Late-bloomer cultivates talent for math

"Get your chores done now," I said, "or I will not let you do any more pages in your math book today." I never thought I'd tell any of my kids that one. My oldest once asked if there was math in heaven. She was lobbying against it. Olivia, age 6, is a different story. Her math book is a reward.

Born in her sister's shadow, Olivia has learned to be persistent in order to be heard. Her requests for a real math book were loud and frequent. When her workbook finally arrived, she was ecstatic.

"She's excited about math?" My teen was incredulous. It just didn't seem possible that anyone could beg for more math, but it was happening right there before our eyes.

Olivia opened her book and caressed the page. She grabbed her pencil and got to work. A short while later, I looked over to see her busily working with a calculator.

"Wait a minute. You can't use a calculator," I informed her. Her face fell. "But this is subtraction, Mommy. I can't do subtraction. I need someone to help me."

I assured her that I could teach her to subtract without a calculator. Her eyes narrowed as she thought about that.. She has seen me balance the checkbook. I use the calculator and I mutter a lot, so she couldn't really be sure that I know what I'm talking about. She decided to give it a shot.

I sent her off to grab a handful of crayons — the closest set of 10 objects she could find. Olivia quickly understood the concept of subtraction using manipulatives and dismissed me. That first night, she stayed up late with her math book. By the next morning, she had finished 35 pages, and I had to threaten to take her workbook away so she could get something else done.

It wasn't always like this. Olivia hit her developmental milestones late. At 16 months, she still wasn't crawling. Instead, she sat on her bottom and used her foot to scoot herself along. I contemplated taking her to a pediatric physical therapist, and then suddenly, she started crawling. A few days later, she took her first steps. I worried about that too, concerned that gaps in her learning sequence might be signs of struggles yet to come.

It wasn't just the motor skills. She talked later than the other children had, and when she finally started using words, hardly anyone could understand what she was saying. As a speech pathologist, I know that children who mispronounce multiple sounds often have trouble with phonics later. I kept a close eye on her speech production.

As she grew, Olivia stayed within the range of normal, but always at the lower end. Colleagues reminded me to have patience and let her develop at her own pace. That sort of advice is so much easier to give than to take.

We enrolled her in ballet and hoped it would help her coordination. At home, we read to her and had her imitate sounds. I wondered how she would learn to read. Kindergarten passed uneventfully.

This past summer, preparing for first grade, my daughter started picking up books and sounding out words. She followed everyone around, asking for help. She turned over a bucket and read to me while I milked the cow. Olivia fell in love with reading.

Then she discovered math.

Last week, she chattered as she worked on another math page. "Eight minus four is four," she told me. "This is too easy, Mom. I think I need a second-grade book."

I think I'll stop worrying now.

Rose Godfrey is a speech pathologist and homeschooling mom in Hallwood. Her homeschool blog can be found on the Appeal-Democrat Web site at www.appealdemocrat.com.