This might be a bit OT, but I wanted to ask. My dd's teacher told me today that children don't start to develop more mature social skills until they start to loose their teeth (she thought dd was just start to loose her teeth and this was her explanation for some issues we're having, which are actually related to dd's exceptional social skills and ability to fit in anywhere rather than poor social skills). DD 5.5 started loosing her teeth over 18 months ago, so this was an easy argument to refute, but I have heard other teachers say this too. Is this just a myth (which is seems to be to me) ? I have searched the internet and the journal databases I have access to and can't find a thing on it, which leads me to believe that it is.

I can see how for an ND child, who lost their teeth at an average age, the loss of teeth would probably occur at the same time as they were developing more mature social skills, but I know ND kids who lost teeth early who are developing emotionally at a 'normal' pace, so it seems to me a causal link would be unlikely.

Is your child in a Waldorf school? This is a Waldorf belief. I think it's hokum.

Waldorf pedagogy also holds that children should not/cannot learn to read before they start losing their teeth.

Well my son lost his first tooth at 6 and had been reading for well over 2 years. He was reading at a 4th grade level when he lost his tooth...so don't tell him about Waldorf.

Oh yeah, I think it's ridiculous! Forgot the eye-rolling smiley. My DD also learned to read before losing her first teeth. She has actually a lost a lot of teeth now, for her age, but emotionally mature is not how I would describe her.

Thats a very weird belief...I'm glad my son (DS8) isn't apart of that school as he didn't lose his first teeth till the last month of 3rd grade! ( granted he was 7 at the time )and has only lost one since.

I don't think losing a few teeth is going to give him an up in maturity either, although it would be nice!

I actually discussed the Waldorf teeth/reading belief with my DD's special ed teacher. She heard Steiner and immediately started saying "No I don't know anything about that and don't agree with their reading philosophies at all." Then she heard "teeth" and changed her tune entirely and said that in fact after 30 years of being a special ed teacher she now asks to see the teeth of the children who get sent to her and for the most part, although she tries and tries, she often doesn't see much progress until they start getting adult teeth. She was clear that this obviously doesn't apply to all children and many children learn to read with ease long prior to getting their teeth, her own children included. But amongst the kids who DON'T learn to read and get sent to her for remediation she does see a definite pattern. She wishes she'd kept all her notes so she could do a study on it. Even more anecdotally than that, my own DD did not turn a corner with reading until she finally started getting adult teeth (at 7+). And then took off fast, she still can't spell though.

Oh my. You can't make this stuff up.


And:


The "etheric body" indeed. They don't seem to leave much room for different kinds of children with different kinds of interests (you can let your five-year-old read if you really want to, but of course you'll be scarring him for life, along with his little classmates.)

If this works for your kid, great. But I don't like the sweeping statements. My eleven-year-old would have been tearing his hair out at a Waldorf school and my six-year-old (almost 7 entering third grade, having done a lot of third grade work already) would have no brain left at this point. It seems that they have very early birthday cutoffs, and would want her to start first grade this year!

Thank you all for your responses. Val, those quotes are amazing. Goodness, perhaps dd's etheric body was born the week after she turned 4 then (when first tooth lost)? Fortunately she's never been too keen share her reading ability so she hasn't brought the burden of her terrible affliction upon too many others. She's not at a Steiner school, but I think perhaps it's been passed from one teacher and into the school's folk law.

Val. Ouch. I really liked the (very vague) concept I had of Steiner schooling - right up until I actually looked into it and realised it absolutely was not for us. I do still find the teeth/reading thing interesting though.

Another teeth theory: My grandmother always said a child can't be potty trained until he/she gets 2 year molars. She also said that kids who don't crawl 9skip that stage and go right to walking) will have a hard time learning to read.

Well Keet, neither of my older kids were successfully dry until they finished getting their baby teeth (and would go well for months in between getting another tooth and regress when the teeth were coming). And my delayed reader never crawled...

LOL - Love these theories! DD did have her 2yo molars when she toilet trained - but she got them very early (hence the early loosing teeth). She didn't crawl, went straight to walking and yet read at 2.5... goodness imagine if she'd crawled!

Another I read about was someone who said that if children didn't crawl they'd never be able to dance! That one still makes me giggle.

There actually is a fairly well accepted connection between crawling, left/right integration and dyslexia (and the co-ordination to dance well actually). But how do you tell the difference between a kid that doesn't crawl because they can't and one who doesn't crawl because they are gifted and on a different trajectory? And that left/right integration can be improved in other ways. Swimming has helped my DD a lot.

Both my DH's and my own families, but especially his side have a history of long, slow bone development, late (SLOW & agonising) teething, etc. So I suspect some of the "late blooming" in his family is directly related to relative developmental immaturity for age. Because my girls are tall and either bright or gifted they don't look seem they are developing more slowly than average in any regard, but I suspect that they actually are at least physically developmentally slower than average. It will be interesting to see what happens with time.

Many of my friends' kids attend a Waldorf school. The place seems very lovely, with wonderful teachers, and of course it is definitely play-based in the early years, and convenient to our house. Children seem to thrive there. I've vaguely considered sending DS there, but I really can't get past all these complete bizarro beliefs that underlie the philosophy. If you think the bit about the teeth is weird, try looking into the rest of it.

FWIW, I never crawled and I learned to read (very well) at 4.

Also, DD was a very late teether (no teeth till 11 months, 2-year molars not till about 3) and yet she has LOST her teeth much faster than many of her classmates. I think she's lost at least 8, at 7.5.

The Waldorf school near us has a wonderful feel to it and I actually know a lot of graduates who had a lovely time and turned into lovely human beings. I found their open day quite enchanting when DD#1 was a wee baby. I think like Montessori, the individual schools can vary a lot. But I still just couldn't come at it once I really started reading and thinking about it seriously.

I think things like not crawling, not yet having adult teeth, etc are markers that you may find in a disproportionately high number of children with a reading delay - but lots of other kids will have those things and learn with no trouble at all.