We once did a totally unscientific survey of early head control here on the forum, and anecdotally, it seemed to be a good predictor of HG+ness. Many of us thought it was weird that our kids had early head control, but we'd never put that together with the GTness until so many other people here had seen it in their GT kids, too.

I'd love to see a study on it. I suspect there's some correlation.

The biggest moment for me, though, the moment when I couldn't ignore it with DS8, was when he was about 8 months or so--crawling and cruising, but not yet walking, and not really talking yet. He banged his Hot Wheels car on the wall and I said no. He stopped immediately, then he systematically tested the rule so that he understood the limits for behavior with Hot Wheels cars. He experimented with every permutation of using a car on the wall and the floor--banging and rolling, right hand and left hand--and each time he stopped the second I told him "no," a behavior was off-limits. He was entirely scientific about it. I felt like I was dealing with a much older child.

Once he understood the rule, he followed it from that day on. I never had to explain it again and he never broke it.

I remember having a strong, almost eerie sense that most toddlers probably weren't like that...

With DS5, it was a more recent realization. Just after Christmas 2008, he started doing addition in his head. It was all very sudden, and he moved from addition to addition of large numbers (10s of thousands) with carrying, to subtraction with renaming, and now he's multiplying 2-digit numbers in his his head. It's a big change--I wasn't even thinking he was GT before Christmas!

So DS8 started quick out of the gate and moved steadily all along. DS5 is my leaps-and-bounds kid.

I'd like to read that thread. Can you find it? I did a couple searches and came up empty.

I don't really know what "early head control" means. All my kids could hold their heads up quite well by 2 months, measured by being able to face outward in the Baby Bjorn carrier by that age. I have no idea if this is early, but I always turned them outward as early as possible so they could see the world. The eldest and youngest looked and looked at everything. DS7 studied at the face of whoever was carrying him --- for so long (many minutes; can't remember exactly) that I used to worry he'd strain his neck. People used to comment on it.

They could all follow an object for 180 degrees from a very early age, but I can't remember how early. DS9 (eldest) just did it the first time I tried it. I don't know how old he was; I was reading ahead in the "What to Expect" book.

Is this what you meant, Kriston?

Val

Hm. DD was also one of those lift-the-head-and-look-around-in-the-delivery-room babies. I honestly didn't think anything of it until weeks later when we were out & people commented on it. I guess most newborns are just these lumps that lay there mewling? I dunno. I guess, in retrospect, there is probably a reason DD looks so much more aware than a typical newborn in our photos. At the time, I really thought we were just better photographers than most people. Everyone said she didn't look like a newborn.

Interesting thread! I never thought of my kids early physical milestones as signs of giftedness. A lot of people thought I was pushing them (especially when they learned my kids were out of diapers before their 2nd birthday), but I don't think I did anything different from what other parents do. For example, when my kids pushed to a stand in my lap, I let them stand there as long as they wanted even though they were very young.

The things that surprised my most were the early pincer grasp and self-feeding at 5 months and "terrible twos" tantrums before 12 months.

I remember sitting at the kitchen table paying bills when my 15 month old came into the kitchen. Without even looking at me, he pushed a chair to the counter, climbed up, got a cup out of the cabinet, and then climbed down and put the cup on the floor. Then he did the same thing to the fridge, getting out the milk and chocolate syrup, then to the drawers to get a spoon. Without ever once looking at me, he sat on the floor and prepared himself a cup of chocolate milk. He drank it then went back to his room to play, leaving a mess on the floor and me staring at him dumbfounded.

One thing my kids were *not* early about was talking. I hear so much about gifted kids talking early, but my kids all spoke late. Two of them didn't speak until almost 2 years old and one didn't speak until almost 4 (however, this one could read as soon as he started talking).

I've been thinking about this since I posted yesterday...it is interesting that other people have noticed the early head control thing.

The whole question of recognizing our children’s giftedness is very interesting. Of course not all HG kids do all things early so sometimes it is easy to question if maybe we have overestimated their giftedness. I know that happens to me.

Then, something happens that blows me away. The other day I was looking for websites for DD while she was sitting on my lap. I got to BrainBusters (not a site for kids) and clicked on a logic game and opened a new game (Fillomino) without looking at the instructions. I was looking at it and trying to figure out what we were supposed to and DD took the mouse and started clicking. I tried to stop her and then I realized that in just seconds she had figured out both the objective and the solution and even the mechanics of where to click to fill in the blanks.

I suspect the thread is older than a year old, Val, and thus doesn't show up in searches anymore. I can't find it either. Sorry! I promise that it really did exist!

I would say that your definition of what constitutes early head control is pretty accurate, Val, though I would also say that many people talked about babies pretty much coming out holding their heads up or at least trying to. I know in our case, nurses and grandparents remarked upon it for both of my kids even before we left the hospital--so within the first 48 hours. We didn't know any different, so it wasn't a big deal to my DH and I at the time. But when I see babies now, I can see the difference.

DS8 was something of a battering ram. He didn't have total control, but he tried, and he had a really big head. He'd hold it up for a while and then lose control and swing it around, or he'd seem all floppy and then all of a sudden would lift his head fast to see something, totally disregarding the safety of whomever was holding him. He regularly head-butted me while I was feeding him because he was so unpredictable. Once in the first couple weeks of his life, I think he might really have dislocated my jaw as he picked his head up fast to look at a noise. It hurt! It still clicks sometimes.

DS5 had a smaller head and did a better job of holding it still and not clubbing me with it. He had a lot more control, right from birth. Much easier!

FWIW...

The head control thing is interesting. Both my kids were born 3-4 weeks early. But were trying to hold their heads up almost immediately. They were also very alert and aware newborns. I have many pictures of them eyes wide open. My DS especially didn't even want his head supported. He'd get cranky. He was just generally a little bit bitter until he could crawl! Then he was happy as a clam.

My mother talks about when I was born one of the OB nurses carrying me around at the hospital showing me to all the other nurses because I was the most alert newborn she'd ever seen. Never thought of that as being a GT thing, but who knows!

The doctors and nurses made a huge deal about how alert my boys were at delivery. I just assumed it was because they both have really big eyes! LOL! They did have great head control and good eye tracking very early. Even as very young infants, they always seemed interested and curious, never wanting to miss the action.

Our eldest nearly "frog jumped" off of the table at 9 days old when we were getting newborn photos done. I remember the photographer making a big deal out of that too. (Of course, this was the only time he's ever been ahead of the curve for gross motor skills)

Looking back, I guess I didn't realize these things would be the first (and nowhere near the last) times of people noticing, commenting, etc. about how different they are. Eldest DS had a day recently when everyone seemed to notice him. (Wow, he can read? How long has he been reading? Ohh, Ohh, read this! Wow, he can multiply? . . .) I told DH that DS is a "circus freak" -where everyone points and stares! Sometimes, I think "normal" sounds so perfectly inconspicuous!

Sorry! Did I sound bitter and grumpy?? Rough day today.

Huh, DD was also very alert right after birth. As was seen by her screaming at me for 2 days in the hospital and not sleeping one bit! She also had great head control and I remember thinking it was funny that I had seen newborns on TV whose neck couldn't hold up their heads. Also, I can't remember a time when she couldn't hold up her head when lying on her stomach.

I know my parents said I was also extremely alert as a newborn. DH on the other hand apparently slept all the time! No clue about his head control, though, but I'd wager it was pretty good since he was very early with his gross motor skills.