response

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Home : 2002 : February : 6

response
By Lisa

I'm a teacher and a parent. I would like to respond to the surprise mentioned by several people that some children come to kindergarten not being able to write their name. Both of my children went to a developmental day
care program as 3 and 4 year olds. This program emphasized that the development of each child is different...not every 4 year old is, can or should be at the same level of development. So therefor skills were taught as each child showed signs that he or she were ready. My oldest was ready to learn his name before he started kindergarten. My youngest was not. He started kindergarten

knowing some letters and was able to write some letters but he was still at the stage of scribbling and experimenting with writing. He has since learned to write his first name and is working on learning the letters of his last name. His kindergarten teacher was not surprised that he didn't know how to write his first name (he only knew what letter were in it) and I wasn't either. Some children (boys especially) are not developmentally ready to write their names. I think their stage of readiness should be considered and respected. Sorry this is long but I think more people need to understand that it may not be that a child's parent has neglected to teach them their name but that the parent may not feel the child is ready.