Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Feedback please: Is this normal for your children?

I just wrapped up a family visit and was astonished at the differences between my DS14mo and his 17mo cousin in terms of comprehension and expression. Can you please weigh in on whether the following sorts of behaviours were typical for your children around my son's age.

1. Mechanical fascination. Takes apart toys/household objects and appears to understand "advanced" concepts, like circuits in a flashlight.

2. Can identify and name hundreds of colours, household objects, tools, animals, actions, etc. Many are complex words spoken clearly, like bulldozer or raspberry.

3. Early numeracy without being taught. Can count fingers, holds up number of fingers requested, recognizes numbers in environmental print and responds with correct number in speech/on fingers.

4. Excellent manual dexterity. E.g. Can put small gauge bits in a ratchet screwdriver.

5. Ridiculous memory. Remembers anything if taught its name/function once.

6. Prosocial skills--e.g. sharing, kissing, hugging, consoling, negotiating with tone/expression

7. Can follow multi-part instructions by generalizing concepts in new settings (e.g. From the kitchen at Grandma'a house, which we've visited three times: "Please go to the toolbox, get a screwdriver, and tighten the screw in the vent in the family room.")

8. Directional awareness--left, right, etc. (e.g. Holds up right foot when changing and says "right sock").

9. Fussiness. Wakes often at night. Only content if in constant motion and learning, even when eating.

Thanks folks. My son's paediatrician, who has been practicing for 30+ years and is a professor at a leading university, says she's never seen a case like this before. I'm hoping you can help me mentally prepare, for lack of a better term, for a ballpark level of giftedness.

What other skills/interests might come next? I was floored at the counting. I have no idea how my son picked it up. I figure I must inadvertently count with my fingers when we read or use math implicitly in everyday speech without even realizing it.

I can sympathisize with 2, 5, 8, and 9 when my son was that age. He's 3 now, so we're not that far along this path yet either. I found Deborah Ruf's 5 Levels of Giftedness to be an interesting read, although it may or may not be helpful for you. A fascination with maps was next for us. Good luck!

DS (now 9) was not talking at that age (and wouldn't be for another 10 months), so a fortiori wasn't doing most things on your list. I think the interpretation "therefore, he can't be HG+" would seem perverse in the light of his later development, although he hasn't been IQ tested. So don't write off the cousin if this could be the main issue there! That said, he had been clearly understanding everything said to him and a lot that wasn't for a long time by then, and several other items on your list look familiar too. Early speech is a gift (and I'd have welcomed it!) but one can give it too much weight, I think.

My third and youngest child is precisely twice that age (34 mths) and is still not doing some things on that list, possibly through lack of interest not lack of ability, she's not much for screwdrivers... she is (and was) of course doing many things not listed which may or may not overlap in skill level, but I am guessing was not as advanced at 17 months as your son. And equally I am pretty sure that she will be at least similar to her sister in IQ (DYS qualifying FSIQ). We also have the "wow! That's different" experience when spending time with other kids her age, which doesn't happen often.

Thanks for the replies, somerdai, ColinsMum, and MumOfThree. I'm much obliged for your time and feedback!

I appreciate that in the early years, individual environment and interests can drive a lot of the variation in expressed ability of children with similar levels of giftedness. It's still valuable to me to understand how a known gifted sample behaves as a benchmark because, frankly, I'm learning about this on the fly.

I see elements of my husband and me in my son. At 14 months, I was more verbal and musically/artistically inclined. My husband was more physically advanced and had an engineer's mind, like our son.

The passions we've seen lately are construction (thank you, Ikea!), cooking, vehicles, and disassembly. It was getting so obsessive that my son would wake up first thing in the morning and ask for a hammer. Pronto! His new thing is doing rounds of Grandma's house doing imaginary repairs to cabinets, tightening screws in door hinges, etc.

2,3, 5 and 7 characterized my DD as a young toddler, but more at 16-18 months. Her language was very advanced--she had hundreds upon hundreds of words at 18 months. 14 months is very young for those milestones. FWIW, though, my DD tested as MG, though her school performance makes her look more HG to me. I am of the untested opinion that many gifted books underestimate the # of young children who can talk very well.

My younger son was far less advanced verbally, though still ahead, and much less showy as a young toddler. However, his abilities at this age (almost 5) outshine his sister's at the same age. I think he may test a bit higher, into the HG range.

I guess what I'm getting at is that your child is very likely gifted, but it's awfully hard to gauge to what level at this age.

Mmm... some similarities. I can't recall exactly their ages, but somewhere around 14-16 months:

1) DS for sure. He was very fascinated with mechanics. He wouldn't just play with toys - he'd analyze them (sometimes taking them apart) to see how they worked.

2) DD. It was creepy. Neither of my two spoke a word until 24 months, but far earlier on, DD's comprehended vocabulary was just... out of this world. You could ask her for ANYTHING and she'd find it and point at it. I never did inventory and count, but I wish I had. She knew the alphabet (could read the letters) at 16 months, and prior to that there were so, so many words/things that she knew.

3) Both. For SURE. They love math, and it started early

4) Just DD. DS had some fine motor challenges.

5) DD - OMGYES. DS - pretty good.

6) Both everything except verbal. My two were silent at that age.

7) Just DD. DS still has problems with that (now 8). Getting better though.

8) Neither

9) Hmm. Both slept well, but got fussy quickly while awake unless engaged. Sleeping was no problem though.

I'm pretty sure neither is PG/EG - just HG/MG. I was very similar at that age and tested as HG in my 20s. I think it's really, really hard to tell when they're that little. When DD was 3, she was... wow... I think she might have tested as PG, and there's no way she's PG. I almost think (for the sake of accuracy) that testing should wait until early adulthood, but by then it's too late to use the test get them help in school.

Thanks for the insights, ultramarina. Your answers gave me some good food for thought.

How did numeracy develop for your children? I saw a progression from my son saying "some" and "another, another..." when seeing multiples to being able to count a few items.

I agree that gauging level of giftedness is difficult, if not impossible, at this age. Practically speaking, it doesn't really matter until he's in school, anyway. This is purely me being excited that he's just so switched on. I love seeing my son's face light up when a new concept clicks!

CCN, thanks so much for sharing! Your reply was really informative and helpful, and I always appreciate your candour in posts (e.g. OMGYES!! Haha!).

Re #9: My little man can't shut off for sleep. The learning must.go.on. Like a bad James Cameron film. Until he started to communicate more clearly, he became downright angry anytime we tried to settle him. Our trick is to run around the house (literally) naming everything we see in rapid succession until he seems satisfied. It's as though he resents the opportunity cost of sleep immensely. We look insane doing it, but he seems to love this...err...settling method.

Re #3: How did your children's math interests evolve?

Thanks again!

Background:

I haven't done IQ testing, as far as my family recalls, but my elementary school slapped on a gifted label and initiated a double grade skip in grade 3 after ability testing. (CTBS, or Canadian Test of Basic Skills,for Canucks). I did pull-outs through to high school, with one-to-one enrichment tutoring in some subjects, advanced placement, and compressed university studies, finishing grad school (master's, only) at 19. Per CCN's point, I don't know that testing would have been accurate then, much less changed my path much, if at all.

My husband tested HG+.