ok so somebody please read it...please?

[peaceful_mama]

I posted on the GT thread 9...i want to know if anybody else thinks what I see my son doing is a sign he might be gifted....

and if you all can handle a little joke, I got more evidence of his high intelligence this week--we found a Fraggle Rock DVD at the library and he now loves Fraggles

(we don't do a LOT of TV, but he does like 'elmo' and his signing video. *I* needed to add some variety )

[NoHiddenFees]

He might be, or he might just be very bright. I've heard it said that parents are usually most able to determine giftedness in young chidren, but that would depend on what the parent thinks is "normal." Would knowing change how you treat him or what you do with him now? Identification can be difficult with very young children. Sure, with some kids it is obvious, but not all. Advanced vocabulary is a potential indicator, but not conclusive in and of itself, and perfectionism is certainly a trait often seen in gifted children.

Have you looked at Hoagies' page on young children? There is a lot of information there that may prove helpful.

[LeftField]

This is not going to be reassuring, but my oldest is 5 and I still have phases of, "Maybe he's gifted.", "no, he's not.", "I cannot believe he just did that!", "boy, he's so innocent compared to kids his age.", "none of this matters at all, because he's just himself", "omg, how am I doing to deal with this? It does matter!", "He's just a little boy.", "He's just a little boy and I know he should not be doing that!", rinse and repeat.

I don't think you can 100% know without testing. Of course, there are some PG behaviors that make it pretty obvious without testing. Is he gifted? I don't know. Studies show that most parents are usually right in pegging giftedness, when they know what that means...but I'm sure they still go back and forth between "maybe he is" and "maybe he isn't". You know him best. With my oldest son, I thought he was and I still maintain that he is. Over the years, the differences he exhibits have waxed and waned, depending on whatever he was into. I think he is. But I can't be certain without testing. With my youngest, I am less sure.

I ask this very gently and respectfully, but does it matter right now if he is or isn't? Either way, you are going to meet his needs, being the wonderful and responsive mother that you are. I hear what you are saying about school issues, but you have time to figure it all out. Your son sounds very bright and he's very lucky to have a mother who cares about his needs so much. Hoagiesgifted has some great resources on giftedness in young children. I think that, as he grows, it will be easier to get a firmer idea. He's very young and it's often hard to gauge at his age.

Best wishes. :-)

[Destinye]

My DD does things like this and has for a while, she is definitely bright, gifted? time will tell! She is newly 2.5 also. Based on IQ of DH and myself she likely will be bright but you know what she is who she is. There are so many factors I think just nurture who your son is. I do not know if my DD or your DS will be gifted, children also mature at different rates, and your DS obviously has a good memory and is bright, but even though there are early signs of giftedness I think in the end only time will tell. Whoever he is just love and nurture him and let him be who he is, if he is gifted or not he will take that and run with it. I know my DD is very bright and could probably learn a lot if I pushed her but I am just trying to provide what she needs to grow in all areas, and support her on every level, and let her develop at her own rate, and thats the same whether she turns out to be 'gifted' or not. I grew up in UK and we did not have 'gifted' programs then but we did have a grammar school system based on exams and was in the top 6 % school at that time and probably was (who knows!) but I had a very wise biology teacher who reminded us that we are all gifted in our own way, some musically, some intellectually, some just in the gifts we bring to the world, I always think back to him and put it in that perspective. So just love and nurture your son on every level and let him develop, I know thats what most people here do, and some DC's are clearly highly gifted but just treat him as you have been and provide a loving nurturing environment as I know you are.

[peaceful_mama]

No, I'm not going to treat him differently based on what some test eventually says about him, or because I do or don't think he's 'gifted.'
I mostly just want somebody else's opinion on whether he's 'advanced' really or not...first off, I'm his mommy, I'm easily impressed by him obviously. Second, I have spent a great deal of the last two years working with preschoolers with special needs. My view of 'normal' is somewhat skewed by the fact that I have 3, 4, and 5 year old children who aren't doing the things my son is doing. (Some are, some are very bright but have a speech impediment or something too.)
Mostly just looking for opinions from people whose view isn't skewed by being the mama or comparing him to children who are delayed in many areas.

