My 4 Year Old Has Some Learning Delays

I wouldn't worry at all about the reading. There's no need to push it, especially since she isn't even going to kindergarten next year. She'll have plenty of time for learning academics. For now, instead of having a letter of the day, just play games with her that have simple words and letters within them, like Zingo. Play Chutes & Ladders to work on numbers and counting. She will learn better through play, since she won't realize it's learning and she'll just have fun.

I do think the speech evaluation/therapy is a good idea. It will help her confidence and socialization if she can speak more clearly and be easily understood.

Don't be concerned about the academics. Focus on the speech and let play and games take care of the rest.

I'd address the speech issue.
But at 4--the reading will come.
Read TO her, play letter finding games on the car, count stuff, etc.
But try not to cross that line into mommy obsession ("let's count this WHOLE bowl of Cheerios!" Lol)
And follow her lead--once she's over it and losing interest--stop for then.
Good luck!

I'm a reading specialist. At 4, she doesn't need to know how to read. Kids learn how to read in kindergarten. For some it is 1st grade. Neither of my kids could read when they started kindergarten, but I had a lot of people assume that because I'm a reading teacher my kids would learn how to read early. Nope, they just were not ready. And I didn't really do anything special to teach them how to read. Now, they both are excellent readers.

Right now, focus on her recognizing her name and knowing the letters in her name. If she can write her name that is great, but at 4 it's ok if it is far from perfect. If she still mixes up b and d or m and n that's ok. I see kids as old as 3rd grade who still mix up some letters.

Sing the ABCs every day. Do alphabet puzzles. Read ABC books. Point out the big M on the McDonald's sign or the big K on the Kmart sign. Stop and look at signs that are low enough where she can trace the letters with her finger while you say them. Read to her. A LOT!!

Don't let anyone make you feel bad because their kid was reading at 3. It rarely happens. Don't waste your money on workbooks, iPad apps, Teach Your Baby to Read videos, or anything else. Get a library card. Cut pictures out of magazines to make your own ABC books. Make it fun.

As hard as it is not to, don't compare your kids. My daughter was closer to reading at the start of kindergarten than my son was. By mid-kindergarten, my son was reading better than my daughter was at the same point.

Go ahead with the speech screening. Most school districts also have early childhood screenings for 3-4 year olds that are designed to catch delays. Ask the speech evaluator or pediatrician or call your school district. Good luck!

I know no 4 year olds who can read. In Illinois kids are required to get their eyes checked by an optometrist before beginning kindergarten, and our eye doctor commented that most of the kindergarteners don't know their letters (he can still check their vision).

Have her speech checked. Great idea! But do not push her to read. This will come. Just keep reading to her. That's how she will learn to love reading.

Don't push the reading & letters. Most 4 year olds don't know them - only those whose parents push them, usually, and there's no indication that it's beneficial. There are a few kids who are curious about what this letter or that one is, and it's fine to answer, but sitting with her to teach a letter a day? I doubt you'll find a kindergarten teacher who thinks that important.

Just sit and read with her as you would normally. Whatever she's not learning (letters) is offset by all that she IS learning! The more you encourage a LOVE of reading rather than try to do letter drills, the better of your child will be.

Speech is important however, so I would talk to the school district about what services are available to you as a taxpayer. They may do things with her and then have you repeat them during the day. That would be a place where you COULD help out with daily work, but only if they recommend it and if you are fully briefed.

Have you had her hearing evaluated? Sometimes that's a factor, although there are certainly plenty of kids who have speech issues without an accompanying hearing issue.

Did you know that most 4 year olds cannot enunciate correctly 70% of sounds? Did you also know that these tend to self correct by 6?

My oldest was impossible to understand for a very long time, but after doing some research, I decided to give her time. Now, at nearly 7, she is fine.

Some kids aren't as interestedin reading as others. My oldest read fluently at 4. My son, now 5, had no interest in learning to read. He builds, all day long.

Each kids had their thing. Please check this out: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/...

I'm actually stunned that your child will on,y be in pre-k next year and you're worrying about reading. I hate to say it, but this attitude will cause more harm than good. Please do check out the research on pushing kids too hard too fast. She is only 4! Why does she even need to know her letters? She's got way many more important things to learn-like how to cut food, flush the toilet, wait in line. I am serious here.

Speech at this age is great. I don't know that Early Intervention can help you. I thought they only did birth to 3. If they say she is too old, talk to you local school district. They can begin speech services at age 3.

