Should a 3 yo know...

[Rosehip]

his teacher's name? He goes to preschool 3 afternoons/week, has since September. He can't remember his teacher's name when I ask him, and has a hard time giving me the names of kids in his class (although he knows at least two). He has no problem with names of his sister, cousin, aunt/uncle, grandparents, and the couple of friends with whom he has playdates. Per his teacher, he's extremely friendly, helpful and well-liked. He turned 3 this month.

What do you think? My mother thinks this may warrant an evaluation... I tend to think he's fine.

[SparklingGemini]

Maybe he's just too busy learning other things and enjoying the experiences to worry about people's names. Names are more important to some than others.

[meemee]

only if she matters to him. has he had the same teacher? is it a complicated name. next time you read him a book, use his teachers name for a character name and see what he does. if he is a nerdy kid then forget it. there are somethings he will never know.

its wonderful that he has a gma there in case mama misses something.

[limabean]

He should probably know his teacher's name -- I would work on that. Does it rhyme with something, start with the same letter as something, etc. that's familiar to him? Or can you guys come up with a song with her name in it to help him remember?. Just because if he somehow ended up in the wrong room or something at school it'd be nice if he were able to say who his teacher was.

As for friends' names, my DS took a really long time to learn the names of his preschool classmates, because they just didn't really ask each other's names or do name games in class.

[JL83]

My DD was in daycare 3 days a week until she was 3. She knew the names of all the teachers (in her room and others because she saw them outside) and all the kids in her room except the 2 who started a week before she left.

I would think he should at least know his teacher's name.

[aris99]

A 3 yo? I def. agree w/meemee and sparkling gemini...when my son was 3 he would get people mixed up let alone names ! He was always too busy in his own little world to take much notice of people around him. He's 6 now and has no trouble w/names or people...I think it's just the age.

[Rosehip]

Ok, thanks. I have to figure out a way to work on this. I think part of the problem is that his babysitter does drop-off/pick-up. She does not speak English, and I know she's not saying, "Oh, hi Ms Joanne. DS, say hi to Mss Joanne!" and so forth, so he's probably not hearing her name very often, and getting prompted to use it.

[Storm Bride]

Does he only have one teacher? DS2 is 4.5, and I'm pretty sure the only reason he knows the names of his teachers is because there are four of them. He needs their names, so that we know which one he's talking about, and so they know which one he's talking to. If there were only one, I'm not sure he'd have it yet.

[eepster]

Does he not know them, or is he simply not sharing that knowledge with you. 3 yo are notorious for giving very inaccurate reports of their school days.

My DS emphatically claimed he did "nothing" all day at school when I picked him up, yet every friday when his folder comes home it is always filled with little projects and paintings and stuff he did. He is just barely beginning to share what he did during the day with me, and we are halfway through his second year of preschool. He'll be 4 yo next month.

BTW, I've been trying to get him to give me the names of the other kids in his kindergym class to put on the party invitations, and though he says he wants to invite them, names are not exactly flowing out of him. I'm pretty sure he knows their names (he has a very good memory) but getting him to tell them to me is a whole other story.

[Alyantavid]

Originally Posted by meemee

only if she matters to him. has he had the same teacher? is it a complicated name. next time you read him a book, use his teachers name for a character name and see what he does. if he is a nerdy kid then forget it. there are somethings he will never know.

its wonderful that he has a gma there in case mama misses something.

That. There's probably a lot going on at preschool and he's probably a little busy figuring stuff out.

I've found it's really hard to get actual answers out of my 3 year old when I ask him something about his day. If I just let him ramble, I get much more. He does know his teachers names (he has 2) and all the kids, but he's also gone to daycare there since he was 18 months. When a kid comes in just for preschool, it does take him awhile to remember their name.

[4evermom]

Originally Posted by Rosehip

I know she's not saying, "Oh, hi Ms Joanne. DS, say hi to Mss Joanne!" and so forth, so he's probably not hearing her name very often, and getting prompted to use it.

My ds isn't very good at names. He did know his two teachers' names when he was 4 but I did a lot of prompting and he had to distinguish between them. He knows the faces and WHO the person is. The name just doesn't come to the tip of his tongue. He'll still say "the kid in the orange shirt." And if I ask if he knows that kid's name is James, he'll say "I know" in an annoyed tone, lol. He'll call his cousin "Pal" or "Buddy" instead of by name sometimes. I've been thinking maybe it has something to do with being a visual spatial learner...

[noobmom]

I would just ask his teacher. He may address her by name at school even though he claims he doesn't know her name. Also, if she is an experienced teacher she would probably have a good idea as to whether there was any reason to get him evaluated (for what?) or not.

[MissE]

DS (almost 3) knows the names of his teachers and the kids at school. I don't know if he can put the names of the kids with the actual person but he always tells me about all the kids at school and his teachers.

[baileygirl]

DS (just turned 3) generally knows the names of his teachers or coaches (i.e. swimming/gymnastics) after the first time meeting them. I will say that he is generally very social and I try to make a point of mentioning the names of his teachers/coaches/etc if I know them beforehand. That being said, I am AWFUL with names and am less social then DS is.

[pacificbliss]

My DS just turned three too. He does know his teacher's names, the Director and Assistant Director and kids in his class. It's cute though, much like his mama he doesn't know the parent's names. He'll just say, "there's Leon's Dad". Still I wouldn't sweat it. Maybe he's just not telling you or he's just busy with other stuff. Last Friday for example the school had a fire drill. You would think this would be a huge event but when I asked DS about it he said, "No, we didn't have a fire drill"

[Rosehip]

Thanks all!

Update: I worked on it with him, and he nailed his teacher's name within a day or two. I had the regularly scheduled parent-teacher meeting and she said he does know the other kids' names, and he's totally on target in every other way - socially, developmentally, etc.

Just an uptight mom here!