Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school tips on what to "teach" to a 2 year old?

He won't ever listen to a book at all? Under any circumstances?

My I phone has a YouTube app.  I have made a list of favorites: everything from math videos, to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, to the They Might Be Giants podcast.  My kids know they're not supposed to hit the YouTube featured button or any other but the favorites.  However, the favorites button leads to YouTube suggesting videos similar to what you've just watched and they can chose other kid videos from there.  I allow that.  Once in awhile I hear something that doesnt sound like a kid video, but like last time it was a Disney Cars lego display set to rock n roll.  Somehow my son has learned to navigate that very well and to look stuff up from using it too much.  For example, this summer he asked me to tell him how to learn to swim but he ended up not wanting to learn how to tread water.  Soon I caught him looking up kids swimming under water on YouTube and now even though he only stays in the shallow he puts his face under water and crawls across the pool.  I'm saying he learned how to look stuff up independently without typing it into google or reading it in a book.  He's almost 5.  My almost 2 watches the cartoons and can start the next one.  It's so user friendly.  I view various media as an extension of someones writing.

I have other educational memories from my turning 5 kid and similar plans for my turning 2 kid.  The part I wanted to share in this thread is these new options in the digital age.
Ie., he also looked up Super Mario videos last year after playing the game got him interested and I was super excited because I was like "oh my gosh !! My baby learned how to look stuff up!  We were playing that game two days ago, so I know he looked it up and didn't just click on it at random !! Oh my gosh."

 my goal in teaching him stuff is so that he can take notes, learn, look up, and apply ... I was surprised to see him looking up video games on YouTube

I actually just moved a desktop into his room and I'm going to hook it up and put kidzui (safe kid browser) on it now that he knows how to read and is learning how to spell and can use the big mouse.  

Both my kids have loved Starfall.com and readingeggs.com.

We also use some apps. which my DS2 likes. Not as much as the other ones though.

I second the recommendation for children's picture encyclopedias. I also recommend games and puzzles. Besides beginning board games, DS2 has enjoyed games like Clever Castle, 3D wire puzzles, jigsaw puzzles, 3D models, etc.

Your son doesn't need to sound every word out every time. It's okay for him to learn to sight read words that he knows already. I'd read to him and talk to him, as polarbear suggests. Find something he enjoys. Both of my sons have greatly enjoyed comic books from a young age.

Math manipulatives such as Cuisenaire rods may be fun for him. Building toys such as Legos, Magblocks and Magtiles, or even cut lengths of PVC piping might engage him.

Software games may be fun for him, and help him develop foundational mouse and keyboard skills. I remember DS7 expanding his reading early on by playing games such as Zoo Tycoon. Starfall and similar sites are fun for my two-year-old.

strangely enough, no, he won't ... neither one of my boys have the patience to listen to me (or anyone else read). He's starting to have a lot of sensory problems (though nothing as serious as my older one) and I think it could be the reason why they don't like to listen. He likes to "read" them on his own but not with me. But I just keep trying and maybe some day he'll like it!

thank you all for the great suggestions! Here's a little update ... 5 weeks since he red his first 3-letter word ... he now remembers all the shot ones we started with just by sight ... and is now reading words like tiger, monkey, mouse, hippo, zebra ... I just pretty much write words for him that he knows and he either reads it / recognizes it right away or tries to read it and usually I say what it is and next time he remembers it! We have THREE different magnadoodle boards for him ... one in his room, one in the living room and one in the car. When he feels like it, he just brings me one and says "alphabet! let's see!" ... meaning he wants me to write letters and numbers and the "let's see" phrase is a reference to me saying a lot of let's see when I'm thinking what to write next! lol

I did get some kids dictionaries, first sight words books, etc. He LOVES them! ... I've noticed he's learning a lot of words from those. I guess between knowing what the picture could be and sounding out couple letters in the word under the picture he just somehow connects the dots then knows the word next time he sees it? Works for me! lol

I have NOT had the courage yet to let him go on my laptop ... he's a little demolition man! lol so I am a little bit worried, but I do think with my help he'll get the hang of it quick. Just like with everything else, IF it's something he's interested in, I just need to show him once and he knows. If it's something he couldn't care less for, I could spend days showing him and he'll just ignore me. I got Starfall and ABCMouse but haven't explored it much just yet.

He's right now also confusing his speech therapist a lot! He doesn't want to learn simple words but much rather tries to repeat whole phrases ... which doesn't surprise me at all as I used to joke about him probably being like that eventually ... or instead of just saying "sun", he'll say "yellow sun" ... or "blue water", etc. so, the therapist is happy with all his progress but realizes it's not her therapy as much as his brain that's doing this!

I know there's a lot of parents against too much TV but I do find the tv shows helpful! There are so many that teach the kids different things, I don't think I could do it any better! He loves Word World and Super Why so I just let him enjoy it every day.

I sent some videos of him to a friend of mine who teaches Kindergarten and she said a lot of kids at the END of K can't do what he's very easily doing now. He's still 3 years away from K! I guess we have a LOT of fun times ahead of us! lol

He sounds very much like my DS when he was 2, except he was totally into numbers to start with. But he also never held a book upside down, which I found fascinating.

A couple of ideas come to me in reading all of this and the replies, so forgive me if it seems random.

