My daughter is 4.5 and we are using level A. For the most part she is doing well, but she frequently confuses 6 and 9, even when she looks at the beads on the abacus. Usually I have her sing "Yellow is the Sun" to try and clear up the confusion, which helps, but I'm wondering if we should take a break from the lessons for awhile and focus on really straightening this out. She also has some difficulty with the "comes after" game. We just finished lesson 19, which introduces counting backwards and I noticed the upcoming lessons have the "comes before" game in the warm up. I am concerned about getting her confused about the number order, but then again, I don't know if something like this is normal and I should just let it go and see how she does. She has a tendency to appear to struggle with things for a time and then just "get it" with no prompting/drill. What would you recommend?

Dear Shauna,
I think stopping for a little is a good idea. I would play the games with sequencing the finger or tally cards [from the Appendix]. She can put the cards in order and name them for you once she has them in order. She can also mix and match the tally and finger cards, matching the same number. When she has that down, she can move into adding the basic number card with either the tally or the finger cards. Take your time. She is young and proceed when you feel she is ready.
Nancy