I forget to mention that we finally stopped using the graded piano books and let my son pick out sheet music for songs that he loved. Most of the songs he chooses are at an intermediate level and his teacher just teaches what he needs to know for that song.
This strategy has been working well with my DD8 as well. She just started piano two months ago, but has been able to figure out how to play a lot of music on her own.
Also, she started violin right before she was five at her request. She had lessons for about two years, but by the end you could just see this instrument was very difficult for her.
She has been diagnosed with a vision processing issue and has had therapy. I'm told that it is now resolved, but I'm not sure about that. She is currently being assessed for a fine motor difficulty. She has significant difficulty writing.
Ultimately, I observed that her extreme perfectionism + difficulty with fine motor combined with the expectation of perfection her Suzuki teacher seemed to need in order to move on to a new piece of music = not a happy little violinist!
She has decided to move to piano and after watching her teach herself for about a month I realized she wasn't giving it up. I found a great teacher for her, who was willing to be flexible with her teaching method and I think that has made all the difference.
She is back to making music and most importantly, incredibly happy doing it!
HTH
