Kassie had a best friend when she was little. She was four months older than Kassie. Her mom and I were best friends, so naturally we spent a lot of time together. I know that you should never compare kids, but since we spent so much time together, it was hard not to.
I based Kassie's abilities in what her friend was doing at her age. So if she could do something at 24 months, I waited until Kassie was 24 months to see if she could do the same thing.
At 34 months, her friend knew all of her primary colors. I was impressed. She was a brilliant little girl. I started to show Kassie her colors too, and nothing. I figured that I just needed to wait the four months, and when she was 34 months, then she would know them too.
I started trying to show Kassie her primary colors using blocks. I would sit down with her and focus on one color at a time. We would play with just red blocks. Then I would find anything I had at home that was red, and incorporate it with our play. I would say the word red multiple times. I did this with every color. However; using this form of play did not seem to help. She still did not know her colors.
One afternoon, when Kassie was almost 36 months, I was sitting with her. And again, I was trying to teach her the primary colors. We sat on the floor with the colored blocks. It was the same routine. Give me the red block, Kassie would hand me the blue block. Give me the green block, she would hand me yellow. My patience was getting the best of me. I just could not understand why she could not get it. The only block that she ever got right was orange. I decided to take a break, and let her watch a Disney movie. I went to the kitchen, and as I grabbed something from the fridge. I saw an orange in the drawer. Something clicked, it was orange in color and it's name was orange.
I grabbed Kassie, turned off her movie and sat her down with the blocks again. Instead, this time I asked her to give me the block that was the color of a strawberry. She handed me the red block. I said, how about the one that is the color of a banana, she gave me the yellow block. What was happening? She KNEW her colors, but she did not KNOW them. She associated items with them. Even with the color of our car at the time. I said, give me the block that is the color of mommy's car, and she gave me the blue block. I did not know what to think of this.
The internet back then was not what it is today. I didn't know where to go with this. I asked other moms and my own family, they all said, it's normal. She will eventually learn her colors. I let it go, and waited patiently for her to learn her colors. If I could only go back to that day and if I had only followed my motherly instinct. Things would have been so different for my Kassie. Deep down, I knew that she learned differently I just didn't have the knowledge to put the pieces of the puzzle together. I was not as nervous, and I felt that she did know her colors, just not in the same way other kids did. Learning disabilities were not spoken of much when I was in school. At least not that I can remember.
Looking back, I also believe that growing up in such a small town can hurt sometimes. There were no montessori schools, and since I was a stay at home mom at the time, there was no need for daycare. She only played with a few friends and most were younger than her.
Eventually, Kassie did learn her colors, but much, much later.
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