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I've heard that as well, but purely in an urban legend sort of way. I've never come across anything reliable that says this is true. (It may be out there, just that I've never seen it.)

I suspect a family that never encourages a child to speak and make mistakes might find that signing slows the speech down. Perfectionism wouldn't be a friend there. But if signing is something used to get the child through from birth to speech, then I can't see why it would slow anything down. It's still communication, so all the neurons are still firing!

(And even if it did slow it down, it wouldn't be from lack of ability, just lack of attempt, which is really not that big a deal...if that makes sense. What I mean is that if you fear failure and have another way to communicate, you might not be willing to try and fail. But you CAN try. You are capable. You just choose not to.)

I can also relate to the late talking issue.

After 2 very early talkers my third child, who is now 2 years 5 months, has a VERY small vocabulary. He also does not talk at all around people he doesn't know. The expressive language that he uses right now is only recognizable by a DH and myself. When he does choose to talk it is usually a very garbled string of 5-6 words. He never did the simple 1-2 word sentences--went from nothing at around 23 months to 5-6 word strings of garbled speech. Examples are: "More milk please, Mommy!" with me only understanding one or two words. I have heard him say longer sentences like, "The kitty is sleeping in my bed" but since he doesn't pronounce the sounds correctly I mostly have to guess based on the amount of syllable and his pointing. Usually I try and repeat what I think he is saying in the form of a question so he can confirm his thoughts or try and correct me. So for the kitty statement I would say: "Oh, did you say that the kitty was sleeping in your bed"...DS2 then replies back to me "Yup."

The other area he really seems to struggle with expressive language is singing. He seems to know the words to songs but can't actually sing the tune. He rarely even attempts to sing now because it usually just comes out as a series of monotone grunts.

Since he has wonderful receptive language I am not really worried right now. I think if his speech is still very garbled by 3 years old he may need an early intervention referral because it may be more of a oral motor issue. I know he will eventually have much more expressive language. If he's anything like DS6 and DD4 I will wish he never started talking.

Obviously DS2 has not been tested but I know that his puzzle making ability, 1:1 counting (with garbled speech), and crazy sense of logic and humor will probably put him in the same category as his HG+ older brother.

I was pleased to read this, DD2 does this...she has a large receptive language and a pretty big expressive. But we often get sentences like 'Look mummy I...<blah blah babble>... over there'.... then she goes off and does something in the direction she is pointing. It's like the expressive hasn't caught up with what she is trying to say.

My youngest was speaking very early, but we also exposed her to ASL through Signing Time dvds which we bought for her 1st birthday. She had a verbal vocabulary of 500 words by the time she was 15 or 16 months and we stopped counting. She knew the entire ASL alphabet and maybe 100 signs around her second birthday. I don't think the signing hurt her; it only enhanced her ability to communicate. She didn't learn ASL instead of spoken English. It was learned as a second language, so she could ask for juice or milk with a word or a gesture.

I think exposure to any second language is a good thing. If a child appears to have a communication issue though, a professional should be consulted.

Signing was great for us! DD2 was a difficult baby and I was looking for anything to help end our frustration. Once she could sign basic needs and thoughts, she became a different child at 11 months. She started talking in sentences at 17 months so the signing was short-lived but I think it actually helped her talk earlier than she would have (that's what the research I've read shows also).

As for the math, ds5 has all of a sudden taken a huge interest in math over the past few months. He is still in preschool so I doubt they are covering this. Asks constantly... what is: 4+4? 10+10? 100-1? 10x10? 101+101? 1+2+3+4+5? 256+256? a+a+a? etc. Once he's heard the answer a few times, I'll have him tell me the next time he asks. He usually knows the answer. When do they normally cover this stuff in school?? His questions were getting beyond what I can do in my head so I taught him how to add double and triple digits so he can figure it out himself. He seemed challenged by it but it wasn't over his head. When do kids usually take an interest in numbers like this? I don't always know what I should be showing him because I don't want to get ahead of myself. My degree is in secondary math - I don't have a clue about elementary math. As we getting closer to Kindergarten next year, I start to wonder if he will be OK or it will just be a whole year of playtime. He needs the social interaction but I don't want him to be bored.

Keep an eye on DS5. Some of the triple digit math doesn't get introduced until 2nd grade. I think its great to nurture his passion with math games. We did that with DD, now 5, by using her favorite things. For example, if she had 7 cupcakes and she gave 1 to Dad to eat and 1 to Mom to eat, how many are left wtih her? Just weaving in something interesting can keep them hooked... Happy Holidays!

Thanks - the cupcakes remind me of a question I asked him about a month ago: If everyone in our family gets 2 cookies, how many do we need? Without even thinking about it, he said 8. We hadn't even discussed multiplication concepts in any way at that point. Made me wonder what else he knows that I haven't thought to ask him.

That sounds about right for 3 year old GTs to me -- both my boys were doing 1 to 1 correspondence while still in diapers. So, I'd say yes to that being GT because teachers made such a big deal about it in their preschool classes -- as in "did you know he can make a train and touch and count each car?" (us: "uh, yes, of course we know that - he's out kid")

I think one-to-one correspondence develops before K -- I think this was part of the K readiness testing in our system. (Of course my DS was very worried about the K test because he thought they'd want him to know his times tables and he was still struggling with the 7s). The teacher was quick to reassure him!

I still can't get over that 1 to 1 correspondence is not normal for a 2- or 3-yr-old. I'm having a hard time with this one. Maybe it's that GT denial that crops up in my head routinely. DD3 1 to 1 counts at least up to 20 -- when are kids supposed to be doing this?

They still teach that in K, I know. I think to 100 is supposed to be mastered by the end of K. (Though I may be a bit off about this, since our K teacher differentiated very well for DS7 two years ago.)