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A mother with a two-year boy was at my office. Her son is for routine yearly check up. I asked the mother, "Can Mikey do simple addition?" She replied, "No, he is not going to school yet.”
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I recommended to Mikey's mother that she should start teaching her son how to do simple addition. I demonstrated to her how to do it with fingers. With one right index finger pointing up, I said, "One plus one" I brought up my left index finger in front of him, "Equals two." And let him count both of my index fingers.
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Then I proceeded to 2 + 2 and 3 + 1. Mikey got the concept of addition very easily. So I recommended to his mother to do simple addition with grapes or teaspoons on their table before their dinner. I emphasized to her that like daily reading, she should demonstrate counting every day too. Counting practice should go hand in hand with daily reading. Many parents read to their child during the toddlers' years, however, few demonstrate simple addition and subtraction.
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Psychologists Janellen Huttenlocker and Susan Levine from the University of Chicago found that children can perform nonverbal addition and subtraction develop between ages two and a half and three years old.
Leo Leonidas, MD, FAAP Bangor, Maine
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