Audra at 15-months

According to this website, the average 15-month old baby knows about 5 words.  Other websites say the average baby that age knows up to ten words, with girls averaging more words than boys. In any case, I wanted to see how many words Audra knows,  so I wrote them down:

Mama
Dada
Audra
Zeke (our dog)
hello (her word for a telephone, real, toy or on TV)
woof woof (when she sees a dog, real or on TV)
eek eek (when she sees a monkey, toy or on TV)
bubbles
ball
wubba  (a binky)
hot
see
book
TV
ot oh
no
Vowel Song/ABC song (attempts to sing vowel song from learning DVD, also the ABC song)

She also knows half a dozen or so signs in ASL, so altogether, she knows well over 20 words or twice the average.  Not bad!  LOL!!!  I intend to keep track of her vocabulary and other abilities and post monthly reports for her parents.

I won't give her credit for knowing a word unless I am sure that she really does know the word, can use it with intention, and is not just mimicking.

I bought some educational toys for her, as well as language-enhancing DVDs and flash cards.  I work with her whenever the moment feels right for it, but I don't push as she is still a baby. So far, so good.

 

 

We've been working with shape sorters and simple 3-piece puzzles and she enjoys these activities for short periods.  There's improvment in her abilities week after week and it is such a pleasure to witness this.

Audra was born on June 12th so I will try to post my monthly reports around the middle of each month .  I hope that her parents will enjoy having a record of her development that we can all look back on later.   In the blink of an eye she'll be in first grade and it is our hope that the time and effort we are investing now will give her self-confidence when it comes to learning.

We aren't trying to make our grand daughter a genius so that we can brag to other people about how smart she is. We simply want to guide her towards a mindset where she is comfortable and relaxed about learning.  Imagine a child being patient with the process of learning instead of crying and saying they "can't do it."

I've seen too many kids in high school who can't spell 4th grade words and who really hate school because it is such a struggle for them.  Setting the foundation now for a love of reading and learning is, in our opinion, one of the greatest gifts we can give to a child who is so often in our care.

Watch for the next progress report around October 12th.