Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school can't most 2 year olds do this?

I am glad to read all of your stories...thanks for sharing! I guess sometimes I just wonder why a two year old can't memorize facts when they are shown/told. At christmas my dd (she was 2y2m) took a bite of her round cracker and told my aunt that she made a crecent moon. My aunt was so impresed, but honestly is that weird? I mean we showed her a cresent moon in the shy and now she knows cresent, quarter and full moons (we haven't done waning/waxing, or first quarter/last quarter!). It's really very simple...they look totally different and it is as simple as learning "cat" or "dog" isn't it? I guess I just don't understand why all kids can't learn things like that. Is it just that they aren't shown?

I can see the vast difference just in my two girls. My older who is more advanced academically - was a completely fluid reader and an excellent writer by age 5 barely said a word until she was two. My younger who was carrying on conversations with adults by 13 months is still struggling to read and can barely write at almost six. Frankly I think some of it is just physical as opposed to mental development and it is hard to judge which is which at such a young age.

I have had similar comments by people that really don't know me well, but I don't at all act defensive. I typically respond in a matter of fact way, or comical way. Like I would call them on it and say "what do you mean? do you think I do flashcards with her all day?...you must not know me because I am not one of those crazy moms" Or you could pull the whole "I am off for the summer, we spend time outside and by the pool." Or since I am very sarcastic I could easily pull of one of those "yes I started flashcards while she was in the womb and I drill her for about 2 hours per day...I am determined for my child to be the brightest and the best." Depending on my audience, I may chuckle at the end of this statement....or I may give them a deadpan stare so they are slightly concerned. I will admit, it is kind of fun to watch peoples responses...because everyone who knows me knows I am nothing like that.

I used to wonder that, too. If a child can learn "belly," why can't he learn "uterus?"

But I suspect some of it has to do with the interest level as well as the memory. Most 2yos just don't care about the phases of the moon, even if shown them. You know? And they're unlikely to remember them even if you show them because it's just not part of their (relatively small) world view. If it's not in their immediate vicinity and relevant to their lives RIGHT NOW, it's not something they need. So it doesn't stick.

My personal experience with very young GT kids tells me that they tend to just be more open to seeing more of the world and making sense of it. They think bigger. I think ND kids just don't have the cognitive ability to make sense of those patterns of meaning yet because their world views are more limited. They just don't have anywhere to "hang" their experiences from yet, so they just sort of wash over them.

That's utterly unscientific, but it's how I think about it. It makes sense to me.

I agree with Kriston. MY DS had had nightmares since he was tiny about things that the ND child would never fathom. We have to wait till he goes to bed to watch the news because he stresses over everything.

This is very perceptive.

When Mr W was 6 mos old, we took him to Muir Woods and he was enraptured by the trees. He would not stop looking up and smiling. He kept looking at us to see how we saw things, too.

There is a German word for being possessed by a god and I cannot recall what it is. Its like all these GT kids are "Touched" in a sense.

I stopped reularly watching TV a long time ago. I do not see how people can watch it and stay sane. The parade of insanity, intellectual passivity, intolerance, violence against the weak, and cliches would drown any sensitive mind. The majority of the focus is on eliciting an emotional reaction and a sensitive person just takes it too much.

One of my favorite examples of the inanity is "Murder She Wrote."

"This is a very nice town." the protagonist would say.

If true, then why do people get killed on every show in your nice town, lady!?!? Death follows you like like the Grim Reaper. Your town is the murder capital of the world!! And you make your living off blood money!!

Just about every variety show and news program is a one minute country and western song crammed into the 30 minues or two hours.

I sometimes like to watch "news" shows with the sound turned off but with CC on. The body language and facial expressions is sometimes out of phase with the CC - especially the so-called experts. Its like watching a Japanese movie dubbed in English.

My anxiety arises out of the disparity between body language, the spoken words, and the action depicted.

Austin, I think you're describing hypervigilance.

I do it, too, although I don't have any history of trauma in my life, maybe you don't either. I think some of us are just wired to take in a huge amount of information at once. Hyper-vigilance goes hand in hand with difficulty falling asleep, which is a major problem I have, too.

In my humble opinion, some HG kids have a capacity to receive much more sensory input than a child is equipped to process. I think (just a guess here) that's why so many HG kids have hyper-sensitivities. (P.S. I do not have hyper-sensitivities and I'm not HG.)

I attended a fascinating brain symposium in Seattle a couple years ago that described how the cerebral cortex (oh, I think I got that right) retains memories for seven years. During that time, the memory bounces all over the cortex - the skin of the brain kind of like an apple skin - and is bumped and shaped by each new experience until, at the end of seven years, the memory is deposited into a non-malleable memory vault. So our experiences may be reframed over years' time. If something traumatic happens to us, for example, what happens over the next 7 years helps to shape how that experience affects us in the long run.

Boy, did I get off on a tangent?

Austin,
You may be interested in the discussion about TV on the Gifted Exchange Blog.
http://giftedexchange.blogspot.com/