Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Not sure if our daughter is gifted

Hi everyone,

It's our first post. Everyone keeps telling us that it seems our daughter is gifted (and they have been saying this for over a year now) but we aren't too sure and she isn't even 3 yet (she will be at the end of March) so, as far as we can tell, there isn't anything really available for her anyways.

She has always excelled at her development testing, generally being months and months ahead each time in each area. When she was turning 2, most people said she spoke like a 4 year old and now her vocabulary is even better.

She loves to learn and generally asks to learn specific things. Right now she is wanting to learn to read and learn about 'animal houses'. She has known all of her basic colours (we haven't gone into detail, otherwise I'm sure she would know more), can recognize and write the majority of the alphabet and can count to 20 easily. I have also been told she traces better than 4/5 year olds (she just wrote letters to family which I shared on social media).

She is also (slowly, because I don't have too much time with her) working on learning French and has already started learning music on various instruments. She also has a decent understanding of tools and already knows how to change tires on a car.

We are undecided if these things make her gifted or if she just has been taught things other kids maybe haven't, from an early age.

I'm not sure what else to add, other than I'm glad I found this forum

my daughter sounds similar to yours. She is 2.5 and speaks like a kindergartner.

She does sound gifted... but it's important to remember that right now, the most important things being gifted tells you is that you will need to pay particular attention to where her development is asynchronous. Play based learning, etc., is still going to be the best way for her to learn, unless she has shown you otherwise.

The asynchronous bit just means that while she may show signs of being far beyond others her age in certain skills and milestones, she is still two, and will be "two" with certain behaviors. She may even be behind in some ways, too. This is the hardest thing for me to remember with my daughter, because in one breath she is telling me "Be patient, please. I am almost done", she is not capable of the same patience when it comes to needing her milk... LOL!

Her being gifted will likely be much more important to pursue as a label if you find that her needs arent being met by schools. Many gifted kids are really under-served by schools for myriad reasons.

either way, she sounds great!

You might like a good Montessori preschool if there's one in your area. When our oldest was 3, we decided on Montessori b/c I am gifted and hubby has adhd and possibly gifted. We knew that whether gifted or ADHD or both, she'd be well served in that type of environment until she was ready for school and we could determine if we should continue w/ Montessori or explore otherwise. Our pediatrician recommended we send her to Montessori b/c it's a good environment for gifted chidlren.