Gifted or Smart ?

[takati]

Hello

How did you know that your child was gifted and how old was he ? Was the giftedness obvious or did you have some doubt ?

I am new in this forum and I have two kids (3 yrs and 20 months). My daugther had always been a little bit different.
Physically, she seems to be advanced. She had always been really really active (oh my goodness, she is so full of beans !!!). She can do thinks in the playground older kids can not managed. Verbally, it is hard to tell because we are bilingual so she is average in two languages.

I started to have questions about giftedness when she started doing puzzles. At two, she was doing 20 pieces and now (at 3) she works on 50 by herself or 100 with help. She knows to write her name but I didn't teach her... She wants to learn, she want my help a lot to teach her... She is intense, busy, adorable.

But on so many thinks she seems to be so... terrible three :love Not easy every day :eyesroll

So my daughter doesn't seem to be gifted (she doesn't know how to read or write, she doesn't speak better than the average). But there is some of her behavior that are weird sometimes and could be signs of giftedness...

Did you have that feelings with your gifed kids when they were young ?

Thanks

Takati

[USAmma]

My dd was way ahead on milestones from birth. Both fine/gross motor skills and other things like talking and language development. First word at 5 mos, and by 12 mos. was speaking 90 words and making 2-word sentences. By 18 mos she was holding a pen correctly and copying circles and lines, and attempting to write letters. She knew all her letters by 18 mos. She was doing similar things with puzzles, shapes, colors, etc. as your ds at the same age.

Giftedness is a funny thing-- when I took Abi to get evaluated by a professional she said that it's very common for gifted children to have spurts of mental development and focus so much on those areas that other areas lag behind for awhile. That's why the term "gifted" is considered by many to be special needs, because they learn differently than other children and often require help to catch up in the areas they are lagging behind in. My dd is about 2 years ahead with many of her academic skills, but she's about a year behind on social skills with same-age peers.

Sounds like you have someone very special, to be doing puzzles so early like that! :)

If you want to make sure about the giftedness thing, keep watching and observing. If your child makes your jaw drop all the time with incredible things, than he's probably gifted. They seem to have an almost obsessive inner drive to learn and perfect skills that are way above their same-age peers. But only a professional can evaluate him and say that for sure in order to get him services later on. However you may know in your heart without anyone telling you. I mean, you know your child best.

Darshani

[girlzmommy00]

My oldest dd is 10, has been tested & is considered to be gifted based on her IQ. She also has a learning disability, why we did testing.

She started talking at 5 months and always just seemed ahead of the game. She knew the alphabet at 1, was doing addition problems at 2, & reading at 3. To speak to her now, she just comes across as being very mature. Plus she'll talk your ear off about either politics or her views on evolution (her 2 current favorite topics). I would definately say that it's something I've always suspected. Anyone else who has met or spoken with Alyssa has said the same thing. I don't think I ever doubted that she was gifted. At first I didn't realize that she was advanced since she was my first but in speaking to others, I realized that she was ahead of the game. I see the same now with my 2 year old. I'm used to her level of speech and language but others who speak to her are always surprised at how well she speaks.

Alyssa has 2 younger sisters who are right behind her on the same path. They haven't been tested but I'm making a guess based on my oldest and what she was up to at their ages. I have been tested and fall into the exceptionally to profoundly gifted range. Most of the women in my mother's family are gifted so we are just following the family tree. :)