Development at 68 Months
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Activity 1
Age Appropriate Cognitive Development
Looks At Letters In Words From Left To Right
 I am developing my reading skills between 66-72 months (5 years 6 months - 6 years). I usually start to read by looking at the alphabets in words from a left to right sequence. For example, I will read the word "cat" by scanning the alphabets as 'c' 'a' 't' and not 't' 'a', 'c'. Let's try whether I can match alphabets to words in this task today. I will do this between 60 and 72 months (5 years and 6 years). |
Steps
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Hold a cardboard paper with a picture of a cat and the word "cat" on it. Prepare the letters “c”. “a” and “t” on 3 separate pieces of paper. Premium members : You may log in and use the pictures available under “Tools”.
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Place the picture on the table in front of your child.
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Take out the 3 alphabets "c" "a" "t" in random order.
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Demonstrate how to match the alphabets to the word. E.g. "See this is a cat. Cat is spelt, 'c' 'a' 't'. Let's spell cat with the alphabets here. Let's place these alphabets below the picture."
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Ask your child to try and match the alphabets to the word on the cardboard paper "cat".
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Repeat for words such as "rat, "sand", "orange".
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Observe your child's ability to match alphabets to the words in left to right sequence.
Feedback
Your child is looking at words systematically from the left to the right. He is ready for the next stage of reading readiness which is recognizing and reading 3 letter words paired to pictures.
Take a look at the suggested activities for more reading ideas.
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Play a "Let's spell" game once the child is able to systematically match the alphabets. See who can match the alphabets of different words faster.
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Buy only cards which illustrate each word with its picture. This helps the child to meaningfully associate the picture to a word in his head.
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 Start at the child's level and move from there. E.g. if your child is able to match alphabets for words of 3 letters, let him start matching for 4, before going to the longer words. Success creates interest and confidence.
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Create an organized learning environment. Clear the table of all distractions. Ensure that his study area is not close to distractions like television and toys.
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Provide your child with a visual grid to let him know where to place his alphabets. He may not know where he is to place the alphabets on the table or on the picture. A grid with separate small boxes to contain each alphabet of the word is helpful to organize your child's responses. You can even use numbers to show the positions where he is to start placing the alphabets, e.g. write "1" on the extreme left box, "2" on the next box on the right and so forth.
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Activity 2
Age Appropriate Social Development
Delays Immediate Gratification For A Later Reward
 To delay my natural tendency to want things NOW, help me learn the importance of earning and waiting for better things in the NEAR future. I will start to earn points/tokens to achieve a "larger" reward at a later point in time between 65 and 72 months (5 year 5 months and 6 years) |
Steps
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Give your child 2 choices. Draw these choices on a chart.
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First choice: Earns a small reward (e.g. a chop on his hand) for helping out in a simple familiar chore (e.g. wipe the table) or doing a simple 1 page homework.
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Second choice: Earns a big reward (e.g. buy something from the bookshop between $1-$5) when he helps out with 6 simple chores or do 6 simple pages of homework.
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Observe which choice he makes.
Feedback 1
It is great if your child has learnt to be able to sacrifice his immediate desires for delayed reward. He is learning an indirect lesson that better things come when you put more effort in it. Your child is more likely to remember positive behavior if it is reinforced from time to time. You can provide occasional rewards by using things that he will enjoy and is willing to work for. Rewards need not be expensive. Anything that does not come easy can be used as a reward.
If your child is still rather impulsive and choose to have a reward now instead of waiting, do help make sure that the activity that you have chosen for him is 1) easy and 2)quick. Choose a reward that is of lower value when he finishes 1 work but choose a higher value reward when he finishes more work.
Look at the suggestions for ideas in using rewards to motivate and shape your child's behaviors.
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The lowest level of rewards are food. The second level of rewards are toys and activities (free time, sit with the teacher, visit with friend, story time, playground trip). The third level of rewards are tokens (stickers, stars, marks, happy faces, chops on the hands). The highest level of rewards are the intangible social rewards ("I am so proud of your hard work"). We can use a variety of these rewards to motivate a child towards a particular behaviour.
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Use as simple a reward as possible. You can up the value of a simple reward by taking it out from normal usage. You will be surprised at how much it can be rewarding to your child because he does not have easy access to it.
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Create a reward chart menu. Paste all the cut outs and drawings that are reinforcing for your child on the chart. Your child can look at his choice menu. Let him look and choose something he really wants to work for.
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Be clear about the behavior you are rewarding. For very familiar and mastered activities/work, reward only for quality finish of work, instead of rewarding a mere completion of work.
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For work that is new, difficult or challenging, shorten the time needed to reward your child. You may even want to reward him when he is one third done and intermittently throughout the work.
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When the work/activity reaches a habitual stage, start pairing praise with concrete rewards. He will soon learn to do the work with just the praise.
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Read to your child stories that emphasizes on sacrificing immediate desires for delayed reward.
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