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Hello, everyone! First, I want to say that I know no kids "fit the mold." I just really had no clue what title to give this to get everyone's attention.
My son is almost 2 1/2 years old. He has been described as many things, mainly "quirky" or different from what you'd read about in a textbook. From birth I worried about autism, as he seemed really sensitive. He wouldn't latch-on to breastfeed, so I pumped for a little over a year to get him breastmilk. The first 8 weeks or so he cried for several hours, typically starting at the "witching" hour of 11pm. Although this seemed to be a sign of colic, he showed no other signs of colic-almost never spit-up. Seriously, he maybe spit up a few times in all his infancy, and only a little bit at a time. I was concerned, scared of autism because I knew hypersensitivity could be an early sign. However, I also had read that hypersensitivity can be an early sign of giftedness.
He continued to develop as a normal infant, and the sleeping got better (although he still wakes up in the middle of the night-we co-sleep-so I attribute some of that to him being in bed with us). From 4 months to 12 months he cut 12 teeth! I attributed any hypersensitive, fussy days to teething most of the time, because he really never got sick in all that time. He was in an in-home caregiving situation and didn't really have much exposure to germs (except for any I'd bring home from work-I'm a teacher).
Around 10-12 months he started at daycare and the ear infections started. He probably had 15 ear infections from October to March that year. Tubes went in at the end of January, and he still gets an ear infection from time to time.
Speech development was normal until the ear infections started, and then he showed a delay in speech. However, he does show progression in his speech and is now finally starting to put words together. He's still at the "more milk" "all done" "where'd momma go" "how are you" "up please" "down please" type commands. Although he's not where a normal 2 1/2 year old would be, he is showing good progress. We go to speech therapy twice a month, and his doctor is going to look at where he is in a couple of months and decide if he needs to be evaluated for autism. She said if that isn't the answer then we'd go to a neurologist. But she doesn't seem worried, and I really wasn't too worried either because he's been progressing. Still, I called the Babies Can't Wait people (Georgia's early intervention) because he was showing increased aggression at daycare. I just wanted someone to tell me he was normal or identify things I could do to help him. Well, they said he did not show a significant delay and that although he doesn't qualify, they'd qualify him based on my, my doctor's, and the daycare's concern over his behavior. I opted not to qualify him because the only thing they could provide was assistance, and he was already going to speech therapy.
Here are the concerns. He has been at this daycare for about 5 months. It is an excellent place, and everyone there is very involved. His behavior started as him not wanting certain kids to come around him, and he'd swat at them if they did (I'm guessing kids who maybe have hit him before). But, he'd play by a couple of the kids. The past few weeks his aggression has really stepped up. He hits and pushes, sometimes for no reason. Today I called to check on him and was told he was sitting at one table and turned around and hit a kid sitting at the table behind him-and the kid was just sitting there eating. I don't know if this is a speech thing, an age thing, or a development problem thing. The concerns of autism came from his speech delay. However, he showed NO other signs. He smiles, laughs, plays with us, sings, dances, and is very social with the adults he knows. However, he does not show any desire to be around other kids and exhibits distress if any come near him-and that sometimes come in the form of hitting and shoving or throwing things. His speech is merely a delay-he shows no "typical" signs of speech problems. He does show signs of giftedness, but most of what I read shows advanced speech as a sign, so it doesn't fit. However, he was able to pick out all of his letters when he was only 21-22 months old. He had a little laptop that would say, "Find the uppercase letter A" and did all the letters and 1-10. He could get them all right a couple of months before he turned 2. Now he can pick out his letters anywhere. I'd spell out his name and he'd say "G-A-N-N-O-N!" He shows much enthusiasm for letters and says them any time he sees letters. He also can count 1-10 and sometimes will even go to 20 but gets confused. He can say/sing the whole alphabet also. He draws a face with eyes, nose, mouth, hair, even lips for the mouth now, arms, legs. One time he drew a kite and said kite. He drew the diamond shape, the tail, ties on the tail, and even a cross on the kite (I believe he was modeling the one I drew a week or so before-but he did so from memory-and I only drew it once). He can write a few letters- h, t, c, o, q, e, and maybe one or two more. Signs of giftedness or autism? Or something else? I don't know how to best help my child. He gets lots of love and has 2 grandmothers, an aunt, and an uncle he sees regularly. His dad and I are happily married. I don't allow him to watch violent cartoons, and we make sure if anything is violent or scary we don't watch it in front of him. I do work full-time but get home by 4 every day.
This child is AMAZING, but some things just don't add up. He initiates play with adults he loves, makes plenty of eye contact, smiles and laughs all the time, etc. But he does not want other kids near him and pushes and shoves a bit excessively now. When he gets in trouble, sometimes he does the fake cry, but many times he cries real tears and is very sensitive. His teacher said sometimes when he hits or shoves he immediately cries and goes to timeout without even being told. It's like he knows he's not supposed to do it but he does it and takes the punishment.
I just don't know. I have no experience with kids his age, and everyone I talk to either says, "my kid didn't talk until 3" or "all kids hit" ect. But none of it really adds up and I just want to do what's best for him, but I don't know what!!! AAAHHHH!
Anyway, those of you with gifted kids-did any of them act this way? Is it wishful thinking that he's just gifted, or is there something else I should be watching out for? Thanks so much and I'm really sorry for the long post. I'm just so confused and worried.
