Hello, I'll try to keep this brief as possible. I'm a FTM and my son is 15 months old. There are a lot of odd things about him piling up that I simply can't ignore any more and would like some insight from others who may have experienced the same thing. Since I�ve never had a kid and I�m a WAHM, I don�t know how much of this is normal.

Here's what I hope is a succinct listing of his interesting attributes/abilities. Tell me if I'm crazy or if my baby is possibly gifted. I need a reality check! Thanks in advance!

Physical Dev:
- Skipped crawling. First steps at 8 mos, walked independently at 10 mos. Running at 11 mos.
- Able to feed self with spoon, since about 9 mos or so.
- Can now open and close, hold markers. Able to set the marker cap on its end on table, though difficult.
- Tries to jump. Seriously, he stands with feet apart, bends his knees, and launches. Doesn�t make it off the ground, but amazingly tries to �make up for it� by lifting each individual foot off the ground rapidly at the end of his attempt.

Cognitive Dev:
- At 11 mos, able to complete a wooden peg puzzle with 8 cutouts. Worth noting that this is a cheap puzzle (not a fancy M&D), so the base is blank�there are no �cheater� under-pictures. He is now able to do two simultaneously.
- At 13 mos or so, able to do a 3-piece jigsaw if I placed the first piece. Now, able to do all on his own.
- Can identify up to 8 colors when asked to pick from a set of markers.
- Follows one- to two-step directions with little or no gesturing.
- Knows certain books by their spines � once saw 15 seconds of a Disney movie, bolted out of the room and returned with the book version (worth noting that this is a book he didn�t even like and we never got more than 2 pages into it before then. Also worth noting he picked it from a shelf of 40 books).

General/Anecdotes:
- Had always been described as an �alert� infant.
- Fascinated with minutiae: clothing tags, screws (in doors, cabinets, etc.), loose threads, crumbs on the ground.
- Long attention span: once stacked cards for an hour straight (11 mos). Routinely gets engaged in an activity and will persist for 20-30 mins or sometimes more.
- Loves books, has favorites. Can point to named characters, animals, objects when asked.
- Has favorite tv shows and movies. I don�t like him to watch too much tv, but one lazy day I was curious to see how long he would sit and watch his favorite movie. We made it 45 minutes�he sat in one spot and actively watched the movie the whole time. We only stopped because I decided it was enough.
- He knows the choreography to the dance numbers in his favorite movie. He does his baby version of the moves even when I play the soundtrack without the video.
- Doesn�t talk much, but knows some sign language. Weird thing, though, he tries to sing songs from his favorite movie�knows the cue for the one note/syllable he is able to sing.

Welcome!

Reaching milestones early can be a sign of a gifted child... or not. It is helpful that you are keeping track of development.

A similar question was asked on a recent thread, possibly some of those replies may be of interest?

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Update - here is a link to a brief roundup of links describing common behavior characteristics, traits, and early milestones which may indicate giftedness in infants, toddlers, preschoolers, young children. (This list may be especially useful before IQ test scores tend to stabilize, around 8 years old.)

http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....p_of_traits_is_my_baby_o.html#Post248478

Maybe, maybe not. Come back in about 3 years. Honestly all kids are different (especially gifted ones) and they don't all progress according to the books. If crawling is skipped though you need to be really creative in finding ways to crawl now as the cross patterning is important for the brain - also other cross patterning stuff. Just try and enjoy you child and talk to them a lot.

I asked similar questions when my DS was 14 months. Here's the thread I started:

http://giftedissues.davidsongifted....ck_please_Is_this_normal.html#Post145218

You might like this book:

http://books.google.ca/books/about/Losing_Our_Minds.html?id=RnWY5TCJr1QC

Welcome to the forum!

Yes to the wait-and-see. Just have to mention, though, that the available research does not currently support crawling as a necessary step in brain development. Crossing midline and visual-motor integration, of course, are both quite important, but early walkers-who-skip-crawling generally find lots of other ways to cross midline without special treatment.

