It's already late at 4 years old, but what I'd do
is get a really-good set of building blocks and
get down on the floor with my Child, build some
stuff, and laugh like hell when it came tumbling
down - over and over again, forever [of course,
extending into other forms of play].
The goal is to 'light the fire' in which doing is
the wellspring of 'delight'. I mean, sometimes
stuff like this has to be taught, and it's important
to do so.
'Course, it's easy for me to say this. I still
love playing with block-like stuff out of which
aggragations can be constructed - my Childhood
'set of blocks' was a box of unsharpened pencils -
endless 'log cabins' :-]
Later, I spent a lot of time with my Dad in
his workshop, then my 'set of blocks' became
his scrap wood. He lit in me the very 'fire' I'm
talking about
I'd do analogous stuff with any Child - rather
than acting in a way that 'pointed a finger' at
the Child [singling the Child out as being
'abnormal' - such can become a 'sink-hole'
of self-fulfilling interactive dynamics in which
a Child matures 'needing' for everyone to treat
her/him as 'abnormal'.
Give good example, never-endingly - communicate
the delight of Play, give praise, take delight
in your Child's little creations. Talk to/with the
Child, trade off on taking the lead. Laugh at
the Child's 'jokes' [which might come in the
form of a nonsensical structure].
Take heart from Einstein's infancy. He didn't
talk until he was three.
Don't panic.
Don't 'obsess'.
Drugs?
I've never witnessed =anything= that warrants
drugging a Child.
The advice of another poster, to enrich the
Child's environment, is well-founded. Just
don't do it with electronic gizmos - look for stuff
that gives opportunity to couple motor doing with
delightful consequences, and with which you
can =get-in-there= with your Child and
have-some-fun.
My position is strong. I've huge confidence in
it, but balance it with the stuff you get from others.
Cheers, ken
