Concerning Actual Music Notation Replacing Images

a snippet from our progress diary www.softmozart.com/forum/33-progress-dia...limit=6&start=6#2453

i wonder: do children who learn the solfege images still recall them later on and not move away from them into 'adulthood'? i don't necessarily want to create a crutch for my kids, but an aid/tool, to get them 'there'. and if 'there' means that they keep recalling the images (solfege and/or kinderbach) in addition to the true sheet music notations, then is that a big deal? ideally, i'd like those images to be replaced by the actual music sheet images floating in their heads for maximum efficiency for recall (just a theory, since i'm no musician!). does anyone (hellene?) have experience on this and can answer? thanks!

Also, the programme does have a great gradual way to help move away from the images. If you press 1,2,3,4,5, and 6 you will see the progression towards standard notes. As the children improve their skills then you can bring in some sight music teaching as part of the lesson, which uses view 2 or 4 where there are no images. Then when learning more complex new pieces you can switch back to the view with the images to help. This gradual process can definitely build skills in sight reading music. I can sight read (basic) piano music but I don't picture all the notes in my mind individually, I think I see them relative to each other moving along the page like a pattern. Or something like that anyway
It's hard to know what's going on in my own mind sometimes