Reading and Math - OMG!

Well we arrived on Monday morning at the Institutes for Zoe's evaluation and she was an exhausted train wreck from the travel and 4 days of no naps. So I promptly announced, "Whatever you're going to evaluate for her intellectual program do it now because it's all downhill from here."

So our advocate Rosalind went right to work. I had to lug half a suitcase full of Zoe's Intel materials across the country with us so they could use them in her evaluation. They asked me to bring 2 books I'd made for her but she had NOT yet seen (pics above on NYC and Egypt).

Rosalind grabbed the 2 books and said, "I'm going to ask Zoe a crazy question. There's no reason she should know the answer because she hasn't seen these books, but I'm going to ask it anyway." Then she held up the title pages in front of Zoe and (without reading the titles aloud), "Zoe which book is about a city in the United States?" And Zoe looked, thought for a second and pointed to the book on New York.

Rosalind took me outside and said. "That's fantastic! I mean, even if she got the answer wrong, the fact that she's trying to deduce the answer is VERY advanced for her age." So we went through the book on NY and came up with some questions we could ask Zoe to see what she understands when she reads.

And back into the room we went to join Zoe, Jeff and Jeff's Mom. Ros asks Zoe more questions from books she has read. "Which one is a book about a mammal?" (holds up books on a dolphin and on Russia). Yeah - Zoe got that one right too. There were other questions I can't remember but she got them ALL correct.

Rosalind asks me to show Zoe the book on NYC but NOT to read the words aloud. She tells me to flip the pages as fast as I can because Zoe most likely can read faster than I can turn the pages. So I flash the pages and the first question is "How did Mom do with the speed of turning the pages?" And we gave her 3 choices on paper - great, ok and stinks. Answer - Stinks! Stinks! Stinks! Well, I was flustered and the pages were sticking together...

So then we asked Zoe questions related to content in the book and presented her with multiple choices on paper for her to point out her answer. How many boroughs are in New York? If we went on a boat into NY Harbor, what statue would we pass? etc., etc. Every question she answered correctly, EVERY QUESTION!

The reason this is so amazing is because it demonstrates that she can read (large print) independently AND she understands what she reads. She's two! Jeff and I watched the eval like hawks. We made sure the correct answers were randomized (sometimes it was on the left, sometimes on the right, sometimes the first option, sometimes the third or fourth) and that the correct choice was never positioned more favorably (closer or on a side she favors).

I can tell you, as a mom who spends a lot of time with this little girl, I can tell the difference between when she's guessing an answer, when she KNOWS an answer and when she's not in the mood so she points to any answer so you'll stop and go away. During the entire evaluation, she was thoughtfully engaged and she was choosing her answers on purpose. It was incredible, just incredible.

Then it was on to math. Rosalind tore off the answers from all the equations we brought with us then asked Zoe a bunch of math questions that no one else in the room could answer without a pencil and paper....and 2 minutes... and maybe a calculator. The ones that come to my mind - "Zoe, what is 1/7th of 84?" and my personal favorite, "Zoe, if 84 divided by X divided by 7 = 6, does X = 7 or does X = 2?"

Yah... go get your calculators. Whatever the answers were, it took Zoe about 1-2 seconds in her head to decide and point out the answers. Every answer she gave was correct. You just can't do any better than 100% - rock on little Z!


(Not the best hair day for either of us - but we don't care, we're happy!)