I have plenty of training and clinical experience in child development (so I do have some idea of what is "normal"--and it's a pretty broad range), and I, too, had to resist the urge to continuously mentally-assess my children. If you want, keep a monthly (don't overdo it!) journal of interesting milestones or anecdotes about him, in the event that it might be useful retrospectively, but put most of your energy into enjoying the innumerable moments of discovery and accomplishment that he is experiencing every day. You're clearly spending lots of focused time with him; he will show you what he needs for stimulation.

My take home on the every child NEEDS to crawl research which I base from my experience as parent of a child who had developmental delays in learning to walk as a toddler. Is that children who on their own go right to walking there really isn't a big issue with. But kids who have developmental delays and need intervention, should be taught to crawl before they are taught to walk. Often because crawling is one of the best ways to strengthen core muscles that make walking possible.

As to the original posters question. At 18 months is still very hard to tell if your child is gifted. You child defiantly sounds advanced in a few things, and certainly not behind in any milestones and must be a joy to see him learn new things. But nothing particular stand out to me but it's still a bit young for figuring this out. Not sure you need 3 more years, I could tell when my son was reading at 3. Kids are all different, they learn different things at different ages. Keep in mind that gifted kids aren't all alike and have different strengths and weaknesses and learn things at different ages.

blue, I get what you are saying now. Yes, there's a big difference between a motor-delayed kid, who may need the crawling to develop better core and upper body tone and coordination, and a motor-advanced kid, who almost certainly doesn't. I expect I was responding to an unfortunate piece of quackery that has persisted for several decades which purports to "cure" dyslexia by retraining kids to go through the gross motor stages. Sorry, soap-box reflex.


So true!

Thanks, everyone, for your responses. I'm definitely obviously not interesting in getting him tested or put in special classes or anything at all yet. I'm just with him practically 24/7 and was starting to lose sleep over his oddities recently. Any one thing would not bother me: walking early or knowing colors or long attention span or excellent recall, but putting them together and mentally listing them yesterday I was starting to get a creepy crawly feeling up my spine.

He's an absolute joy. And gifted or not, I love seeing the world through his eyes. We'll see what the next few years bring.

Thank you for the link, aquinas! Your thread brought up a few other things that I failed to mention on my list (I was trying to hit the most amazing stuff, in my mind). My son can also throw and kick a ball--since about 12 months. He's even been able to catch, on occasion.

He also has a fascination with buckles/buttons, and gosh I wish I could tell you when he starting buckling himself into his feeding chair. I want to say it was definitely by 10-11 mos. For a long time I could tell that he was trying to do such things and got very frustrated when his fine motor skills weren't keeping up with his mental understanding of how he knew the buckle pieces fit together.

He seems to have amazing comprehension even though he doesn't talk. He's extremely laid back/easygoing and really seems to understand when I tell him things that should be disappointing to other children his age, "Okay, we're going home now, so say goodbye to the (toy) train." I'm not saying he's never thrown a tantrum, but it's rare.

He played with a racecar track toy at the store with three cascading levels and after a few failed attempts at getting the cars to fall fast enough off the first level (by placing them too low on the incline), figured out that he had to place them higher on the track to gain enough momentum. It just seemed to me that he shouldn't be able to figure out something like that at his age.

On an entirely different note... he sleeps rather decently, thank heavens.

Definitely keep track of those milestones--you'll love looking back on them.

My DD was reasonable beyond her years and well-behaved 99% of the time and then she turned 3.

Welcome to the forum.

OK we are still told crawling is essential here (NZ) but you are more knowledgeable. Climbing ladders and scooting etc do the same thing with cross body stuff but crawling through tunnels is fun. I guess I never questions the experts stance on crawling because both my kids did so it was never a concern to me.

If your kid is a read at 3 type you won't need 3 years. If he is like mine you will probably still be asking the same questions at 5 or 6. At that point I just got him tested.

Eta. Research time. I have a friend whose foster child is a bottom shuffler.

