20 Kisses

Anyone who has ever tried to teach a child to count has probably been frustrated with "The Teens."  My kids always sound something like this....10, 11, 12, 13, 16, 18, 19, 20.  They are fine after that.  The teens are always learned last.

They also need to be taught how to read and write these mysterious numbers!  Grrr...and understand that you say the second number first...9...teen, but write it last.  Why is it so confusing?

Josie and Isaac are in this stage together right now.  Because Isaac is older he's been working on it longer.  Because he has Down syndrome, Josie is pulling ahead.  But, I had to laugh as we put our Halloween decorations up last month because they were trying to help each other count the ghost lights we were assembling in the front yard.  They were proud because they were doing it repeatedly without my help and always coming up with the same answer:  23.  I was amazed at their consistent results!

I was amazed because there are only 12 ghost lights.  They must have been skipping around a lot.

That is when I thought to myself---These kids need more kisses.  One of my favorite strategies to teach counting is a daily dose of 20 kisses.  They help me count (when they aren't giggling).  They get repetition and I get to kiss their faces off.  It's a win-win.

It doesn't help with the reading and writing part, but it's really fun.