Age Six

Alexander Keith still seems somewhat more distractible than other kids. He has difficult following instructions in class, and staying on task, and you notice this with homework at home. He can watch a favorite show or play video games for over an hour, though.

Ø You Help Alexander Keith with the homework by removing distractions, and rewarding him with a favourite video or video game if he does a good job on homework.

Ø As a parent it’s my responsibility to help Alexander improve In his education. For a kid like him to be able to follow what is needed to follow, there should be a reward and punishment to reinforce him to do something. I see giving him rewards would work out well for him to be inspired in doing a good job in school. So that in every effort he makes he will see there will be a reward so he will be inspired to work hard to get that reward, and on the other hand he will be making progress on his studies.

You occasionally help out in Alexander Keith's first grade classroom. One thing you notice during recess is that the boys usually engage in physical activities in fairly large groups and keep the girls out. The girls are more variable, but tend to have small-group or even just one-on-one interactions. What little contact there is between genders usually involves teasing or chasing. Alexander Keith's behavior is fairly typical.

Ø You are concerned that Alexander Keith is too strongly stereotyped, and you resolve to be more equitable with regard to gender roles at home.

Ø Since Alexander is a boy I find it normal for him to have more interactions with the same sex and to be aggressive. It’s in their nature to tease and chase girls but other than that I want him to respect and to know more about the other sex. I want Him to treat girls well even when he’s teasing them. I want him to tease others but in a good way and that it won’t lead to bullying girls. So he should start learning to respect girls and be fair on gender roles at home first since he has a sister.

Alexander Keith is able to hold his own in conversations with adults, and uses some surprisingly difficult words in his speech. He also is beginning to use this vocabulary in his writing for school.

>You continue to go on outings museums, cultural centers, nature centers, etc.

>I would let Alexander be exposed to his environment since he’s learning more when he’s having fun. Since he’s adventurous I take this idea to be helpful since he could learn and improve his language and communication skills by being socially active and by talking and listening to different people whether it is in the museum cultural center, nature centers and more.

Alexander Keith really knows the routines now in restaurants and only occasionally gets rambunctious.

Now you need to work on Arabella Nichola! Fortunately, she now has a well-behaved older sibling to imitate, so perhaps your task will be easier this time around.

Alexander Keith gets along very well with other children on an individual basis and is not shy at all, but is not a peer leader or one of the more popular kids in his grade.

Ø You work on developing a best friendship for alexander keith by getting to know the parents of his favourite kid, and arranging more frequent get-togethers.

Ø Being famous is not a big deal as long as Alexander has a true and good friend. As a parent I want to be involved also in alexander’s life, so by getting to know the parents of his friend/s would be better so that I would know if he has chosen a good friend or not. By knowing the parents of his friend/s, I will be assured of his safety. Having frequent get-togethers is also good for building up Alexander’s friendship.

Alexander Keith has been imitating what Dad does more and more, even down to gestures and turns of phrase. He wants to hang around whenever Dad is doing anything interesting, such as trying to repair the plumbing (without cursing), or going to the store.

Ø You see alexander keith’s focus on the masculine role as a normal development and you go along with it, but point out as often as you can examples of variety in gender roles, such as female firefighters, male preschool teachers, etc.

Ø What Alexander is doing is completely normal and I agree with him practicing his masculinity with his father and with that he gets to bond more with his dad. But since he is becoming more aware and interested with his gender and masculinity he should be educated also with the variety examples of gender roles so that he won’t be confused and that we would not judge others and will find equality in different genders and sexes.

Alexander Keith is working a little below grade level in math and isn't particularly interested in science at school or at home.

Ø You have always been interested in astronomy so you go on some star-gazing nights with the family, and hope that alexander will learn by example to develop an interest.

Ø Helping Alexander get interested in science would be involving him in such activities that are related to science. Activities such as star gazing would give him a glimpse of how beautiful science is and he would enjoy those activities and would also be interested little by little in science.

Alexander Keith is fairly interested in participating in sports, although at present, you would guess he'd be only an average player. However, with a little practice, he could enjoy any number of sports. Based on Alexander Keith's interest, you enroll him in:

Ø Basketball and tennis.

Alexander Keith seems to be having a new round of colds and stomach aches, and has had to miss several days of school this fall.

