Gabe's Wrting

If you don't want to read a long account of Gabe's new accomplishment, skip this post:)

For at least six months, we have been trying to get the kids at the playgroup to learn to write their own names. We haven't been trying very intensively, but we make worksheets so that they can trace their names and provide opportunities to see how it's done. Gabe is the only one who never seemed to pick up on it in any way.

The other day, I was having lunch with another mom from the playgroup. Unlike the rest of us, she actually is a professional early education teacher. She was talking about the learning styles of each kid, and mentioned that Gabe was a mostly auditory learner. I had recognized previous to this that Gabe's auditory memory is amazing, but had never thought about trying to teach him in this way. So I thought, "I wonder if I told him how to make the letters, if he could do it." It seems very difficult to me for a 4-year-old to learn to make letters by description, but nothing else had worked with Gabe.

The next day, I sat him down and described how to make the letters of his name. Sure enough, on the first try he made crude, but recognizable letters. This was a great improvement over previous attempts which were basically scribbles. He even makes them in the right direction. After he worked on his letters, he asked me about how to draw people. I told him what he should draw, and he drew it. It's pretty amazing because he's never drawn before. So here is his first drawing ever. His portrait of mama & papa is surrounded by some A's, E's & B's.