Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Using exact vocabulary

I resemble this remark.

Oh god, this is my entire life. I kind of thought it was at least partly one of DD's ASD-ish things--but then DS is like this too, and he's really not ASD-ish. I've also realized that I can be like this, and loudly, when I see something stupidly inaccurate in media. ("A spider is not an insect!! Why is it included in this graphic on insects???")

And see I grew up in the south where we say....would you like a coke an the person responds yes, and the first person says what kind and the second person says diet dr pepper. And that is a perfectly legit conversation. I know many other words would be better than coke (cold drink, soda, soft drink, etc. ) but that is the way we talk here. I guess my son isn't from the south.

I'm southern. Makes sense to me. I no longer have the accent (which makes me sad) but I do still use all the phrases. I'm "fixin" to do everything, I ask what kind of coke somebody wants, and I'll never give up double modals. I had really hoped my son embraced some of my speech oddities but he probably won't.

About a month ago my son had an entire week where all he did was throw some major tantrums which is abnormal for him. Then he went back to normal and is demonstrating many huge cognitive leaps, one of which is this insanely rapid acquisition of new vocabulary. I guess his brain was in turmoil going to the next stage? It's fun to watch for sure.

Hah, this thread is my life. You know that Futurama joke "technically correct is the best kind of correct"? That is my 5yo. He is frequently pedantic and needs to know the precise meaning of every new word he hears.

At this point it's close to talking to an adult when you talk to him, so, as others have pointed out, we have to really watch ourselves in terms of letting that make us think that his actual emotional understanding or self-control is more developed than it is. I still fall into that trap quite frequently.

No idea whether DS6 will test as gifted, but there are some things that will likely never change and his need for precision in language is one of them.

I have a really funny anecdote about his psychoed testing that started this week: Dr. A asked him "Is there anything else you're strong at?", to which he responded "You mean is there anything else I'm good at?". She chuckled and said "Well apparently, you're pretty good at grammar." I can't believe he corrected her. I mean, he does that to us ALL THE TIME, but it was so funny that he did that in a testing context!

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we have 2 of these - ds 3 is deep in dino territory (we love dino dan). I had an argument yesterday with him about whether his new car seat should be sand or beige.

Once when dd was 3 her granny asked her to count all the cars on the street. DD replied there are 4 cars granny, who said no there are 7, oh said DD you mean vehicles right then there are 7 vehicles, they are 4 cars, 1 ute and 2 trucks.....

I don't think it ever goes away.

DD started correcting my language usage when she was two.

She also corrected her ballet teachers' French pronunciation.

She still does the former but not the latter. Thank goodness.

I wouldn't worry too much about exact vocabulary and correcting at the younger ages. It's really a natural compulsion. Barring a medical diagnosis, these behaviors tend to mostly disappear as kids gain maturity and age-appropriate social skills. In the past, I have reminded my kids to not use a bigger word if a smaller one will do just as well but to use the bigger word if it adds significantly to clarity of thought/expression.