I did a few practice flashes today with the word cards. He refuses to look at the card :ohmy: , he stares directly into my eyes. I tried putting it between our faces so he wouldn’t be able to see me but he ducks his head to look under the card to look at me. I tried waving it around also, he just refuses. Very stubborn!
Should I just keep flashing quickly and hope that he’s getting a glimpse of it in his peripheal(sp?) vision. I was really hoping this would be easy :wub: I should have known better.
Don’t get too discouraged… my son was like this too. He wouldn’t really pay attention to any flashcards that I would try to show him. I would still try, but if I saw it wasn’t going any where I would stop.
But the key is just to keep trying every couple of days. Eventually he will start paying attention to them. I am new to this forum so I don’t know what kind of results other parents are getting, but I know my son was always pretty stubborn about doing anything I specifically tried to show him. He didn’t get really interested in cards until close to his 2nd birthday. But since then he is like a little sponge!
My daughter will also not always look at the cards. The aim is to make it fun so your child enjoys doing it and in this age group it seems this takes more than just flashing the cards. How mobile is your child cause as their mobility gets greater it gets even harder to get them to look at the cards. Here are some tricks I have tried with my daughter:
show fewer cards per session - if her interest wanes, she may only get one or two cards in a session with perhaps more sessions per day
playing with the cards with something else - I have shown her a card with colours on while watching about colours on a DVD and she showed more interest then
dropping the flashcards and putting them on little reader with pictures after every word helped her some days
letting her toys find the flashcards and when they seemed interested, she was too
playing peek-a-boo under her highchair and pulling the flashcards out from under there when she was eating
sticking flashcards on her wall (she has nursery rhyme characters on her wall so I basically just labelled them and then read them to her and tell her a little about the story) - this method can be used to label anything in the house
showing her in her car seat when someone else is driving has helped me a little, but she may still find it boring.
If you have a blackboard in your house you could try writing words on there too and changing them everyday.
I do sometimes let my daughter play with the cards while watching her closely and as soon as I find an appropriate moment (when the card is at least facing the right way) then I say the word.
Finally if she doesn’t seem to be looking then I say the word anyway and put the rest of the cards away and hope she did see it.
I know exactly what you are talking about, at first my baby didn’t want to look at cards either but the key is to go on, if you feel a bit discouraged try every two or three days to see if there has been any change. And don’t forget to be joyful. Try by all means to motivate your baby, if your baby feels you motivated it is easier to get good results, look for a part of the day when you both are calm and receptive. Try with a variety of flashcards not just words. My baby is more interested in shapes, colours, numbers, … than in words so try to catch his attention with what he prefers and surely he will also look the other flashcards too.
Good luck!
My daughter is 18 months old and I’ve been showing her cards for a couple of months. She usually will watch at first then she may get restless after awhile, but I never have a problem getting her started.
From the beginning I tried to make the whole experience a game. I have a white folder where I keep the cards. I would pick up the folder and say “flashcards?”, then start to dance with the folder in my hands dancing and singing “flashcards” over and over again. I picked her up dancing, and danced with her to my bed. I frolicked with her a bit then got her to sit up. The cards were close at hand and I would just whip them out and start flashing, always laughing and making it a game. It also helped that I do sign with her, so she especially likes animals and that’s where I started. So apart from the card, I make the sign and the sound of the animal. My fingers always manage to tickle her after I make the sign. She shrieks in delight sometimes.
Now all I do is look at her and ask, “Flashcards?” Then she drops everything and runs into the bedroom laughing to begin.
One thing we used to do was to show great enthusiasm OURSELVES when we were about to start the lessons, eg., “YAY! It’s now time for… FLASH CARDS!!” (clap clap clap). If your child gets the impression from you that it’s something to be excited about, then she is more likely to be excited by it, and vice versa.
Well, we’ve been doing it for about a week now and I must say it is getting better. :biggrin: I do most sets with him in his highchair. Otherwise I just can’t get him to sit still. We sort of play peek a boo with the cards coming up from under the tray. He likes this. I also show one set right before nap when we’ve settled into the rocking chair with his bottle. He will drink and watch the cards this way. Since he still takes two naps a day I get two sets done this way. Overall, I think it is going well, I hope to add math dots in November.
What is it that interests your baby the most? Maybe that’s what you should start with. I think it might have been a little easier for me and my baby as we already communicated many animals with sign language. This allowed us both to use animal noises (which she loves to imitate) as well as the sign to complement the flashcard’s word and image. This caused quite a bit of interaction rather than she being a completely passive observer, which I imagine would make it more boring. It also enabled me to praise her often when ever she recognised the animal. Try My Baby Can Talk Dictionary of Signs to get you going. It amazing how fast they pick it up and when he can do a few, then try again with the ones he knows. If he accepts those, you can add a few more as you go along.
What you might try also is setting up a powerpoint or pdf or whatever works and operate it with him in your lap. The computer itself is a source of wonder for my girl and I usually get her to sit for awhile for a computer session.
But as everyone says, it must be fun. If it isn’t then stop and try again later. And don’t give up! Good luck!
Hi, when I noticed that my 2nd boy didn’t like flashcards as it was in part of the Shichida program. Basically, I just told him that I would like him to finish the flashcard session later on during class.
Don’t be surprised but the child does understand you. :yes:
When he seemed to lose attention while the teacher was flashing the stack of cards, I reminded him softly into his ear that he was suppose to finish the flashcards before he could do anything else.
At home, I would reinforce it by flashing cards to him.
I did it when he was drinking his milk. So he had nowhere to look but to stare straight into the cards.
Good luck and hang in there!