A Tot question...

Discussion in 'Homeschooling' started by Meg2006, Sep 11, 2013.

  1. Meg2006

    Meg2006 New Member

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    Marion will be 3 years old around Thanksgiving of this year, and already I'm worried...he doesn't know his colors!! When he was with therapists they would "drill" colors (by doing games, colorful flashcards, and just random asking). I have also made some cute flashcards and snuck the questions in while reading books and so on. I'm worried he's color blind! He can't tell the difference between red and green, and blue from purple mostly. It is really draggind me down, because he's a good counter, learning the alphabet, but we just can't get colors!! I'm I flipping about nothing?
     
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  3. Embassy

    Embassy New Member

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    How many colors does he know? It is within the normal range for a child to know 3 colors by the time he hits his 3rd birthday.

    Do you have color blindness in the family?
     
  4. Jackie

    Jackie Active Member

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    I'm with Embassy. Some kids know them all, some don't know any. I wouldn't "drill" them but I would just emphasis colors when it's natural. "Oh, do you want an apple? Here's a pretty red one!" "W have to take the yellow peal off of the banana before we eat it." "Can you get me the blue block? No, that one's green - I want this blue one."

    Also, can he MATCH colors? I would think that would be more of an indicator of being colorblind.
     
  5. Meg2006

    Meg2006 New Member

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    He matches fine, and knows yellow, and that's it. He'll point to red adn say, "green", and so on. No as far as I know there isn't any int he family. I'll have to look up the age appropriatness. I just assumed since all my boys knew them before their 3rd birthday that he would too. :/
     
  6. Jackie

    Jackie Active Member

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    Then I would guess he's not colorblind.

    Generally with being color blind, you can't distinguish between colors. If he can sort/match items by color, then he can distinguish between them. He just can't name them yet.
     
  7. JosieB

    JosieB Active Member

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    I wouldn't worry at this age, it's not like there is some therapy to correct it that needs to be started young....

    I'd unschool some colors like asking him to go get you the red ball (instead of the blue one) or asking him if he wants a green sucker or yellow one, ask him if he wants to wear his blue shirt or his green one. Just make the extra effort to notice and identify colors in real life.

    My oldest knew his alphabet by age 2 but didn't get down his colors good until after 3. My youngest knew his colors well before 3, can recognize all the letters, reads on grade level but still can't say/sing the alphabet without messing up at age 6...

    Kids are simply interested in learning what they are interested in learning and not interested in learning what they are not interested in learning. ..I wouldn't force that, especially with a 3 year old.

    You can get an online test for fairly cheap, maybe free...at the very least you can view some of the pediatric test slides online and see how he does.

    I found this link helpful when we thought my oldest might be colorblind http://colorvisiontesting.com/ plus I like to have fun with my colorblind hubby and show him circles he sees nothing in! :)
     
  8. azhomeschooler

    azhomeschooler New Member

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    Oh my, I feel your pain on this one. My son drove me crazy and I was worried about color blindness as well. He was a bright kid, but could not tell me colors. I finally found online (google is my friend) a page to print out to test for color blindness. There were pictures that had the colors like red and green to see if they could distinguish the colors. I looked it up again just now and most use numbers, but try this one: http://freepages.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~hellmers/test/. It has animals and you can just ask him to tell you the animals he sees. It really eased my mind, because he flew through the test just fine. He just did not want to say the colors. He would tell me "the same as" and point to another object. Or, I once came up with colors and an associated picture (the same as had been on our colored pencils). So we would say "blue butterfly" in a sing-song tune. Next thing I knew he was calling all blue things blue butterfly. It is still a joke in our house, because he said it more like "boo bu-fi" in the sing-song manner. He was also the kid who would not tell me what a letter was, but instead gave me the sound and a word that started with it. He just worked in his own way. Good luck and I hope you can find a solution.
     
  9. Embassy

    Embassy New Member

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    When I used to do developmental testing, I looked at whether a 3 year old knew 3 colors as part of the child's overall skills.

    I'd do what Jackie recommended and just use color words quite often in play and everyday life. Maybe focus on one color each week and make it fun to try to find lots of things in the house in the target color. If he is matching colors, he should be able to do that fine. As you search make sure to use the color word "red shoe" or "red car" or "red crayon" each time something is found.
     
  10. BatmansWife

    BatmansWife New Member

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    I say just relax and everything will most likely be just fine. My son couldn't even speak until well into his 3rd year. My youngest dd developed a strange stutter problem around the age of 3 or 4 that lasted a few months. This all to say that just hang in there and I'm sure that what you think is a problem will end up being no problem at all.
     
  11. alibild

    alibild New Member

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    I read something recently about teaching colors and can't find it again to give you the whole article. But the basics was say the object first, rather than the color.
    So, instead of saying "Look at this red apple", say "this apple is red". Doing this draws the attention of the child to the object because they know objects and then gives them the detail about that object. When saying red apple, child is looking (consciously or unconsciously) around wondering where red is, and then when you give the apple detail, their brain latches on to the object and I can't remember the details of this part if the brain forgets about the color or just moves on to the object.
    I'll keep looking for it and reply again if I find it.
     
  12. Jackie

    Jackie Active Member

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    INTERESTING!!! I've never heard that before, but it makes sense!
     
  13. Actressdancer

    Actressdancer New Member

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    I taught pre-k before I had children and I CLEARLY remember my frustration over the fact that not a single one of my 2-year-olds knew a single color. Even the ones who were just about to turn 3. I drilled and drilled the way our curriculum dictated, but it didn't help. I remember one day holding up a red crayon and saying, "this is a red crayon. This is a red crayon. This is a red crayon. What color is it?" All of the children called out either "blue" or "yellow." They knew the names of the colors, but hadn't a clue what the concept was.
     
  14. alibild

    alibild New Member

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    Found the article I was talking about.
    Ok, apparently I can't post a link, but if you go to scientific american (.com) and search for "Johnny colors" the 2nd article is "Why Johnny can't name his colors".
    This is the one. There are 4 pages you have to click to to read the whole thing, but the main summary is at the very end.
     
  15. Jackie

    Jackie Active Member

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  16. Lindina

    Lindina Active Member

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    Wow~ never would have intuited that! But when you put it that way, it makes sense.
     
  17. Jackie

    Jackie Active Member

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    The problem with it is that it's not "natural" in English. I'm one who believes that most preschool learning is done through context. Like I said, emphasize colors as part of daily life. It's natural in English to say, "Hand me a red apple." It's NOT natural for us to say "Hand me the apple. It is red." Or if you're building with blocks, and there's lots of different colors. Red differentiates one from the others. You'd almost have to say, "Hand me THAT block. It is red." And again, that is stilted language.
     
  18. MagnoliaHoney

    MagnoliaHoney New Member

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    Jackie I agree. I know in spanish you would say Red is the house, instead of that's a red house. And it really does make more sense in spanish. I think Americans get lazy though, and it's easy to say that's a red house, then red is the house. ;)
     
  19. alibild

    alibild New Member

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    Thank you, Jackie.
     
  20. Meg2006

    Meg2006 New Member

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    Thanks so much for the advice! I feel a lot better about it. Sometimes I get worried that I feel like I have so much to teach and so little time! lol. I'll relax it, and just add in more color questions to our day. :)
     
  21. Jackie

    Jackie Active Member

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    But saying "Red is the house" would be just as "wrong" as saying "a red house", because it puts the color before the noun. In French, I know, you would say "la mason rouge", which translates literally to "the house red". The noun proceeds the adjective, which is what this guy says works better.
     

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