Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums When did your gifted child talk/walk as baby???

I just wanted to quote your comment even though this is an old post. My son was three weeks early and I do think that needs to be taken into account. (although the medical opinion is that three weeks isn't going to make that much difference, six weeks really does.)

We did sign language, too. Our son learned, "more" and "eat" and...I can't remember what else. It wasn't much more before he was speaking, though.

Here's another clever compilation of reasons why English is so tricky to pronounce:

Hints on Pronunciation for Foreigners

I take it you already know
Of tough and bough and cough and dough?
Others may stumble but not you,
On hiccough, thorough, laugh and through.
Well done! And now you wish, perhaps,
To learn of less familiar traps?

Beware of heard, a dreadful word
That looks like beard and sounds like bird,
And dead: it�s said like bed, not bead �
For goodness� sake don�t call it �deed�!
Watch out for meat and great and threat
(They rhyme with suite and straight and debt.)

A moth is not a moth in mother
Nor both in bother, broth in brother,
And here is not a match for there
Nor dear and fear for bear and pear,
And then there�s dose and rose and lose �
Just look them up � and goose and choose,
And cork and work and card and ward,
And font and front and word and sword,
And do and go and thwart and cart �
Come, come, I�ve hardly made a start!
A dreadful language? Man alive.
I�d mastered it when I was five.

From a letter published in the London Sunday Times (January 3, 1965), cited by Marilyn Jager Adams in Beginning to Read (MIT 1991) 20. Only the initials of the author, T.S.W., are known.

Try reading it aloud without stumbling -- it's fun.

Cute!

Cute stuff, hip. I'm showing that to DS5 today.

DS5 talked early and with a huge vocabulary, complex sentence structure, etc. I don't remember when he walked, though my wife would surely know.

DS1.9 doesn't show any inclination to speak yet, but he's apparently ahead on his problem-solving abilities, according to a developmental-delay screening we had done recently. His receptive language is apparently advanced as well. My wife reports that as the assessers left, they told her it was a pleasure to evaluate an advanced child, almost in the same breath as they told her he was approved for speech therapy.

Now I'm a bit conflicted as to whether we should just leave well enough alone, especially because I was speech-delayed but turned out all right. Still, it's hard to turn down the free services. I want to have conversations with him! Plus, I'm still worried, just a little less worried.

This sounds like my ds, who spoke no more than 15 words till two weeks before his 2nd birthday. Then one day there was an explosion of words, which continued till I counted 85, I think, two weeks later on his birthday.

I remember worrying before the explosion, as his active vocabulary wasn't keeping pace with what the baby books said he should be doing. But he was fine - seven months later he was asking things like 'What would happen if the earth doesn't [sic] revolve on its axis?'. In retrospect I think it was probably a manifestation of his perfectionism -- wanting to wait to try something till he was sure he was good at it.

Maybe that's the way it will be with DS1.9. If I recall correctly, according to my mother, I didn't speak until about age 3. It makes me wonder where DS5 got his early verbal development from, if it's really driven heavily by genetics. As far as I know, my wife wasn't super-fast in that area, and neither were members of her family.

With every passing year I become more and more skeptical of heavy reliance on milestones, especially verbal / reading ones, as major predictors of intelligence. I suppose I may get less skeptical if DS1.9 turns out to be a dunce.

My DS6 said his first spoken word at 26 months. However by 2.5 he "said" over 400 words using ASL. He walked at 10 months.

My DS 4 also gas a speech disorder, but said his first word at 18 months, after 2 months of speech therapy. He walked at 10 months.

DD said her first word at 12 months. She walked at 10 months.

DD13 (born at 34.5 weeks) spoke her first reliable word at 4 months. The word was "hungry." She quickly followed that with "mama," "more," "daddy," and "again." (Notice any early indicators of her personality?) She walked at exactly 10 months. DD13 developed a lasting interest in classical music at 2, composed her first poetry at 3, and learned to read by following the words to songs in the church hymnal.

DS7 (born at 37 weeks) spoke his first word ("mama") at about 7 months and hasn't stopped talking (except when he's sleeping) since. His next words were "dadadadaday" and his sister's name, and he has kept his main importance on people and feelings. He walked at 9 months. DS7 has been a prolific reader since 4.5, but is not very interested in writing. He'd prefer to express his stories through cartoons.

DS4 didn't say his first word until 13 months and walked at 12 months, both completely average. His first word was "hi" his second word was "exit" because he loved e signs. However, he turned the pages in the books we read to him starting at 6 months, that was my first, huh? Moment.

My twins are 14 months, and only say mama and dada. My DS says "uh oh" as well, my dd only says mama & dada. The also just started walking two weeks ago. They understand us, I think they just don't want us to understand them yet. Lol.