My son is almost 2 1/2 years old. He has been described as many things, mainly "quirky" or different from what you'd read about in a textbook. From birth I worried about autism, as he seemed really sensitive. He wouldn't latch-on to breastfeed, so I pumped for a little over a year to get him breastmilk. The first 8 weeks or so he cried for several hours, typically starting at the "witching" hour of 11pm. Although this seemed to be a sign of colic, he showed no other signs of colic-almost never spit-up. Seriously, he maybe spit up a few times in all his infancy, and only a little bit at a time. I was concerned, scared of autism because I knew hypersensitivity could be an early sign. However, I also had read that hypersensitivity can be an early sign of giftedness.
He continued to develop as a normal infant, and the sleeping got better (although he still wakes up in the middle of the night-we co-sleep-so I attribute some of that to him being in bed with us). From 4 months to 12 months he cut 12 teeth! I attributed any hypersensitive, fussy days to teething most of the time, because he really never got sick in all that time. He was in an in-home caregiving situation and didn't really have much exposure to germs (except for any I'd bring home from work-I'm a teacher).
Around 10-12 months he started at daycare and the ear infections started. He probably had 15 ear infections from October to March that year. Tubes went in at the end of January, and he still gets an ear infection from time to time.
Speech development was normal until the ear infections started, and then he showed a delay in speech. However, he does show progression in his speech and is now finally starting to put words together. He's still at the "more milk" "all done" "where'd momma go" "how are you" "up please" "down please" type commands. Although he's not where a normal 2 1/2 year old would be, he is showing good progress. We go to speech therapy twice a month, and his doctor is going to look at where he is in a couple of months and decide if he needs to be evaluated for autism. She said if that isn't the answer then we'd go to a neurologist. But she doesn't seem worried, and I really wasn't too worried either because he's been progressing. Still, I called the Babies Can't Wait people (Georgia's early intervention) because he was showing increased aggression at daycare. I just wanted someone to tell me he was normal or identify things I could do to help him. Well, they said he did not show a significant delay and that although he doesn't qualify, they'd qualify him based on my, my doctor's, and the daycare's concern over his behavior. I opted not to qualify him because the only thing they could provide was assistance, and he was already going to speech therapy.
Here are the concerns. He has been at this daycare for about 5 months. It is an excellent place, and everyone there is very involved. His behavior started as him not wanting certain kids to come around him, and he'd swat at them if they did (I'm guessing kids who maybe have hit him before). But, he'd play by a couple of the kids. The past few weeks his aggression has really stepped up. He hits and pushes, sometimes for no reason. Today I called to check on him and was told he was sitting at one table and turned around and hit a kid sitting at the table behind him-and the kid was just sitting there eating. I don't know if this is a speech thing, an age thing, or a development problem thing. The concerns of autism came from his speech delay. However, he showed NO other signs. He smiles, laughs, plays with us, sings, dances, and is very social with the adults he knows. However, he does not show any desire to be around other kids and exhibits distress if any come near him-and that sometimes come in the form of hitting and shoving or throwing things. His speech is merely a delay-he shows no "typical" signs of speech problems. He does show signs of giftedness, but most of what I read shows advanced speech as a sign, so it doesn't fit. However, he was able to pick out all of his letters when he was only 21-22 months old. He had a little laptop that would say, "Find the uppercase letter A" and did all the letters and 1-10. He could get them all right a couple of months before he turned 2. Now he can pick out his letters anywhere. I'd spell out his name and he'd say "G-A-N-N-O-N!" He shows much enthusiasm for letters and says them any time he sees letters. He also can count 1-10 and sometimes will even go to 20 but gets confused. He can say/sing the whole alphabet also. He draws a face with eyes, nose, mouth, hair, even lips for the mouth now, arms, legs. One time he drew a kite and said kite. He drew the diamond shape, the tail, ties on the tail, and even a cross on the kite (I believe he was modeling the one I drew a week or so before-but he did so from memory-and I only drew it once). He can write a few letters- h, t, c, o, q, e, and maybe one or two more. Signs of giftedness or autism? Or something else? I don't know how to best help my child. He gets lots of love and has 2 grandmothers, an aunt, and an uncle he sees regularly. His dad and I are happily married. I don't allow him to watch violent cartoons, and we make sure if anything is violent or scary we don't watch it in front of him. I do work full-time but get home by 4 every day.
This child is AMAZING, but some things just don't add up. He initiates play with adults he loves, makes plenty of eye contact, smiles and laughs all the time, etc. But he does not want other kids near him and pushes and shoves a bit excessively now. When he gets in trouble, sometimes he does the fake cry, but many times he cries real tears and is very sensitive. His teacher said sometimes when he hits or shoves he immediately cries and goes to timeout without even being told. It's like he knows he's not supposed to do it but he does it and takes the punishment.
I just don't know. I have no experience with kids his age, and everyone I talk to either says, "my kid didn't talk until 3" or "all kids hit" ect. But none of it really adds up and I just want to do what's best for him, but I don't know what!!! AAAHHHH!
Anyway, those of you with gifted kids-did any of them act this way? Is it wishful thinking that he's just gifted, or is there something else I should be watching out for? Thanks so much and I'm really sorry for the long post. I'm just so confused and worried.