Sounds like my DS at that age...good at puzzles, fascination with buckles...as an infant he would examine the mechanisms and snap/unsnap repeatedly. If he saw someone else's carseat he would make a beeline for it so he could examine the buckles. Loved those wooden high chairs in restaurants, the straps kept him entertained. He loved the Tupperware shape sorter thing that looks like a ball that splits in half and did it like it was no big deal at around your DS's age. He was quiet and laid back and fascinated by figuring out his toys and everything in the house.
He also crawled at 8 months, walked at 10 months...but for what it's worth he is now behind in terms of motor development and is diagnosed with "developmental coordination disorder" with a "physically impaired" IEP with the school system. So what I'm trying to say is that for us, looking at motor milestones meant absolutely nothing in terms of predicting the future. I started to get worried about motor delays when he was 2 and not making progress. Up until then everything seemed normal. He is doing better now at age 7 but has been in and out of therapies since age 4.
Your DS could be gifted but it's really hard to say looking at a one year old, since they develop so differently and at different rates. The kids who looked more advanced than my DS as a toddler now are behind him in terms of certain things. DD (now 8) looked perfectly average until she was around 2 and her speech exploded.

The kids who looked more advanced than my DS as a toddler now are behind him in terms of certain things.

This.

DD15 really didn't seem THAT extraordinary to us at the time. I mean, sure-- she seemed "bright" but not like a prodigy or anything. Sure, she knew letters and numbers, etc. but we don't really know just HOW young she knew all of that stuff, never mind to what extent. It never occurred to us that: a) it might be odd (family is mostly HG+ people on both sides), or b) worth exploring or noting. She didn't learn to read early, (well, okay-- not relative to the crowd here, anyway) and she wasn't really "self-taught" with any major academic skills as a toddler or anything.

She's never really had a fascination with puzzles or mechanical things, per se.

They are really all different.

It wasn't until DD learned to read (at nearly 5) that we realized what we might be dealing with. It was the rate of progression over an impossibly short period of time that made it obvious at that point. Within a month or two, and with no further instruction, she was zooming through about 3rd-5th grade materials.

Looking back at that point, we realized that she has always been that way, developmentally-- nothing-nothing-nothing, BANG-- mastery. Like, real "mastery." Adult-level mastery. Nothing tentative or mistake-prone or fumbling about it. I can probably count on one hand the number of spills she took when "learning" to walk. I use quotes there because she has always seemed to be a kid that thought it over for a bit, then let things "gel" and then demonstrated complete mastery of the skill/activity. We call this "quantum learning" because it isn't really a process so much as a binary state-- ground state (not mastery) and the next energy state (mastery). The "how" of it is just as unclear as excitation via photon/electron, basically-- something just has to "match up" right, and it happens. How my DD learns things is still a completely black box to me-- it often feels like inputs are being poured in with no external indication of it (and past the point at which it feels weird, even), and then this transition happens with the speed of an explosion, almost like a cartoon. Hard thing to explain. In talking with an educator with a PhD in gifted studies, this is apparently one of those indicators that is SO telling that many educators have never actually SEEN it in a child-- because it is often the domain of very high levels of giftedness.

That and her awareness of others-- she's always had that, too. She could unerringly tell me what ANY other person was thinking/feeling emotionally by the time she was two. Like an empath-- she just reads microexpressions and body language that well. I've never known another person who could do what she does there-- she's like a human polygraph.

DD has never been tested, but is clearly functionally PG. The only other family member that she is similar to was well into PG range. This would not have been clear and obvious to anyone observing her for "tells" at 15-24 months, however. The things that I see now, with the benefit of hindsight?

* sense of humor-- she had a slyness about her and a WICKED sense of humor-- she enjoyed things that most children don't "get" until they are well into elementary school, such as puns, etc. She clearly had complete theory-of-mind at an age that it should simply not be possible.

* observant and prolific memory for details

* CAREFUL-- this was most evident with fine-motor examination of things like eyelashes, earrings, etc.

* understanding of human psychology, social conventions/structures and motivation that has always seemed "old" in every way-- and compassionate/understanding and kind. She was a child that had the ability to make others question a skepticism about reincarnation, honestly. I finally understand the Dalai Lama thing now; there are really children who are born that way. I had no idea.

