Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment New here! WPPSI and other assorted q's, sorry long

Really though do you want him in a program that expects 5 year olds to have well developed fine motor skills. That may be the first flag that it isn't a very developmentally appropriate program.

Ideally with a 4.5 year old if I planned to do structured activities trying to work on fine motor, I would not focus it primarily on pencil and paper work. I would think about: tug of war, wheelbarrow walking, working with clay - real clay - not playdough as it is too soft, activities that strengthen pincher grasp, etc. Building upper body tone and hand strength are all important foundations for further development. Tricking, bribing, coaxing the child into writing letters may ultimately backfire.

As a general teaching approach it worked best for the personality of our child to allow him some private space to develop with as little commentary as possible. One thing we've seen again and again and again is there is a method to the madness. Often the way we'd think to teach it (the in the box method) really was not well suited for the way he learns. That isn't to say we offer nothing, but I'm much more likely to ASK if my thoughts are welcome along the lines of "there is a traditional shortcut many people like, would you like to hear about it?" Honestly though this does take a leap of faith to let go of this level of control. In the long run we've seen this develop into a lot of confidence and motivation in learning.