First, I would not at all discount the idea of giving him a tablet. My DS loved his PowerTouch (if you can still find one of those, they're great -- not so much the LeapPad, which has to use the pen and is annoying) and would have adored a tablet if they'd existed back then. It's no less "real" than a book, and it will certainly cut down on the frustration he feels from not being able to manipulate things like he wants to. When your brain is so far ahead of your body, it can create a lot of anger -- DS used to pound his head on the floor because he just couldn't do the things his brain said he could do.

Second, I would not discount the idea that he might be on the Autism spectrum -- specifically Asperger's. He sounds so much like my DS that it seems possible, if not likely. It doesn't hurt to know, if you're dealing with that, especially when he gets to school and that diagnosis can help with services.

I would guess that he doesn't care for being read to because he processes everything visually -- he has to see the words for them to really register. I'm that way, and so is my son. He may have a photographic memory, which my DS did at that age. When he was 2 1/2, he wanted to know what the grocery list said, and I told him the words while he read them. Several weeks later, I opened a cabinet and he looked at the crackers and read "Ritz" on the box, which had been the first item on that list. That triggered him, and he proceeded to recite the entire list from memory. You might try working with him on memory, if you think that is the case, because we didn't, and DS doesn't seem to have a photographic memory anymore (he's 9).

I don't think I would worry about them learning both languages at the same time. Languages have a way of sorting themselves out in the brain, and it's great to get as many in as you can while the brain is still making those pathways.

Anyway, sounds like you're in for a ride -- good luck with that, and stick around here! It's the right place to be.

your comment has really hit home! He has been getting quite frustrated ... just as you said, his brain is well ahead of his body and it drives him crazy sometimes! When he started doing puzzles, he would get really mad because he knew where the pieces should go but he couldn't get them in! He's been having a lot of problems being around other kids the last two months. He doesn't do it to his 4 year old brother (unless he takes away his toy or something) but when there are other kids in his say 6ft radius, he just charges after them ... grabbing their arm, hair or just pushing away. It's like he feels threatened thinking they will interrupt whatever he's doing and he just doesn't want anyone around. He's fine when there's no more than 5 kids total. Anything more than that really bothers him.

As for Asperger's ... it has been a concern. We are really concerned about our older one having Asperger's or another form of high functioning Autism and he will be evaluated in a month or two, but with my younger one, we are on a 6 months waiting list and still have about 5 months of waiting to do (because of insurance we have to go through Children's hospital). There are days when I'm worried but then there are days when I think it's really just his brain working too hard on something else and he doesn't want to be bothered.

As for the memory, you are probably right too! My husband loves audiobooks ... when I hear an audiobook, I'm lost after first 5 words. Absolutely cannot keep my focus on it. I am very much a visual learner. When I was a kid or even teenager and college student, I'd just run through the chapters, read whatever was bold and when the test came or when I needed the info that was in the book, I hit a "recall" button in my head and went back to whatever data I needed from it. At school, most kids wanted to sit in the back and I always wanted to be right in the front. Back then I didn't understand why, I just knew I worked better that way. Now I know that in the front, I could SEE all the teachers were doing and writing, from the back I would only hear and see some info and would lose focus.
Anyways, seems like my little guy is very much like I was. He sees it, he remembers it ... he DOES remember auditory info too, he just doesn't process it and use it right away. I noticed when we tell him something or when the speech therapist does, he doesn't even react to it. It's like he's completely ignoring us ... and then days or week later he just uses it. Today his therapist asked me if I noticed he was telling her things she tried to teach him last week and he wouldn't repeat them at all. Today he pretty much told her all the new words from last week the minute she walked into the house. It's like a game for him!

It's just something new with him everyday. I'm using the trial and error method ... I through it at him and what sticks ... sticks, what doesn't ... doesn't

I wouldn't worry about not having the diagnosis at this age, if in fact he does have Asperger's. The diagnosis doesn't really do anything for you until you get to school, anyway -- unless you wanted to have counseling before that, and I don't know how much good that might do at such an early age. We didn't have any that early, though it might have been useful, because we denied the possibility until DS was finishing first grade and we finally had to give in and admit to it. I kept saying, "Why does there have to be something *wrong* with him? Why can't he just be a smart kid?" But even when he was 18 months old, I had suspected autism as he ran around in circles, counting to himself, so eventually I had to face it. It's very much worth it for school, to have his IEP to help him with all the social and behavioral stuff along with the ALP to get him the advanced classes he needs. He still suffers from a lot of anger and frustration, at age 9 -- frustration with the body as a toddler turns into frustration with the world after the body catches up, as there are still lots of things he thinks he can do but the world won't let him yet.

But anyway, there are lots of books that might help you in the meantime, though I can't think of any at the moment -- somebody will come along and know the names, I'm sure.

I was able to hunt down the Powertouch on eBay so will give it a shot. I have been considering the old Leapfrog Leappad the last few days but didn't know about the Powertouch. The reviews on it are so much better and the fact it doesn't require a stylus is just perfect!

As for the diagnosis ... you're right. I don't really need it. Just want it (either ruled out or have something in hand) for school when the time comes. He'll age out of Early Intervention in March when he turns 3 and after that we'll have to deal with our local school district. I already have problems with my 4 year old who doesn't qualify for the district special ed preschool because he's well beyond in terms of knowledge and he does extremely well during any type of evaluation so he seems like the perfect child, yet all this therapists are surprised he's not in the special ed preschool because of all his behavioral / high activity issues. So, really ... it's just about the paper in hand to keep our options open. I have a feeling we'll end up homeschooling at some point anyways! lol