3- 4 ages

Vivian has already learned most of the letters and their sounds from watching educational TV, and from games and songs at preschool, can write her own name, and read a few words. She is very interested in listening to books.Vivian is still having problems behaving properly all the way through a meal at a fast food restaurant. She sometimes climbs under the table, or starts complaining loudly that she wants to leave.

"I took psychology!" you say and set to work. Your goal is to give Vivian successful experiences in restaurants by going only to fast-food places, and by telling her in advance what you expect, and the kind of reward she will get if she behaves well. Cleverly, you always order to-go, and sit at the table. If she misbehaves, you give one warning. But if she continues to misbehave, you pack up and leave without giving her the dessert or toy reward.

Vivian will turn 5 this summer and will be a bit on the young side in the fall when she starts kindergarten. The school where Vivian will attend kindergarten has started a kindergarten prep session over the summer that lasts for a couple of weeks and involves group as well as individual work on letters, numbers, etc. You enroll Vivian at the age of 4 years, 10 months. She is assessed by one of the kindergarten teachers, who observes her during free play and tests Vivian one-on-one. Then the teacher sits down with you and your partner and gives the following report:

The teacher noted that Vivian seemed to have made one or two friends and usually played cooperatively with them. She observed that Vivian was sometimes reluctant to join in new activities with unfamiliar children.

She could read a few short words and write her name and could name most of the letters on sight at the time of testing. She also showed an age-appropriate understanding of phonological awareness (e.g., deciding whether two words started with the same sound, picking out the two words that rhymed from a list of three words). The teacher recommended continuing to enjoy reading and writing activities - Vivian was well-prepared for literacy activities in kindergarten.

The teacher noted that Vivian had no difficulty adapting to the "practice" kindergarten activities the children were asked to do. Vivian was generally cooperative, avoided getting distracted, and stayed on task. Vivian did not get upset when mild stress occurred (such as an instruction to hurry up). The teacher recommended that Vivian be given more and more responsibility for self management and care at home and at the preschool in preparation for kindergarten.

She performed in the average range on tests of vocabulary e.g., naming a picture and providing an antonym or synonym for a word), and the ability to retell a story. The teacher thought you should engage in more reading aloud, and encourage Vivian to tell stories, perhaps so that you could write them down and read them back to her.

Vivian showed advanced ability to count, use numbers, understand quantitative relationships and classify objects, showing that she was more than ready for kindergarten to begin.

Vivian was fairly interested in the little art projects the teachers had the students do, and seemed to enjoy the pre-math activities involving working with blocks and geometric shapes.

The teacher reports that your scores on the parenting questionnaire put you in the average range in terms of affection and warmth displayed toward your child.

The parenting questionnaire scores put you in the average range in terms of discipline and control exercised with your child.

There are a variety of approaches to the study of individual differences in cognitive ability. Three areas that are commonly assessed by current cognitive abilities tests are verbal ability, spatial ability, and logical-mathematical ability. Howard Gardner's multiple intelligences approach added additional domains of intelligence based on developmental and neuropsychological evidence: musical ability, physical/athletic ability, intrapersonal skill (understanding of the self and others, theory of mind), interpersonal skill (social competence, perspective taking), and more recently, naturalistic intelligence (understanding of the natural world). In the program, levels of verbal, spatial, logico-mathematical, musical and bodily-kinesthetic ability are influenced by your questionnaire responses. These abilities can be changed slowly by a large number of environmental factors.

The behavior of the child at any given point is consistent with the child's developmental level. For example, a child with high musical ability in middle childhood will be enthusiastic and talented in the school instrumental program, a child with average musical ability will take up an instrument, learn something about music, but not become accomplished at it, and a child with low musical ability will be uninterested in playing an instrument and unable to carry a tune. Another example is that children who are low in verbal ability go through the language milestones (such as speaking in grammatical sentences) at a slower rate, and have lower interest in reading and lower reading comprehension later in childhood, than children of average or above average ability.

The student parent has choices whether to push the child in each ability domain, and in some cases this can result in steady progress. Intrapersonal and interpersonal intelligence are captured by underlying variables in the program such as attachment security, emotionality, peer competence, self control, and the three personality types. These aspects of the child are also influenced somewhat by your questionnaire responses, and can change in response to cumulative effects of social experiences and parenting choices.

Some highlights of the first grade report card were the following ratings:

6 years

Usually works cooperatively in groups, usually respects rights and property of others, and usually demonstrates appropriate peer social interaction.

"Demonstrates strength" in reading and writing.

In the comments section the teacher wrote: Vivian occasionally gets upset in stressful situations but usually calms down fairly quickly.

"Developmentally appropriate" in the areas of speaking and listening and in content knowledge of social studies and science.

"Demonstrates strength" in the areas of mathematical problem solving, understanding of data and number concepts.

"Developmentally appropriate" in the areas of spatial understanding and visual arts.

Vivian was usually appropriately active during recess and physical games, and appropriately quiet during periods of work in the classroom setting. She did not show an unusual amount of impulsive or distractible behavior.

Consistently works independently, consistently listens attentively and follows directions, and consistently follows classroom rules.

Q1: Do you notice any improvements in cognitive and language skills since age 4? Give specific examples. Does your child have any special needs with regard to cognitive or language development at this point and what do you plan to do?

Q2: Which aspects of your child's behavior and personality reflect continuities from earlier behavior (e.g., at ages 3-4 years) and which seem to be novel for this age level?