[LeftField]

I honestly don't know if it's in the realm of average, advanced, etc. My own perception is really skewed. My oldest niece spoke very early and articulately, calling my dh "Uncle Firstname" at around 11 months. My oldest son didn't speak until he was 22 months old (just Dada and dissie (nursie)) and he never really got into signs; he grunted and pointed a lot. There were concerns that he was delayed because of the general impression that early speech = intelligence and late speech = lower intelligence. When he did start speaking, it came on kind of abruptly. My youngest seems pretty average in speech, but I'm guessing...There's a little girl in playgroup who has been conversing in sentences since a few months before she turned 2, but her articulation is very babyish. But her speech is striking, because she asks a lot of questions (she's a few months past 2 now) and she makes a lot of observations. She might speak better than my youngest son (who is older than her).

I am so clueless on speech milestones, as our family and friends are all over the place. Also, as you have pointed out, there are different kinds of giftedness. Global giftedness is not the most common variety, I don't think. My own kids (particularly the one who grunted and said, "da!" until 22 months) seem to be gifted in the visual-spatial realm. So, speech was late or average, but they were advanced in puzzling, imaginative play, writing and drawing. I'm not sure if they will be gifted in verbal/reading stuff until, well, until they read proficiently I guess. Neither reads although they had letter recognition at 1 and early 2 respectively. I think that once they start reading competently, they will either advance slowly and progressively or they'll make a big leap. Until then, I can't tell if they are gifted in these areas. Time often makes it easier to tell these things.

I wish I could help you with determining if this advanced or not, but I'm not sure. What I am going to suggest is highly controversial in many places, but you could jot down things he does that you think are unusual and then date them. I did this with my first, and after a period of time, things that seemed like isolated "wow" incidents presented a pattern that confirmed what I felt in my gut. I hope that someone else can give more information. HTH!

[ChristaN]

http://www.austega.com/gifted/preschoolers.htm can give you an idea of what is "average" and what is advanced for babies and young children.

If it helps at all to have some comparison to other kids -- In regard to this chart, my older dd (who I know is gifted) was average or even slower than average on gross motor skills, significantly more advanced than the "30% advanced" column on small motor and just a little more advanced than the "30% advanced" column for language development. My younger dd (who we don't know if she is gifted) was about avg in gross motor, right about in the 30% advanced for small motor and significantly more advanced than the 30% advanced in language development.

I honestly don't think that I would have done anything differently when they were that little, though, had I "known" they were gifted.

[peaceful_mama]

Well, according to that list, DS's gross motor has always been just under 30% advanced (YAY since i'm HORRID at sports)

fine motor right on target, maybe he picked stuff up between thumb and forefinger before 9 months though

verbal 30% advanced for most of it--ha, 20 words is a 'normal' vocab for him at 21 months?! I can't COUNT how many words he has. At 17 months he said his first sentence--I said 'do you want to go home/" and he said "I wanna go home!' EVERYONE heard it. He also says "I want pop" (or some pop. or 'hey I want pop') and yesterday he said "I gonna tell Bobbie" cause his friend was playing in a forbidden room. (that's his friend's mom)

interesting we were just talking about jumping today--that chart says 30 months, with 21 months being advanced--friend's DD has been doing it a month or so and she is 23 months. DS hasn't started that yet though he has tried.
Too bad somersaults aren't on there, DS did a perfect one today!

He has insisted on going up and down stairs by himself for months now, he probalby would have done it sooner than 18 months if I'd LET him. He insists on standing and brushing his own teeth. He wants to use the potty...takes off clothes himself whenever he can.
I like the idea of keeping notes, I will.

[Charles Baudelaire]

Originally Posted by zakers_mama

I like the idea of keeping notes, I will.

Yeah, do. If in the future you decide to apply to Davidson Young Scholars or a similar program, very often they ask for documentation on when certain skills or traits appeared, and the documentation could be *invaluable.*

[peaceful_mama]

What's Davidson Young Scholars?

[Nora'sMama]

Here's a link for you re Davidson Young Scholars:

http://www.ditd.org/

(I just googled it, I don't know anything about it!)

I just wanted to say that I have read your posts about your ds and he seems quite smart to me! And really cute, too!

[peaceful_mama]

Thanks--he's cute and KNOWS he is too.... He does seem 'above average' to me but I keep wondering if it's just because I work w/kids with special needs?? Or is he really that far ahead? Time will tell...