Ø You recognize this is part of the normal process of building up immunities, and do nothing special other than to care for Alexander keith when he is ill.

Ø Him having missed school is better than to let him have increased his sickness. So for him to be healed quickly it is better for him to be absent than for his sickness to get worse.

One day Alexander Keith's pet fish dies and you do the whole backyard burial ceremony. A few days later Alexander Keith asks if you will die, and whether he will die as well.

Ø I would tell him that all living things die and nothing’s permanent in this world. I would tell him that he could buy another one and moved on and it is normal for things to be gone and people to die.

Alexander Keith seems to be generally very responsible and helpful, but sometimes he is busy playing when it is time for homework, dinner, bath or bed, and he doesn't want to stop the activity. You have usually given him "5 minutes" to finish up and he has been very cooperative about it.

Ø I would let Alexander do simple chores and reward him with every work done. By doing this it would help him be responsible and would help him manage his time well than to be lazy.

Alexander Keith has been struggling since kindergarten to learn letters and their sounds. He has trouble breaking up words into sounds (phonological awareness), and sounding out new words (even simple ones like mat, hat and cat). He is not able to read simple books independently yet like most of the other first graders. The teacher says not to worry, some kids are just slow starters. Alexander Keith might catch on later in the year, and if not, he'll get some one-on-one help from a teacher's aide at the end of the school year to catch him up.

Ø I would ask advices to the teacher based on alexander’s performance in school so that I could help him improve in his difficulties in school. I would help him with his homework and in any difficulties he have until he would be able to do it independently.

Alexander Keith is about ready to finish first grade. Both parents are working full-time now, and Alexander Keith's sister is in preschool.

Alexander Keith grows serious one day and says something to the effect that you are "nicer" to him than other parents are to their kids.

He adds that you have about the same number of "rules" (i.e., you are the same in strictness) as other kids' parents. You are a little surprised that Alexander Keith is so aware of how other parents behave.

You went to a teacher conference and the teacher went over Alexander Keith's first grade report card. The report card uses developmental categories rather than traditional grades. 

Some of the results were expected, but some of them surprised you, and you decide Alexander Keith's behavior must differ somewhat at home and school.

You like the neighborhood where Alexander Keith goes to school and 

hope you can stay on through his sister's time in school.

Some highlights of the first grade report card were the following ratings:

Usually works cooperatively in groups, usually respects rights and property of others, and usually demonstrates appropriate peer social interaction.

"Requires additional support" in reading and writing. The teacher also noted that Alexander Keith was still in the early stages of learning to decode printed words, and was not fluent in reading first grade books. The teacher thought this was a specific problem with reading printed words, because his listening comprehension (i.e., when the teacher reads aloud) was better than his reading comprehension. The teacher recommended some computer phonics games for home use and suggested hiring a reading and writing tutor over the summer.

In the comments section the teacher wrote: Alexander Keith occasionally gets upset in stressful situations but usually calms down fairly quickly.

"Demonstrates strength" in the areas of speaking and listening and in content knowledge of social studies and science.

"Requires additional support" in the areas of mathematical problem solving, understanding of data and number concepts.

"Developmentally appropriate" in the areas of spatial understanding and visual arts.

The teacher said that Alexander Keith was somewhat more active, distractible and impulsive than the other children, but usually was able to pay attention and stay on task. Occasionally he distracted the other children at their work. The teacher recommended reinforcing positive on-task behavior at home, and discouraging off-task, distractible behavior.

Usually works independently, usually listens attentively and follows directions, and usually follows classroom rules.

How well is your child adapting to social situations in the home and outside the home? Does your child have any behavior or emotional problems at this point? Why do you think these problems are occurring and what are you doing about them?

Ø He’s doing well since I am always guiding him what is right to do. As of now he has little behavioural and emotional problems so to help him solve it, I involve myself in his activities and give him advices and activities to improve his behaviour. I talk to him about his emotions and behaviour for him to improve his self.

Do you notice any improvements in cognitive and language skills since age 4? Give specific examples. Does your child have any special needs with regard to cognitive or language development at this point and what do you plan to do?

He has improved in his cognitive but still struggles a bit in his language development. I helped him everytime he has difficulty in his language development so that he would improve by guiding and helping him in his schoolwork.