Our school teaches letters in kindergarten. It's really not unusual for kids to enter kindergarten not knowing all if their letters. I volunteer in a kindergarten class, and there are still 7 or 8 kids out of 22 that don't know a few of their letters.

I would definitely not push her. Just continue playing with her and reading to her. That is really the best gift you can give her.

By the way, kids who are in speech often learn to read very quickly because the pictures used to help their speech usually have the word and often the sound they are working on either in bold or underlined. Kids catch on quickly.

Articulation really isn't a learning delay nor is not knowing all her letters.and numbers. My kids are very intelligent and have no trouble learning. Don't get me started on organization but I don't think knowing letters at four would have helped that.

I figured my kids had five years before they start school and by the time they finish that race they are retiring. Should I really start school at 2?

I could do a comparative analysis of my children for you, actually I did, then I deleted it because the point I was trying to make was don't compare. All four of my kids were basically variations on the same theme while they were in school, only one read at four.

Oh yeah, I forgot, my youngest had speech therapy through 3rd grade, she is 13 now, you would never know it. Oh and she reads to, actually too much, I have to take her books away or she will forget her homework

Don't push the reading. You read to her and have lots of great pictures that you can point things out in. If she is just getting ready for pre k they will work on the reading. She doesn't need to know how to read at 4. You will give her anxiety about it and she may never like it. If she is behind in speech then speech therapy will address that.

Rather than "teaching" her let her watch Sesame Street every day! It works!!!

I have some experience with learning delays
I doubt that your daughter has any delays. She may need help with speech. Good that you're taking her to Early Intervention. They provide services in the home until age 3. After 3 you usually need to take them to the provider.

My 3 1/2 yo granddaughter was just evaluated for speech last week. She says such things as making the sound d for b. She leaves out words when talking. She too is difficult to understand at times. After testing she is diagnosed as normal. Her speech will improve as she gets older. Remember that she has only been talking for just a very short time. It's similar to an adult learning a foreign language. Because preschoolers brain is wired to learn they do learn English more quickly than an adult learns a foreign language.

My "normal" granddaughter didn't read comfortably untIL second grade. Her teachers said this is common. Kids only learn when they're ready to learn. A very few kids learn before kindergarten. Many don't learn until first grade.

Relax! Your daughter is doing fine. I suggest you look at a site that gives developmental stages. Several are available online.

Updated

I have some experience with learning delays
I doubt that your daughter has any delays. She may need help with speech. Good that you're taking her to Early Intervention. They provide services in the home until age 3. After 3 you usually need to take them to the provider.

My 3 1/2 yo granddaughter was just evaluated for speech last week. She says such things as making the sound d for b. She leaves out words when talking. She too is difficult to understand at times. After testing she is diagnosed as normal. Her speech will improve as she gets older. Remember that she has only been talking for just a very short time. It's similar to an adult learning a foreign language. Because preschoolers brain is wired to learn they do learn English more quickly than an adult learns a foreign language.

My "normal" granddaughter didn't read comfortably untIL second grade. Her teachers said this is common. Kids only learn when they're ready to learn. A very few kids learn before kindergarten. Many don't learn until first grade.

Relax! Your daughter is doing fine.

Get her speech checked, but back off on the letters and reading unless she wants to learn it.

My daughter from about age four loved the Leap Frog "The Letter Factory" DVD. It teaches each letter and its sound...she would watch it over and over again...nearly drove me nutty. She did learn the letters and what sound they make...fast forward to kindergarten. That is when it all comes together for them to start learning to read. She didn't want to put them together and eh wasn't so big on reading.

Our school uses a lettering system to test reading levels (A level reader, B level, etc). They want them at a solid C level at the end of Kinder...she was barely on the very edge of B/C. Reading was not her thing...then over the summer it "clicked" and she started reading and reading and reading. Started first grade at a G/H level.

My son's speech issues didn't even show up until the end of first grade and he didn't start speech classes until second grade...they couldn't diagnose him until then because the speech issues were age related.

So long story short...if she isn't interested don't worry, it will click one day and she will learn to read. The speech thing get it checked out.

I would get her the help with speech but don't worry about the other stuff. Letters and numbers will be taught in kindergarten.

Please make an appointment with THE RIGHT agency. Get her an evaluation that shows her learning and physical and everything.

IF she does have any sort of diagnosis they have to allow her in the public school system now. The day a child turns 3 years old they can enter the public school system for early intervention. Even if she only has hearing loss and speech issues. If she is going to have problems in school due to any sort of diagnosis she can start public school now and start working on learning those things she will need to know.

