I'm a father of two young children. My daughter is 28 months, and my son is almost 7 months. I think there's a good chance that my daughter is gifted, though probably not profoundly so. She doesn't read yet, and doesn't count quantities above 2 reliably yet. On the other hand, I find her vocabulary to be astounding. She uses thousands of words. When I learned that children her age can pick up 6 words a day, I wondered if I was typically using 6 words a day that she didn't already know. Since then I have been making a concerted effort to use words that she doesn't know, to keep from stifling her learning potential.
Back on the first hand, perhaps this is the consequence of a child of normal capacity choosing a picture-book dictionary as her favorite book at 18 months old. I think her speech constitutes good grammar for her age group. She speaks in sentences such as "I am going to be a cat for Halloween this year." or "I'm going upstairs to get my dolly." She often gets confused by irregular verbs though. "I drawed a snake."
She doesn't seem inclined to speak Mandarin much at home, though I'm told she understands it well. She'll use it when prompted, and even sing in Chinese on occasion, but I don't know what she's saying... I don't speak it; my wife does.
At any rate, my kids may or may not be gifted, but I find myself compelled to advocate for gifted children. I recently read "A Nation Deceived" and reaffirmed my belief that more needs to be done to help these children reach their potential.
I also hope that others here will help me find products appropriate for my children. My daughter has a long attention span, and loves books, but she's still a 2 year old. She wants a picture on at least every other page, but she's happy to listen to a hundred words or so before she sees another one. I wonder sometimes if she would care for a story too involved to finish in one night. I struggle to find books that suit her very well.
I'll be searching around to find the best places to read and write recommendations for such things.
Also, as the title says, I'm in VA. If there are any members here involved in advocacy in my area, I'd be thrilled to hear their experiences.
