing by teaching your son. Don’t give up!
I was also wondering about this. I just discovered brillbaby/brillkids a few days ago 
My 4-year old son is very engrossed with this (he’s a bit late to start with this, wish I discovered this earlier). My 20 month old son, on the other hand, seemed to be interested as well. He does lose his focus once in a while to play with the keyboard. I will also try to gauge his progress using nhockaday’s advice. thanks!
Dear parents,
As I always say - RELAX AND HAVE FUN!! Please don’t focus on the results, and just focus on having a bonding session with your child. If he/she learns words, great! If not, doesn’t matter cos you both had a good time.
BTW, for the longest time, we had no idea whether Felicity was learning anything or not. We just trusted that she was absorbing it, and kept reminding ourselves that even if she wasn’t, it’s ok, because she was enjoying herself. Eg., if you take your child to a playground and he has fun, does it matter that he didn’t learn anything?
Dr. Titzer (from Your Baby Can Read) also didn’t know whether Aleka learnt anything or not for many months.
So don’t worry so much and focus on having fun and bonding!
Hi all parents,
Sometimes I feel frustrated too when I showed my baby (now 22-month) the DVDs and she just didn’t sit still, or just very easily distracted by other thing!! I am not sure whether she absorbs anything, but as KL mentioned, I tried to enjoy it. So, sometimes when I am not feeling too good myself, I would rather not showing her because I would like both of us enjoy!
Teaching each age group seems to be so different - there are posts on here about how to teach maths to each age group and perhaps you should read that. From 12-18 months children are very active and so keeping their attention on anything for more than a few seconds to a few minutes is hard - I let my daughter scribble with crayons and it never lasts more than a few seconds, so I wouldn’t expect the reading or maths to take longer than that either.
As for knowing whether they are taking anything in, I think often you just have to wait. If you do ask them to “point to” the word you want and they get it wrong or don’t point at all remember just to tell them what it is anyway. One day your child will just surprise you by showing in his own way that he can read it - when teaching him teach him words he can say or show him actions to the words (eg clap when you show him clap) and he will have a way to how you what he knows when he decides to.
Doman has a rule: If its not fun, stop - and I think that applies to it being fun for both of you.
Hi Tanikit,
I tried to do a search on the forum and find out about how to teach maths to each age group but I don’t seem to find it.
Would you please point me to that? I will remember that we need fun in order to continue for the game!
Here is the link to the post that deals with teaching each age group - it starts on page 2 of the discussion on maths equations and finishes on page 3 so you need to search through the whole topic.
http://forum.brillkids.com/teaching-your-child-math/maths-equations/15/
Hope that helps.
I have just read another way to evaluate what your child knows. Of course, this method is for older toddlers and children, but it seems like it would work.
You ask your child to take the flash cards you are currently using and “teach” their favorite toys, dolls, or stuffed animals. They will have fun being a teacher and asserting their independence, plus you will be able to see how much they actually know.
I think this would also work for an older toddler who does not like to sit still and look at flash cards. You could tell your child that you need help teaching the toy and ask for the child to be your assistant. Show the card to the child and then ask the child to show it to his/her toy. This way the child is paying attention to the card when you’re flashing it and then repeating it to their toy, which in theory, would help him/her retain more.
My son is still too young to try this, so anyone who tires, let me know.
Hi nhockaday,
It’s a good one and I think this way is more effective too!!
Hello nhockaday,
My daughter loved to play games like you described above from about two and a half to three years of age. She would place her zoo animals in a line and ask them “what’s this word?”. It is so cute when little children start doing this.
We also played games like helping her animals find their homes while pretending that the flash cards were the homes. This was extremely successful with all sorts of toys and other unbreakable items.
Have fun,
Mum.
I am so glad to hear that others have the same ups and downs. In regards to starting to teach your child when they are already very mobile. This is why I am starting for the second time (2nd time teaching my son to read).
I first started at 18Mo that lasted about 3 mo before I got discurage and now he’s 27 mo and were are starting again. I am determined to stick with it and thanks to this community I know I(we) can do it .
Yes, I think that involving thier toy is a great way to draw a busy toddlers attention.
With my son we often ‘Show the bits’ to what ever toy he has in his hand at the time.
He also likes showing me, after he see them first!
We cant help but want to know if they are absorbing what we are teaching them. After all we are putting so much time and energy into the prosses, society teaches us that we need results and NOW! Thats what makes us (people dedicated to teaching their children) so special. We have to give, give, give and be patient, have faith in them and later down the road we will reep the benefits.