|
Today I saw Haley for a routine 4 year old check up. Before I started my developmental history questions, I asked her, “2 plus 2” showing my two fingers on my right and two fingers on my left. She counted it and said, “Four.”
Then I said, “2 plus 3” and she counted the three fingers of my right hand and proceeded to the two fingers on my left, and said, “Five.” I said, “Good job!” congratulated her, and I said, “Give me five” and she responded with her right hand.
I then showed the mother the method of “count on” as a better method of teaching addition in pre-school children. Apparently the mother do “count all” in teaching addition. So I explained to the mother how “count on” is done. I demonstrated with three fingers on my right and two fingers on my left. I told the mom to teach Haley to look at my three fingers on the right, and say “three” and point to my left index finger and say “four” and point at my left middle finger and say “five.” And the answer to “2 plus 3” using “count on” method is 5 with less chance of error compared to the “count all” standard way of teaching addition in pre-school.
Haley was sitting on the examining table paper. I wrote two vertical lines to the left of Haley and I requested her to count it. She did and said two. Then I added two more vertical lines about two inches from the first group of two. I requested to count both groups of two. She did it right and said, “Four.” I added three more groups of “twos” and above each group, I wrote, 2 4 6 8 10. I requested her to count all of the five groups of twos and she got it right, “Ten.” We did this two times. Then I requested her to look at her mother, without looking at the examining table paper with the vertical lines. I requested to count by twos. And Haley counted perfectly from 2 to 10 looking at her mom.
I then proceeded with physical examination. I did not ask any more questions about her development. I know she is advanced in both language, cognitive, and quantitative development. Before I left the examining room, I requested the mother to teach her how to count by “three.”
I also instructed the mother how to improve the memory of Haley.
Haley is “graduate” of our “Smart Baby Program.”
Leo Leonidas, MD, FAAP, Assistant Clinical Professor in Pediatrics, Tufts University School of Medicine, Boston; Attending Pediatrician, Eastern Maine Medical Center, Bangor, Maine.
|
