Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Is my 2.5 years gifted and preschool choice

Hi All,

I am new to here and I start thinking that my son my be gifted.
For example
1. know about shapes, colors, alphabet, read 50 Chinese words, counting object one by one from 0-7, know directions before 21m,
2. know 0-100, spells some words (e.g. stop, egg, fan) at 26m
3.spell his name, mommy, open, start, etc, count objects from 0-30, read clocks in hour by 27m
4. start doing simple additions in 30m
5. he is 32m now and he can follow some simple steps of lego's menu to build a plane(not duplo), he can write numbers and draw a human like object

He is not that gifted that know many things before 18m, but he is still a bit advance now. He is very into shape and numbers that he know how many sides and angles of each shapes and know the name of the polygon to 19 sides (he memorized the name of polygon of sides 4-14 and then after we tell him that a 15sides polygon is called penta-deca-gon, he deduced the name of 16sides as hexa-deca-gon when he was 2)

As he skip his napped when he was 22m old, i start bring him to some mommy and me preschool class, he like the one with sth to teach (e.g. ABC phonics, some sequencing toys) and lots of art works and musics. He loves doing art work and the musics time. Then when he was 30m old, I add another parent co-op preschool class for him (so 2 half day for the 1st mommy and me class and 2 half day for parent co-op preschool) This one is also play based, that there is 1hr indoor free play time and 1hr outdoor free play time with some simple art works. He tell me he like the mommy and me class but not the parent co-op one. I am thinking may be the toys is not the type he likes (as nothing involve math)

In addition, my son has some mild sensitive issue that he is over sensitive to noise, light, touch.

He did play well with his friends when he was 18m-24m (basically, he follow what his friend do, e.g. playing car and play shape sorter together, even he doesn't like to play car at all, and he do play pretend play like cooking when his friends play it) but now, when he meet his friends, he doesn't join any activities they do, even he like his friends and still mention about them at home. I am so worry about his social skill (he doesn't have any aggressive behavior, but has avoidance behaviors sometimes)

I am thinking to let him start preschool when he turn 3yrs3m in Sept, but I am trying so hard to find a right preschool for him. I prefer play based but finally find that it is hard for him to fit in, as he like a lot of wooden and sense toys like the Montessori style. However, most Montessori school is not "warm" enough, so it is so hard for me to find a preschool for him. Do any of you have experience like me?

Oh I have written a lot already, I would like to know is there some kid's development just like my son, and hope that any of you can share your experience too. Thanks a lot for reading and sorry for my poor english. ^-^

Welcome to the forum! I can't help with preschool selection decisions, but there are parents here who can. Let me bump this post so it attracts more attention.

Welcome. First thing what you need from a preschool. If you are returning to work outside the home part or full time, transport, other committments. When you have done that consider whether he needs to go to preschool at all and if so what does he need out of it. Don't think to much of academics as there is unlikely to be a good match anyway. But don't put him in an academic preschool that goes at normal speed. Good luck.

Cynthialcy, welcome.

I've been on a preschool search for over a year and we've finally found the right school for DD, fingers crossed. The owner is the lead teacher and she and I share the same philosophy about early childhood education. Luckily for DD, she is much better at implementing it than I am. When we visited, she and I were talking but during the whole time, I could see she was constantly keeping an eye on all the children and regardless of what they were up to, she was very calm and positive. My point being, yes, the right environment, curriculum, and materials make a huge difference; I love that the new school is an outdoor garden preschool and the focus is on developing social skills and learning about sustainable living practices but it all comes down to having the right person behind it.

I worry about DD's social skills too. She makes friends easily and get along well with others (she is an extrovert who can be quite charming when she wants to be) but she is starting to realize that she is not like most children she meets. It's one of the reasons why we chose to send her to a play-based preschool so she could have opportunities to connect with peers in a collaborative, multi-age (3-7) learning environment.

Not all 3 year olds are ready for full-time preschool and I personally think it'd be okay to continue with the coop preschool until your DS is ready to start a drop-off program although that might not exactly be his preference right now. My DD was quite into educational toys until she turned 3. Then she became that child who can play for hours as long as she had a large empty box. I try to nurture her strengths by staying out of her way but I get more involved in the areas of her relative weakness.

Good luck with your preschool search.

Our son started preschool at 3. We sent him because he was freaking us out with his reading ability (self-taught) midway through the school year they tested him and determined that he was reading at a 5th grade level. At 3 he was easily at a kindergarten level in math (again all just picked up on his own). My point is that he still benefited from going to school. He was fine at that young age, more fine than I thought he would be, to spend a full day at school. We sent him 3 full days. He was behind in fine motor and improved greatly during the course of the year. He also greatly improved his social skills because he's an only child and being with the other children really helped him. He got to do fun things like Chinese, Spanish and music class. He also got to perform in school performances. It really was a wonderful experience and was NOT about academics for him. Preschool both last year and this year was about fine motor and getting along socially. He has done his academic growth at home. That was our experience. Hope that info is useful to you. Best wishes.