* she seemed to intuitively understand cause and effect-- and this informed EVERYTHING she did-- she understood that standing up meant sitting down, that dropping a bowl of food meant that it would be gone, and that objects had permanence.

Probably the best guess of a 15 month old's IQ is the parents' IQ.

I'm quoting these because they express well how my DS2.8 operates.

He is one of the children who showed a lot of early cognitive milestones spontaneously, and later growth has just confirmed that those early events weren't flukes. At 15 months, it wasn't evident that those milestones were imminent, they just had to happen spontaneously with time.

One thing I'll add to the list is an early ability to be reasoned with, and to negotiate in turn. I don't think DS has ever truly had more than a handful of tantrums because he's always been able to process the rational arguments presented to him and, from about 16-18 months onward, he had sufficient vocabulary to rebut and make simple, logical counter-arguments.

Long ago, I read an article about making of the music video Scream. :hides in shame: Anyway, the choreographer commented that Janet Jackson learned conventionally, one step at a time with instruction whereas her brother watched and watched until he could do it and he was perfect the first time. I remember thinking, well, that's the difference between ordinary performer (Janet) and gifted performer (MJ).

DD does not function like a gifted performer in most areas. She seems to have talent in a few area but outside those areas, she doesn't go from zero to mastery. Her father went from not being able to hold a pencil to being able to draw a person with 10 fingers and toes. DD(newly)4 started drawing around 10 months and now finally, her figures have hands with fingers but SO says her drawings have more details and have much better artistic quality overall compared to his at the same age. I have done a lot to expose her to art and have created an environment at home in which developing visual art skills is not exactly optional so nurture can make a different, I suppose.

What made me suspect DD is different when she was much younger were her problem solving skills and the joy she finds in numbers, among other things but I simply thought those were her strengths just like everyone else has their own strengths.

It is funny though my one who has tested PG was easier to reason with at 2 than he is at 7 and learnt stuff through sheer persistance. My younger who tests lower does that watch then do thing and will never actually admit to being wrong so can't be reasoned with - I have always put this down to perfectionism.

You said "negotiate" and it's funny... less than a week ago we were putting my son to bed, and our routine naturally includes reading a few books right before we nurse. He gets to pick the books, so often we tell him, "Okay, just one more." Well, we had read 3 books that night and we were telling him, "Okay, time to go to bed." He looked me in the eye and held up one finger, shaking his little hand for emphasis. Well, we just had to acquiesce!

@Mana - Your comment made me laugh because that's so like my daughter. It was like a switch was flipped shortly after she turned three and we had our first ever screaming reaction to something. It totally shocked me. She still is a very mature three, but she's three for a fact. Ha.

To the OP: My question is this.. why does it matter? At such a young age, there really is no reason to know for sure. With every young child you just want to keep introducing them to the world around them. It sounds like you're giving your child plenty of opportunities to grow but I wouldn't bust out the workbooks or anything. By the time my daughter was 18 months or so I really began to get suspicious about her being gifted (I was tested as gifted as a child myself) but I feel like I 'knew' by the time she was two. She is about three and a half now and hasn't been tested but if she tested and wasn't gifted I'd be pretty shocked. Not only is she ahead in academics (around a K-1st level on most things) but she has so many of the common emotional gifted characteristics as well.

I am not personally going to test her unless a need arises for school reasons or whatever reason she might need that label. I just do my best to try and keep up with her super active little mind and keep her enriched.

It doesn't actually matter. But being the Type A that I am, I like being prepared. I'm an over-preparer by nature, and if I'm in for some hard times then I like to know what I'm getting into.
I realize that having a gifted child may not be the most desirable thing--that it comes with many challenges.

I'm fully aware that this could all be in my head at this point. I'd like to think that I'm worrying over nothing, and perhaps he's just a little precocious. Everyone has given me great points to keep my head on straight right now, and for that I am thankful.

Magenta, I think it's normal to wonder. I tried to plan ahead too but we're facing K decision for next school year and I haven't gotten a clue to what we're going to do. DD changes and shifts so much that I can't predict what her needs are going to be in a year. I'm hoping to avoid changing school often since I moved a lot growing up and I want DD to have the stability of growing up with a set of friends.


