I am a mother to a late-blooming child. Usually boys are more prone to late blooming than girls, but girls can be, too. I know I was. I still wasn't reading by the time I was six -- but by the time I was in fifth grade I had read every fiction book and every biography in the school library. Late-bloomers aren't dumb -- they are just taking in other things in the world in a different way.
I was also oblivious to the teacher most of the time. I was always in my own world. I wandered around the classroom "helping" all the other students and I talked a lot. I remember in first grade being turned around in my seat "helping" the student behind me and the teacher came up behind me a broke her ruler on my bottom. It didn't hurt, but boy was I embarrassed! And to this day I do not have any idea what the class was doing at the time. Perhaps she was lecturing at the chalkboard and I just didn't get it.
I have grown up to be a musician and a writer and a teacher. In my junior year in high school I wrote a three-act musical. I am very creative and I still live a lot in my head! I still have a difficult time sometimes seeing the whole picture. I'm what a lot of people would consider "a geek."
Some people need the radio to listen to in the car. I don't. I can entertain myself for miles just listening to all the stuff in my brain! I actually like sitting in silence and just thinking. It is one of my favorite things to do when I get a chance. When my kids are around, I lock myself in the bathroom and just sit and think. I get the best ideas in there!
Just because I learned to read later than other kids doesn't mean I didn't and don't learn! I did and I do!
My middle son has a gifted IQ and lives in his own world. He did not read until he was nine years old. He caught up with academics by the time he was in 7th grade. He skipped 6th grade. He is brilliant and doesn't have much trouble in school except in paying attention and always thinking of something funny to say or do. He loves to draw and make up stories.
The physical act of writing has been difficult for him, but he gets better at it every single day. He has a three-dimmentional mind and most academics are two-dimmensional. If he were in a public school he would have been labeled as dyslexic and learning disabled. He sees things from a different angle than we do. His algebra tutor commented on this to me. He also comes to the answers of his math inside out and backwards. He puzzles his math tutor a lot of the time!
He has struggled in spelling, but is getting better. Some children just take more time to learn certain things. My first son was dreamy, too. And he didn't learn to spell correctly until he was about 16 years old. Suddenly it clicked. We have no idea why other than late-blooming runs in our family!
Perhaps your little girl or boy is a creative type. Enjoy your late-blooming child. Listen to them. Once he or she gets the connection that words can show them new and amazing things -- they will have a motivation for learning those sounds. Right now it's just irrelevant to their life.
And don't forget the snuggles. Maybe you are afraid your child acts too much like a baby -- oh, if I had my adult children to raise all over again, I would have majored more on the snuggles and less on the chores and academics. Those snuggles end too soon. Enjoy them. Embrace them. Wallow in them! I promise your children will not go to college wanting to snuggle! I promise, I promise!
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