I am a parent who is blown away by my DD learning the alphabet and I mean identifying letters both capital and lower case etc. ....At this point I would like to meet another child (around my dd's age)who knows the ABC's.
Hi Flower,
I quoted you because I am one of the many here raising my hand to assure you that you have found parents with children just like yours. My 26 month old has also known all of his letters/colors/shapes since 15-18 months, phonics before 24, counts on his own to 20 and does 1-1 correspondence, and is starting to read sight words. My 5 year old did the same thing, and is now a YS. Like someone else pointed out, it's all part of the same rote memorization skills, but the "gifted" sign is that they memorize it so quickly. (For ex, mine doesn't watch tv, which several studies attribute to early learning of these concepts.) I share this with you not to brag, but to let you know that we're not alone.
I have also seen in our family that our HG children are extraordinarily imaginative. While rote memorization is often used to compare milestones, IMO, the true joy of having gifted children comes from this imagination.
As for all the general bragging we hear by so many, here is my thought. We have to remember that the average IQ is only 100, and the milestone books that moms cling to are geared towards that average. In the average social circle of a PG family, my guess is that many of the other children in that circle also come from families well above that average. We have to remember that the gifted line for schools includes 10-15% of the population. That number is skewed even more by demographics in well-educated areas(according to social research). When 30% of your playgroup thinks their children are gifted, by those numbers they may be right. However, when your children are profoundly gifted with IQs in the 160s and higher, it's a different situation. Because these children are so rare and people are so competitive, others question their situation.
That's why YS and forums like this are such a blessing!! IMO, it is both humbling and gratifying to find a group where our children are simply normal. I think we've all been wrongfully accused of either lying about their abilities, browbeating them, being braggarts, etc. Isn't it wonderful to come together and confirm for each other that they aren't aliens or oddities, but just sweet children whom God has bestowed with special gifts.
Thank you so much for sharing all of your experiences, too!
