That's not for real, is it? I mean, they expect 4 yr olds to do basically not much more than 2 yr olds. (My almost-2 is pretty much an "average" 4, though he can't count out loud & so misses a bunch of those things, I didn't look at the five year old, though, if there's as little change, he might be there, too...)
I consider enumeration to be the first real math milestone, and this is one that truly can take awhile to master. I think it said that the average 4.5 year old was enumerating up to the number five. That is assigning a number to each object and understanding that the last number has significance to the group. I believe that enumerating to three or even four is pretty normal even at 18 months. I would not even blink an eye if a 12 month old understood two of something.
In fact, under the 2 year old milestones PBS does say that a few children will be enumerating up to five items. So, it must not be that odd. But, regularly enumerating higher than five earlier than that is remarkable in my book. I wouldn't get worked up about it. I would just know that this could be his "area".
It would be clearer to me if you gave some examples. I am having a hard time imagining what else he could possibly be doing with numbers without actually speaking them.
I'm asking, really, because... well.... I'm ok with the 50% ahead thing, almost getting used to it, but... This just doesn't make sense to me. I'm SURE I've had perfectly good conversations with a lot of little kids about this stuff, DS has NOT seemed inordinatley ahead in these things... I'm just confused, that's all.
I know this sounds a bit daft, but I'm *sure* a lot of this stuff is just to make 63.7% (or so) of the population think their kids are in the top 10%. How could there be THAT little CHANGE over time?
I actually thought these milestones were pretty spot on. I have seen worse. But, I don't ever really rely on PBS for milestones. I think you need to remember that these data were the result of a comprehensive surveys of children from all backgrounds. Some of these four year olds may very well have been able to complete these tasks had they been exposed to the concepts more.
I also think that 18 months-2 years can be a hard age as far as looking at milestones. Kids develop in spurts. A lot of times looking at milestone charts or comparing to peers can make you scratch your head now, but I *swear* it gets better. There is just such a wide range of normal at this age. But, later...your son will still be different, but milestone charts are out the window, and it won't be so painfully obvious when compared to his peers.
I do not think that this stuff is to make people think their kids are in the top %10. This website seems to be a fun way to see what your child should be doing at each age and may also be used for parents to catch delays. It also seems to be a vehicle for advertisements.