Change 7 to 4, that'd my DD. There are certain things that come very naturally to her that she picks up through observations but then she works really hard for everything else and does not let up until she gets it.


Perhaps it comes down to perfectionism but I still find it amazing that some people can skip the practice phase and go straight to mastery. When your younger DS finds his passion and directs his energy into it, he might really take off despite his perfectionism and stubbornness, or even because of them.

Tough to tell at this age. We thought eldest was brighter than average, middle kid was below average until about age 10 or so. Now we realize that middle kid is clearly the sharper one.

I didn't keep track of what they did when they were young, but here are a few things I recall:

Eldest - Crawled at 7.5 months, walked at 11 months
- Took apart Duplos at 10 months, put together at 12 months, sorted by size and color and built towers of like Duplos at 18 months
- Speech was average until 22 months, then suddenly spoke in full sentences.
- Watched full length movies around 15 months.

Middle - Really, really liked Blues Clues. Would watch for hours starting at 6 months. First word was "clue" (yep, we let her watch a little too much).
- Was good at puzzles. Don't recall what she did early on, but by 30 months, could do a 48 piece puzzle (free form, not rectangular) that she had never seen before.
- Good at building Duplo towers by 15 months.
- Crawled at 10 months, walked at 15 months.

Youngest - Don't recall much about her. She had some medical issues and we were focused on those. Haven't tested her (turns 10 this month) but likely somewhere between the older two in IQ. Older two were tested in 7th grade to gain entry to a specific course.
- Crawled at 9 months, walked at 16 months.

Have fun with the kid. I had a tough time having fun with them when they were little - can't really talk to kids that age. Also, watching sports was painful until about 13 or 14 - I had trouble just relaxing and enjoying it, so hope you can take a step back from the Type A and enjoy.

With the wisdom of 20/20 hindsight, I'd put it like this... there is no way of knowing whether or how gifted your little one is right now. There are broad ranges for what's normal with very young children and for every gifted child who spoke or walk early, there's one who didn't. For every one who was rational and calm, there's one (like mine) who was difficult and challenging from the beginning.

But that's not the same as discounting the evidence you see as your DS grows. You are the best witness and can use the data you have to stimulate appropriately now and to make choices around testing and advocacy as the years go by.

Again with the benefit of hindsight, I can say that we knew that DD was very smart almost from birth. I can look back at the baby journal I kept for the first year and read the wonder and terror we were feeling around some of the things she did back then. Still, there wasn't much to really do about it at that age... it wasn't like we could keep her from, or alternately prod her into, developing any differently than she did.

Yet, by the time she was struggling through a terrible first grade year, we began to doubt those earlier opinions. Still, those observations are what led us to pay for testing and make changes in her schooling when we needed to.

Also note, DD (now 11) never crawled. She scooted and rolled for a bit and then at 6.5 months she pulled herself up at the couch and started aggressively attempting to walk (and falling down A LOT -- we removed all hard furniture from the living room for 6 weeks until she got the hang of it). It doesn't seem to have hurt her development (intellectually, emotionally, or physically) in any way.

This.If both parents are gifted, chances are the child is too.

Mom (me): no I'd say not gifted, though I was told I read early (don't recall). Dad is currently getting his PhD in Economics, but he's never been tested or anything. Maybe we just have a smart little cookie and not anything too out of the ordinary.

Magenta,
I won't rule out the possibility of your DS being gifted. I don't believe that DH and I are gifted. However, I would be shocked if DD is not. Your DS is still very young and at that age and even later, I believe that it is not what the child knows and has accomplished but rather how they know it, how they make connections and use it in creative ways that differentiates a gifted kid from a bright kid. There is a twinkle in their eyes as they pursue new knowledge that is just such a delight to watch. While I don't have definite proof that DD is gifted, I still hang out at this forum to learn from others. I encourage you to do the same. And in a few more months, hopefully you will look back at this post and think," why did i even ask this? It is so clear now that he must be gifted".

If your DH is studying Economics in anywhere reputable, I think he needs to be at least moderately gifted to get a Ph.D.

