What about a 4 year old not knowing colors, numbers, or letters?

Re: What about a 4 year old not knowing colors, numbers, or letters?

• katie277s

  November 2009

  Not sure.  All kids learn on their own pace.  But I will say, my 4yo knows all his colors, can count to 100 (I've never actually  heard him do it, but his teacher says he can) and knows his letters.  I would be more concerned if he can't do that when he starts kindergarten. 
  

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• breezee_bean

  November 2009

  One of the nesties here is a kinder teacher, and she has had kids in her class who are seemingly waaay behind, but can read by the time they leave kinder. 
  

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• JOEBunny member

  November 2009

  I don't think this is a crisis.  If he knows no colors at all, maybe I would try to teach him, but if he only knows his favorite, I would not worry.  The other stuff is not a big deal usually.  Assuming the kids is read to, talked to, and not just parked in front of tom and jerry, he is fine.
  

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• 4Speedy member

  November 2009

  I've read articles that say kids who know shapes, colors, numbers, letters at an early age in no way indicates their abilities or intelligence.  It simply shows that they have been well nurtured.  As a matter of fact, what a kid has managed to memorize before 8 years old doesn't mean a thing in terms of long term academic success.  By 8, even the kids who were not so nurtured in the pre-school years have caught up.   

  So I really don't think there is any way to tell what your friend's son not knowing these things really "means."  It could mean your friend has tried to teach him these things but there is some sort of delay, or it could also mean that she has never really exposed her son to these things so it's no big deal for him not to know.  There is really no way for us to tell or form an opinion based on the fact that all you've told us is he doesn't know these things.  Or it could be that he really loves nature and his spent all of his time memorizing the latin names of every flower and plant on the planet so he has not had time to learn his numbers.  Really, there is no way to make a statement about what you've presented.

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• dpdw member

  November 2009

  I agree with 4Speedy.  Has your friend tried to teach him & he isn't grasping the concept of colors?

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• suzymarie

  November 2009

  My friend's son was like that.  I am guessing he knew numbers up to 10 or 20, but basically, he had zero interest in colors, shapes, numbers, letters.  Despite her trying!

  He started preschool at 4.5 and kindy at 5.5 and did fine- when he "had" to sit down and learn the stuff in school he did fine- he just wasn't interested and she didn't push it too hard at home bc she figured he was still pretty young. 

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• shouldbeworkin

  November 2009

  I'm sure he's interested in other things.  IMO, all kids are good at something.  No kids are good at everything.  He probably knows every dinosaur by name or something like that.  They all even out eventually.
  

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