My little girl (24m) knows many words. If I ask her, she will pick one out of a group, match them to objects, ect. But she won’t actually SAY them! She is very verbal, so that’s not the problem…
Any ideas on what may be the reason?
I don’t know what it is, but my son had and is doing the same. Except for some easy words like cat, dog and giraffee, he doesn’t say cow, but when he sees the word, he says moo, and when he sees a pig he says oink… best one is, when he sees an elephant he calls it haati, which is our native tongue (urdu). My guess is that he is not able to say it yet, but knows what they are, which I think is really what matters. I do know how you feel, b/c I have seen some younger kids reading and pronouncing harder words, and would love for him to do same, BUT ALL children are diff and go at their own pace… I am amazed everyday at things he just starts saying, which I didn’t think he knew =) Just keep doing what you are doing with her, and enjoy!
I’m glad that you have yours figured out! For us, is DEFINITELY not a problem with not being able to say it. They are ALL words that she can already say!
I’m really stumped…it just doesn’t make sense!
Well from having experience with girls I can say its one of two things. Either she doesn’t know how to verbalize the word, OR stubborness. Growing up my girls didn’t feel like being the performing monkey so to speak. They are still that way sometimes even though they are older.
So she may know the words but may not feel like telling you what they are.
My youngest is very much this way at preschool. She’s known her alphabet since she was 2.5. Both letter recognition and sounds. Fast forward to today and in her preschool they still have her in the ABC group ( the group learning their alphabet) grrrrrr. Why? Because she won’t tell her teacher what they are. She does know them, plus how to read about 54 words right now since we are doing Your Baby Can Read. She even knows how to sound out simple words like cat, hat, tap, run , nap… etc.
So it could possibly be that too. Whatever it maybe I’m sure she’ll start saying them when she’s good and ready. If she knows the word then have her do the signs for them. One day she’ll get tired of doing that and will start saying them.
Having her do the signs for them is a brilliant idea! That might work!
I think Tracy has probably hit the nail on the head. Lots of kids don’t like being the “performing monkey.” They (many of them) don’t like being tested. Why some seem to and some don’t, I’d be curious to know. My own never did like being tested, but one thing worked well when he was two: I would be reading along in a book, and we would get near the end of the sentence, and I would look ahead and see that he could read the rest himself, so I stopped, and he would impatiently say the rest of the sentence. By the time he was three, he was saying, “You read it,” so that trick was played out. But you could try it…
Good trick, DadDude!
I’m not sure if it is the “performing monkey” syndrome. We “test” all the time and it’s a fun game for her. She loves showing off what she can do. Maybe she just knows that I really want her to read aloud and is “stickin’ it to me” lol !
Is there a point to her telling you the word - at least a point that she can accept?
My son utterly refuses to do anything that has no purpose other than proving he can do it. He would enjoy finding one card out of many because it would be challenging but why should he have to vocalise a word he knows he can say and you know he can say just for the sake of proving he can say it and so on
We have this trouble with our boy with a lot of things - at first I thought it was the performing monkey thing (Though we call it performing seal same thing) but it goes a step further I think. Not only does he not want to perform he doesn’t want to waste his own time and energy.
Very frustrating at times but something i am also proud of him for because I know he’s making his own mind up about his actions and isn’t coerced just to please a crowd.
If she’s vocal and capable of reading why not step the games up a bit and play word versions of charades and stuff (like celebrity heads but with words she knows). Things that have a purpose are always more exciting and you wont be wasting her time getting her to perform tasks she mastered ages ago.
Good luck with it - all our kids are little individuals and unfortunately don’t always fit into those nice neat little boxes leaving us struggling to find out what is all for ourselves
You know what, TmS, I think you got it exactly. Now that I think of it, even when she was 6m old and we were doing flashcards (colours, etc.) she would refuse to do them after she knew it. If, however, I changed it up and made a different game with colours, she was happy to do it!
Great insight - thanks! Karma to you!
Every baby is different. Some baby start talking very soon and when it comes to read they dont want to read.
I think you can give some more time to them and try to pronounce words as and when when you see the objects that will help your baby to learn how to say that word?
Thats my opinion.