There, I think there is a high chance your little one is gifted. Whether he needs anything special is a whole other story. He may be what people call optimally gifted in which case he will ace all the exams and do great in life with no added emotional burden at all. Things only get dicey when someone is highly/profoundly gifted.

I'm basically saying it's too early to tell. Even testing at age 4 or 5 is quite unreliable, although it is said that parents' assessments are more reliable. Nevertheless, you can try to create an environment where a child can reach their potential, even if you're not sure what their potential is. (School's should try this idea too.)

Magenta - I would definitely encourage you to continue with the sign language. This was a tremendous help to us before our daughters could verbally express what they wanted and helped to lessen the frustration between us and them.

AAP pub on LDs. Check the references. (I'm on my mobile device, so the URL May be slightly different.)

http://m.pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/102/5/1217.full

Thanks Aeh.

I totally got that--just thought I'd respond after Thomas Percy brought up his point, too.

On your comment about schools creating environments where students can realize their full potential: my husband's area of research is in economics of education, so he might actually have some insight to things like this... (His other area of interest is health econ, which is tangentially related.)

I think you already know the answer and I mean that in a positive way. You know when something feels unusual. You have a pretty big list and you may not even have the time to write it all down. You are in the stage of, Oh my gosh, am I really up for this? Can I handle this?

The most important thing is to stay on top of it. Stay rested. Don't expect anyone to understand what you are going through.

I mean it. Rest up now. By 24 months you might be feeling exhausted and behind the curve. Keeping up with a gifted child from age two years until they mature into school age is a marathon. Be in your best possible state of mind and body.

Also wanted to mention for pre-verbal, it shows in their art work / crayon drawings.

I want you to be prepared. You might understand your family history and yourself, but it can shake you when you see it in your child.

I recommend mourning the loss of the ability to have a 'normal' child. That might sound strange, but I think it is necessary. Also, I have noticed that gifted people tend to give a 'heads up' to their partner before having a child together.

You will have wonderful moments of joy, but it is very different from having a 'normal' child.

The artwork never looked the way 'it is supposed to.'

The child has very strong preferences and you can tell even at pre-verbal stages.

All of the marketing and commercials, for the most part, show 'average' babies. They don't show the 24 month year old who is debating their parents.

I had to let go of any idyllic version and just deal with the reality of it and accept it and the fact that no one notices that your child skips over the 'normally' beloved books.

Honestly, they make you feel 'weird' if you don't follow all of the baby-ways. So, it is okay that these infants come into the world at a different stage or however the experts want to explain or discuss it.

WeSupport:
as for the 'heads-up', I totally agree that is very helpful in understanding what you might be in for ...
Only after our ds came along, did I find out from my dh that his nickname was 'destroyer' when he was a kid. My brother also had the same nick name~ so our gene pools were unlikely to produce the 'sit and play quiet' type kid.

Sigh, bumpy but fun ride.

I feel like I'm more in the lives-in-a-bubble/am-I-just-crazy stage. Hahahaha. It might be more clear to me if I saw other babies his age on a regular basis, but it's usually just me, DS, and DH hanging out on our own little island.

I'm also feeling like I might look like an idiot if I ask his pediatrician about it at his next appointment.

Magenta, you've accurately described my daughter's early childhood to a tee-- and couple that with the fact that the other children that we DID know were either related to us by blood, or the offspring of dual-PhD couples, and well... you get the picture. What we thought of as "average" was probably more like "very-bright-to-gifted" to begin with. So we thought of DD as "bright" but didn't spend a lot of time/angst on this otherwise.

The reason that I mention this fact is that it has made NO difference to DD's trajectory that I can see. I have some regrets, but they definitely don't relate to not having her in academic enrichment at a young age. Things that I do regret have related to not being willing to follow where she clearly wanted (and probably needed) to go and when.

* teaching her to read when she was VERY clearly ready, willing, and able-- at 18-24 mo. We actively discouraged her instead, upon the advice of a relative who was an elementary school teacher. Now, her advice might have been appropriate for a "bright" youngster, but it was NOT good advice for a PG child.

