spatial visual thing, tying a bow, etc?

[maestramommy]

The other day I thought I'd try to teach Dora how to tie a bow, as a precurser to tying her shoes. No go. I used these rubber lacing shoes we have. First I sat adjacent to her, then I sat next to her, then I just showed her on her shoe. I must be a rotten teacher. Then yesterday she had her first ballet class. The teacher is a great, but moves pretty past. She was showing the girls the positions. Dora was able to do first position just fine. But once she had to move a single leg around, she got into trouble. It's like she can't see which direction something is moving. Also, at one point the teacher started saying stuff about, "now your right hand, now your left hand." which she doesn't know yet. I remember when I was still a student and observing a preschool piano class the teachers would say, "your right hand, can you wave your right hand?" And all the kids would do that, to find their right hand. When does this concept sink in? I'm guessing it's not taught at school. I'm also wondering how much of this stuff I should be teaching her myself. I did learn to tie my shoes at around 4-5 years, since there was no velcro in those days But I was hoping to find "ties shoes" somewhere on a developmental list. Does anyone's ped or teacher mention that?

BTW, the ballet teacher said Dora did great, listens really well, and is following really well. She's coming into the class in the middle of the year, but the teacher isn't concerned, thinks she'll catch up just fine. It's a 4-6 class, and Dora is in the middle, with only 4 kids. She had a great time, loves it even though she worked harder during those 45 minutes than she's ever worked before

[fivi2]

At our 5 yo check up the nurse went through a list and said "I assume they canNOT tie shoes." (one can - totally self taught, the other can't). So I don't think it was an expected skill at our 5 yo check up.

My girls have some awareness of right and left, but definitely not 100%. We talk about right and left in our daily activities (some).

The ballet thing - not sure!

[crl]

Ds has fine motor skill delays. When I pressed his ot to teach him to tie his shoes at 5 she said it was too early. She did start working on it with him at age 6, but he still can't do it at age 7 (again, he has delays in this area).

Catherine