All My Children

There is no set of rules of how to talk to a child that can even approach what you unconsciously know.

Brown is responding above to the question ‘How can a child’s learning of language be facilitated?’ In thinking of the ways in which teachers can help children communicate we have, like Brown, taken as our starting point the skills and strategies of the natural and spontaneous parent. A great deal of what we have to say is either an enhancement or clarification of what adults normally do. Continue Reading »

Norm-Referenced Tests

Most ’standardised’ tests have at their core an assumption that abilities are evenly distributed across a population, such that an equal number of cases will fall above and below a statistical mean. Tests are constructed so that children’s scores will spread out across this range. In using a standardised measure we expect half the children to whom it is applied to be below average. Continue Reading »

Some schools have a policy of placing twins in separate classes, others feel that whatever the relationship between twins, they should always be together. Most leave it up to the parents.

This may be the most important decision that parents make. Often otherwise trouble-free twins may have problems at school caused by unequal ability, unequal division by the twins of educational tasks, language difficulties and unequal teaching, to name but a few.

Sometimes there is no choice, particularly at first schools where there may only be a single form entry. Continue Reading »

One of our twins is much less clever than the other but it wasn’t until they started school that it really showed. The teachers have kept them together in the same group so that the brighter twin can help the other one, but it is holding her back and not really helping her sister to stand on her own feet.

Separate classes and possibly separate schools may be the best answer. One may move ahead of the other and they will probably quite happily accept the situation if they can make their own friends at their own level. It will make it easier for you to praise them both when they do well, without any comparison with their twin. Continue Reading »

This section should not finish without a thought for the older brother or sister of twins.

If there is a very positive relationship between the older child and the twins, there may well be no problem. The older child may be proud of having ‘his’ twins at school and show them off to his friends, or he may lead a completely independent life.

However there are some children, particularly those who are close in age to the twins, who may feel overshadowed. Some twins report back to the parents when the older child misbehaves, so that he feels as if he’s being constantly watched. Even though parents may sometimes find these reports useful, they should be discouraged, as with reports about the other twin. The older child is entitled to his privacy. Continue Reading »

Sending your child to school for the first time can be a daunting experience for you, let alone for your child, and will occur when he is about two and a half or three years if you are sending him to pre-school. There are, of course, different types of pre-school and where you choose will depend on your circumstances and preferences. You may choose a playgroup, a nursery attached, to a primary school, an independent kindergarten, a Montessori nursery, or some other type of child provision. The choices available are considerable and they vary according to where you live.

The physical aspects of going to and from school — walking along streets, crossing roads, following routes. So, too, are the importantissues of encouraging independence in your, childand fostering his desire to learn through allowing him enough freedom. Here, therefore, I will concentrate on the equally important help you can give him as he learns to adapt to his new environment. Continue Reading »

Unlike the parallel play of younger children—in which “playing together” means playing side by side without actually interacting except to squabble over a mutually favored toy—preschoolers are usually ready for some genuine cooperative play. The concepts of sharing and taking turns can now be understood and usually put into action, but reminders and supervision will still be necessary.

Some children enter a bossy phase during this period (especially when they are four), which can make things unpleasant for younger or less assertive children in their vicinity. If your child begins to sound like a miniature dictator, take him aside for a gentle reminder about basic kindness and manners. Also be sure to give him lots of praise when he plays well with other children. Specific information helps: “I like the way you let Megan have the ball so nicely when she asked for it.” Continue Reading »