* forcing her to slow her rate of learning to match her weakest skill set (writing); this informed a perfectionistic outlook on every OTHER area, and it also caused her to think of herself as "not good at" writing-- because it was a RELATIVE weakness.

* slowing down her academic progression.

Things that I do wish that we'd done differently:

* been firmer with the school re: what constituted "appropriate" work for her,

* investigated early college options more thoroughly, probably including a major move in that mix,

* not forced agemate interactions that just didn't fit in the name of "socializing" our child, and finally--

* noted her perfectionism for what it REALLY is-- and aggressively intervened/remediated very early-- as young as YOUR child is now, in fact.

My daughter is a great kid, and she seems (so far) to have turned out just very well in spite of those things that we didn't know were important.

So here's the advice portion of our program today...

I'd say that awareness of the possibility is probably all that is needed at this age. Just be open and enjoy your child for who he is, not what he SHOULD (or COULD) be.

Magenta - you've received some great advice. I think you are on the right track and YOUR intuition about your DS is probably right on. Enjoy him - be amazed - that is part of what makes his current age so special.

As for crawling - I have 2 DC, one tested (and then some, thanks to our test-happy schools ), one with only some achievement testing (was very high). I've treated them both as "bright children" from early on (before a single test was performed), because that is what I observed. DD9, a DYS, never crawled. She rolled (seriously ) very, very early, though, and VERY EFFECTIVELY (getting into EVERYTHING she wanted to) and seemed to conclude that this was a great way to get around (no older siblings to model, and I think this matters). She briefly "hitch crawled" (not a true crawl), before walking at 12 months - NOT early by most standards. DS6 on the other hand, clearly wanted to FOLLOW older DD from very early on. He was an EXCELLENT crawler, and was walking by 9 months (walking VERY well by 10 months). They both seem very, very bright - although like many siblings, their strengths are in different areas. I've concluded the crawling milestone was rather unimportant for them.

The one take away I have - parental intuition is huge. Time will tell, but you are probably not imagining amazing things. Write at least some of them down. Enjoy the wonder of this time with him, because it will go quickly!

Howler (and others), would you be willing to elaborate on tackling early perfectionism?


I've started a new thread here:

http://giftedissues.davidsongifted.org/BB/ubbthreads.php/topics/196267.html#Post196267

UPDATE:

My son is now 19 months old.

- Can identify all upper and lowercase letters (I ask "where is __?" and he points). Can name at least 17. Does NOT confuse E/F, W/M, K/X, etc. Knows a few of the letter sounds.

- Knows shapes. Not just 2D (circle, square, triangle) but also some 3D (cone, cube, cylinder). Can identify rhombus (diamond) vs. square vs. rectangle even when they are all set side by side and have similar dimensions.

- Watches full-length (children's) movies.

Just like with knowing all his colors at the time of my initial post, we were blown away by how well he already knew a handful of letters at 16 mos. Just recently my Dad reminded me that they'd always said my brother was able to recite the alphabet backwards at 2 years old. I actually believe him now.

There is little doubt in my mind that my son is gifted at this point. To what degree, only time will tell. Currently, I'm already feeling simultaneous pride and embarrassment at his abilities, and I'm having difficulty sometimes identifying with mothers of children in the same age range. They talk about how their sons are super into trains ... while I'm sitting there thinking of how to explain how mine likes to smell cooking spices while I name each one or request that I write specific letters of the alphabet for him.

He still doesn't talk as much or as well as his peers, so that's the biggest thing that makes him look possibly behind others his age. But some day soon I expect he's going to catch up on that front ... and in a big way...

