Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Milestone charts - are they for real?

One of my little cousins was walking well at 7m -- it was hilarious to see such a little baby, a little blondie with spikey hair, toddling around. Probably wasn't so hilarious for her parents, ha! She is HG+, too ... interesting connection.

I never marked down the exact times, so I may be wrong, but my daughter, who has been identified as gifted, did not seem significantly, or at all ahead of these benchmarks. But like I said, I could be completely wrong. She was not my first GT child, so it could just be that I thought the times were normal, since at the time she was a baby, the other child had not been identified as gifted yet.

No lawsuits. But given the context of your post, I don't think it was obvious that there was a typo there.

Just for the record, I will ALWAYS respond if someone says/posts/sings "All children are gifted." Take it as a given. Roll your eyes if you must, but it should not come as a surprise.

It's fine to dislike the term "gifted." That's opinion. You're absolutely entitled to your opinion. I'll back you 100% on that.

However, it's not fine to say that all children are gifted. That's just plain incorrect, *especially* in this *particular* context of a forum for parents of gifted kids. If nothing else, WE'RE defining the term and using it very precisely!

FWIW, I agree with Kriston. All children should be loved and appreciated for who they are. Like it or not, the current use of the word gifted is related to high ability, and most often, intellectual ability.

I looked for other sources on the early walking/hyperactivity link. I didn't actually find more than the original soucre I had for this information, which was the book, "Is This Your Child?" by Doris Rapp. So I am not sure of the validity of the claim.

Here's a related article from a while back: http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art25096.asp

Sorry if someone posted but try to remember most of these lists are used as a "if you kid cannot by this age - and maybe cannot do a couple other items based on typical milestones - then maybe you've got a problem" and remember our kids are going to be developing 30 - 100xs faster...

... but yes, few will believe you mean it. At least here we aren't questioned :-)

I'm still grouchy. We keep getting more and more bad news on the school front. But that is for my own post :-)

FWIW, my ds doesn't stand out significantly when reading those milestone charts -- other than sitting fairly early (independently by 4mo), his other physical milestones are pretty standard. He wasn't a particularly early on talking, and didn't speak in sentences until 27 months (where he burst out a long one). It isn't until the 18mo or 2yo milestones that he starts to seriously deviate from "expectations."

We knew there was *something* weird about him -- his attention span, his need for constant stimulation, his sensitivity to noises and crowds -- but was certainly not thinking "gifted" at the time. He's an only child, so we didn't have much to compare to. In fact, I didn't start looking at gifted boards til he was 4.5yo, when he started reading chapter books! Maybe I just catch on slowly.

Thanks Val. That scale is very interesting.

Sorry! Here's hoping for better news, and soon!

But, I don't even believe she was reading significantly before kindergarten, if at all.

My DH offered a new term to replace "gifted" that would certainly take away any smugness one might acquire from the pretentious-sounding nature of the term "gifted." He thinks we should call it Hyper-learning disorder. At least that way schools and educational legislators might view being GT not as an "easy way through school" but more of a problem to be addressed.

At any rate, the term makes me laugh.

FWIW, DD3 did not reach milestones early until about 18mo when she suddenly seemed to take off intellectually. Although in hindsight, I realize she did pick out many letters in the bath tub before she could speak them at about 15mo. But her same-age ND cousin hit all of the gross-motor milestones and some communication milestones before DD. Being my first child, I sometimes worried something was wrong with DD, but just kept in mind that all children develop at different rates. So I was a bit surprised when she suddenly developed in fast-forward from 18mo on. I didn't even realize she was atypical until a good friend pointed it out at 20mo or so. If she hadn't said anything, I'm sure I'd be even more GT denial than I am now.