Expert: Valerie Herskowitz - 4/29/2011

Question
My daughter is 6, soon to be 7, and I know that you cannot compare children to other children and so on, but I am so concerned with my daughters development. I have 5 other friends, including a step-daughter with daughters her age and they seem to be way more developed than mine. :( She is currently in 1st grade and barely made it there. Right now it is unknown if she will make it to 2nd grade. She has progressed immensely in reading and writing which is great, but her teacher is concerned on her number sense. She can count up to 20, but still has trouble with that and doesn't understand greater or less and so on. She is very sociable, a little too sociable. She cannot stay still for any amount of time and often gets in trouble for not paying attention in school. Her teacher and I are concerned with her comprehension; you can read her a short story about a farmer and a cow and ask her to tell you about the story or ask a question and she will say it was about the beach..she is really off when it comes to comprehension. I will ask her a question and it seems that she does not hear or understand me. I can ask her to do something and she will just stand there, not being disobedient, but as if she just didn't understand me and I have to repeat myself 3 or more times. It makes me sad because other adults will meet her, try and talk to her and later ask me if something is wrong with her. She just cant seem to hold any conversation or answer a question correctly. She is always sticking her fingers in her mouth and playing with her feet, which doesn't seem normal. She also just does not listen, I can tell her to not do something and 1 minute later she is doing it again as if I never told her not to do it. Another concern her teacher has is sequential order, he can tell her to put up her back pack, get her supplies, sit down and get out her folder and she will stop at getting her supplies. I have taken her to a Dr when she was 5, but they asked question like can she count to 3 and then they were no longer concerned. I have a 2yr old that can count to 13 already..come on! I am so stuck and just need help for my princess. Thank you so much!

Answer
Hi Stephanie

You are very right to be extremely concerned. Your daughter appears to be having  lots of issues that are impacting her in many areas. I would highly recommend that you take her to get a complete psychological battery that will focus on auditory processing and attention and focusing (as these seem to be the two areas that are in need right now.)

After you get this evaluation, write me back and we can start planning out a strategy for her.

You are really correct for being concerned. The issues that you described are not ok for her age and she needs a great deal of help.

The areas I would focus on would be comprehension, attention, following directions, number concepts. I can help you develop a great home program for that, but first you need the evaluation ASAP. She's young and can make tons of progress, but you should not delay