[quote=HowlerKarma:
Looking back at that point, we realized that she has always been that way, developmentally-- nothing-nothing-nothing, BANG-- mastery. Like, real "mastery." Adult-level mastery. Nothing tentative or mistake-prone or fumbling about it. I can probably count on one hand the number of spills she took when "learning" to walk. I use quotes there because she has always seemed to be a kid that thought it over for a bit, then let things "gel" and then demonstrated complete mastery of the skill/activity. We call this "quantum learning" because it isn't really a process so much as a binary state-- ground state (not mastery) and the next energy state (mastery).
[/quote]

this is my dd in a nutshell. we gave her a bike a while ago, she practised for 5 minutes before packing a sad and putting it away for a few months, woke up one day and asked to ride her bike, 5 minutes later she was on her own.

at 15 months people would comment on how intense DD was - she didn't speak at all and wasn't walking - in fact she was slow developing across the board so we were taking note. But one thing everyone noticed was how she didn't need to talk - weird but she really didn't need to.

I think it best to treat any child as gifted ie: extend them, get them toys that are just above their ability and also a little below for confidence building. Give them room to play and show them lots of things.

I didn't read the early pages of this thread. But based on your update, it definitely sounds like you have a gifted child on your hands! He sounds like a sweetie!

If I may-- I just want to throw out one caution for you: please avoid making his development a competition. It doesn't matter whether your son is a bigger talker now or not, or whether he will catch up to age-peers in a big way. He's on his own development curve. Your job is to provide him with the love, stimulation and encouragement to help him be happy and fulfilled. He'll probably enjoy museums, chapter books, documentaries and many other things earlier than most children. But please don't bother with what other kids are doing and just feed him what he needs.

Also, in regards to your son's interests-- whether it's trains or smells-- those aren't an indication of his giftedness, but instead of his interests. I don't see why you need to feel embarrassed to add that to your mom discussions! It's fun and quirky! My friends and I would have gotten a good chuckle out of a child who loved smells, and pondered where it would lead. (Also, FYI, my son is well above the DYS cutoff (and is a DYS) and he loved trains and cars as a toddler, so it's not an indication of intelligence to "not" like them.)

So glad you're having so much fun with your little guy. Those are very special years!

I agree with syoblrig and all those points.

When with the playgroup, it is perfectly acceptable to talk about how your child enjoys cooking with you and love the smells of cooking and the names of the spices. I bet many of the other kids do too.

I kind of feel jealous of those of you who - including the OP - who have kept a record of milestones etc. My son is an only child, and I still haven't managed to be as organised - and my memory is fading fast ! When he was really young, we never really thought about what he was doing when - he was just him. What I do remember distinctly is that he was also a later talker. When he was 15 months, we had family visiting from England, and my 16 year old niece taught him signs (many made up) for many many animals. We could also negotiate/reason with him - talking to him as if he knew what we were saying, rather than assuming he didn't, as he was just a baby. I never really thought about it - but as I run a daycare, I have come to realise that doesn't work with most kids that age. He is now 11 - the only testing he has done is to get into the pull-out gifted program in Elementary school when he was 6, so I'm not entirely sure exactly how gifted he is - though he is now in a full time gifted 6th grade program, and is in 8th grade accelerated math. To the OP - keep documenting - it might come in useful in the future. Oh - and enjoy your son, he sounds wonderful !

These are all good points, and I only got into the habit of constantly comparing him to his peers because I really thought at times that I was crazy (I'm a WAHM, so his interaction with peers is limited). I was very back-and-forth about whether he was really ahead in some things or it was just natural/normal variation of development. I want to clarify that I don't have high expectations of him (RE: the "big way" comment). I failed to add context to the point about his catching up talking--my brother's son at a very young age was EXTREMELY talkative and had an advanced vocabulary. (My nephew used words like "aerodynamic" at age 5.) His cousin's precocity in that area causes me to suspect I will also have a big talker on my hands soon enough.


Phew! This makes a lot of sense. Taking this into account, I only mentioned the spice-smelling here because I had already gotten some weird looks from moms when I told them that story. So I tend not to relate it to new acquaintances anymore. I guess we'll chalk that one up to quirk (something no kid is without).

UPDATE: My son is now 6. He tested in the 99th percentile for the school district on his assessments (automatic testing for all students every year). He will be going to the gifted academy for first grade starting in the fall. (He does. INDEED. Talk a tremendous LOT!) I now also have a 2yo who exhibits almost all of the same sharpness that his brother did at his age.

Nice to hear from you again, Magenta, and to hear that your kiddos are doing well.