At four my youngest was so interested in learning to read that I taught her using the book "how to teach your child to read in 100 easy lessons". (Fyi...I never pushed my daughter. We simply spent 15 minutes/day going through the books daily lessons. (We did not do the writing activity because my daughter didn't like that portion of the book)).

I started reading to my daughter the day I brought her home from the hospital. I had lots of letter/alphabet books as well as number and color books I read to her daily. I was shocked by how much she already knew just from me reading to her. (Do you have the book that goes..."big A, little A what begins with "A" aunt Annie's alligator aaa". It then progresses through the rest of the alphabet. My daughter loved that book and it's catchy phrases and she learned her letters and sounds without drilling her.

FYI... My youngest daughter tested at a 12th grade reading comprehension level in 5th grade. My oldest tested at a 11 grade level in 3rd grade. I am not sure if they just had a natural ability to read or if it was the hours of time I spent reading to them or a combination of both. My advice is to just read to your daughter as much as she likes.

She sounds perfectly typical with an exceptional older sibling. I could have written your post and perhaps did five years ago with my nearly 10 year old. I have an exceptional 14 year old who taught herself to read the summer before she started preschool when she was 3 1/2; a special needs 12 year old who has learning delays and learned to read at a much later age; and so when my youngest came along I wasn't sure what to expect. Typical was foreign to me.

I went ahead with a speech evaluation but the rest I let her go ahead at her own pace because she's her own person. Her speech was in the typical range, I was told, at four. When she was 6 I had her tested again... and again she was typical. Within a year her speech was vastly improved with continual improvements without speech therapy. I just had to trust her to learn.

My best advice is to listen to your instincts even if they're screaming, "But no! It doesn't feel typical!" In that case it's better to be overly cautious and be told that everything is perfectly typical by a specialist after an evaluation, as I was told, than to do nothing and find that she needed the help and you did nothing.

An evaluation couldn't hurt.

As for the reading and letter/number identification, I don't believe that you have any worries at all.

Remember... she's ONLY four years old. She has plenty of time. She's not supposed to know everything before going into kindergarten or even halfway through the kindergarten year. Kindergarten teachers start the year expecting that most of their students are starting without ever having gone to preschool and that their parents weren't ever able to teach them letter or number identification, as well as colors and other things. They essentially start "from scratch" to help all of the kids get to be on the same page no matter where they come from.

Sounds like a normal four year old. Check out speech but a lot of four year olds do not enunciate correctly. Back of I. Letters reading etc. you will turn her off to learning. Use the world around you to teach.

I understand. My younger son had severe speech problems due to a submucous cleft palate. He didn't "get" the alphabet. It worried me so much that he wouldn't be ready for kindergarten.

I got him a tutor who had experience teaching preschoolers. She tried different methods, but they didn't stick. Then she tried a computer program that played games with letters. All of a suddent the light bulb went on and he started to understand. I got a numbers program and he liked that too. I don't know if they make them anymore, but it was DK Bear and Penguin, I Want to Read and I Like Math.

Because he had a weakness in his writing hand, I got him an OT who specialized in handwriting and he learned to write (Handwriting Without Tears by Jan Olsen) while working on strengthening his hand. It helped him understand letters and numbers better. And the icing on the cake was that he saw his brother reading Pokemon cards and reading the gameboy Pokemon games, and he wanted to as well.

If I were you, and I really mean this, I would tell the speech therapist all about this issue (not in front of your child) and make sure that in addition to her speech, she tests her receptive language skills thoroughly.

I would find something that means a lot to her that she wants to do that involves reading. Perhaps this would give her the impetus to try to learn her letters.

Lastly, you may want to have a pediatric opthamologist check her. If her eyes don't track right, she may not be able to discern what she sees, and she will need help with that using vision therapy.

Both my girls learned their letters in kindergarten and are now teens and avid readers. I read to them daily into middle school at times . Our youngest is dyslexic but now reads at grade level. I am 54 and I learned my letters in 1 st grade. I think so much is pushed down to an earlier age and it stresses our kids out. Certainly have her evaluated but also remember she is 4 and can only be compared to her OWN potential not anyone else's. Also remember, Einstein was evaluated to be "unteachable" at elementary age.

Your first step should be her pediatrician. The range of normal is so big and she might be in it just on a different side than your older one. Your dr should be able to give you insight into normal speech patterns.

If s/he seems to think there might be a problem with speech, check to see if your school district has a special education preschool. If it does, you can have your daughter evaluated now. I wouldn't worry about the reading part for now but you might want to check out the speech to see if there is a problem.

Good luck!