In Testing For Kindergarten, I talk a lot about where a child should be developmentally at age 3, 4, and 5. So often, as parents, we wonder if our child is developing the way he should. Maybe he's not as far along as his sister or best friend, but is that okay? Kerry Canella, mother of Christopher, was very concerned about her son's development when he was 2.5. He was coming along more slowly than his sister. Kerry attributes a lot of that to the fact that his sister was cared for by relatives who talked to her and engaged her all the time. After Christopher was born, they hired a nanny who was very quiet, and didn't speak that much to or around the children. Kerry ended up leaving her job and staying home with Christopher when he was 2.5-years-old. During the next year, she used many of the activities suggested in Testing For Kindergarten to turn his development trajectory around. Now, at 3.5, Christopher is right on track and you can't keep him quiet.

Here is what Kerry did with Christopher:

1. Active reading - she went way beyond just reading the words on the page. She noticed what interested him, asked him questions, encouraged him to expand on his answers, explained things and used all the dialogic techniques we talk about in the book.

2. Talk to him. When she took him out in everyday life, she engaged him in whatever she was doing, talking to him all the time. Trips to the grocery store led to learning about different foods, colors, shapes and numbers. She would ask Christopher to go bring her 2 red apples and he loved it!

3. Kitchen as a place to learn. She used the kitchen as a place to learn about cooking, measuring, sorting and pouring (fine-motor skills).

4. Puzzles and blocks. They did puzzles with letters and shapes, blocks and other small items that helped build his fine-motor skills.

5. Music. She did Music Together classes with Christopher. She got him Leap Frog videos, which was where he learned to sing letters and know their sounds.

6. Fantasy Play. They played "store" together at home, where Christopher learned the names of common items in the pantry and how to count money.

7. Games. They played old fashioned games like SImple Simon and sang "Head and Shoulders Knees and Toes" to learn body parts.

8. Writing. They worked with chalk and colors to help Christopher learn to grip his pencil properly. He can write his name now!

9. Favorite characters. He loves the Disney Show "Cars," so anything Kerry can get him with images from "Cars" on it, he's willing to work with (with my son, it was Batman)

10. An involved parent. Kerry realized that there was no magic bullet to helping Christopher catch up. She committed to being there to engage him and work with him. In the end, it took attention and support from his mother, but she was able to get him where he needed to be within a year!

Sometimes, with learning delays, all it takes is a committed mother or dad to work with a child to turn him around. However, that is not always the case. In Testing For Kindergarten, I spend chapter 23 talking about how to get free support services for your child if he is learning delayed. If you feel that your child's delays are more than you an handle on your own, I encourage you to read that chapter and follow through on getting your child the assessment and services he needs to catch up.