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Child Behavior (Expert Forum)
4 years old doesn't answering the questions
Answered by
Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D. - Child and Adolescent Psychotherapy, Family Therapy, Crisis Intervention
Harvard Vanguard Medical Associates
This forum is for questions and support regarding child behavior issues such: Child Discipline (behavior management), Normal Child Development, Parent-Child Communications, Social Development
4 years old doesn't answering the questions
by Stepa, Jan 03, 2005 12:00AM
Hello. We are the Russian family and our 4 1/2 years son is in bilingual situation (at home we speak only Russian) He is in preschool second year and his speech is seams to be delayed (comparing to other children his age and our daughter (6)) Recently we change the preschool because we had the feeling that was not a good match between him and a teacher (everybody was treating him as an odd guy). So now he is in different preschool and doing much better, interacting with children and following the routine. But our concern is that some times it difficult to receive an answer to questions from him. For example: What Santa brought to you? His replay: presents. What presents? No answer. What is your sister name? No answer, but if I point on her and ask who is it, he will answer. He constantly switches between languages-half of the sentence in Russian, half in English. Colors only in English, shapes in Russian. He can speak in relatively long sentences -6,7 words, but doing it seldom, usually speak in short sentences (3,4 words) or just three words, but not sentence. For example: Q. Where is your pirate costume? His answer (while very busy playing with something): Costume, my room, backpack… Some times he speaks his own language. He knows many songs and love rhyming. But he is not expressing himself verbally, like other children his age. He has speech therapy once a week. He has some problem to listen and focus, but he can write his name and numbers, and most of the letters. He doesn't carry long conversation - usually 2,3 sentences. We are worried about him being able to perform well in kindergarten next year…What is your suggestion?
Doctor's Answer
by Kevin Kennedy, Ph.D., Jan 04, 2005 12:00AM
, Jan 04, 2005 12:00AM
Your son is in a difficult situation, trying to develop language proficiency in two languages. The nature of his progress is actually not unusual, and I think you should continue to support his development through this school year and then assess the situation at the end of the year. I would be very surprised if he is not prepared to enter kindergarten. It is very likely he will be ready, and in any case it is not something you need to focus on right now. At this age, once children have the ability to express themselves, they tend to make pretty rapid progress. If he were going to be entering first grade there wold be reason to be alarmed. But not now, particularly since he is still in pre-kindergarten. Keep in touch with the Speech/Language pathologist to track his progress, moreso in relation to langiage development rather than speech per se.
