Could be! I remember when DS5.2 was younger and EVERYTHING he wanted was spelled out in exact numbers. It drove me crazy but I was happy he could count. Though I wasn't happy about having to do all the counting myself so he'd get the right number of hot dog pieces, chips, crackers, etc.
See, I used that to teach her subtraction... Lol.
"Oh! 6 chips? I guess you'll have to eat 3!" Etc.
Now at 3.5 she's obsessed with patterns. She needs to declare her dinner pattern before she starts - "OK, fish, carrot, rice, rice, juice. That's my pattern."
She loves math in both the abstract and concrete senses
We don't use the rods (though I have to admit they seem interesting), we just use everyday things and situations - I doubt it would hurt to use them though - never know what interesting conclusions or lessons they'd learn with just some minimal guidance
