Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion are all your children gifted

If you have an identified gifted child, are the others gifted? My first is only 3.5 but clearly seems gifted, and I thought my younger one was "slow" and even worried that she had a speech problem because she hadn't said 25 words before 12 months like her sister, but now she seems ahead of toddlers her age (22 months) with knowing all her colors, letters, numbers, letter sounds,using pronouns, plurals and gerands, etc. properly, identifying shapes like trapezoid, octogon, etc. tons of words,knowing songs etc. Now I know there are kids more advanced than that, but people keep commenting on how much she says etc. and now I am wondering if it is likely that she will be advanced as well... she is very very very very very active, close to hyper, and outgoing and verbal just like her sister, but is much more physically coordinated and better at things like dressing, climbing, etc. She does not have the attention span the other had at this age though.

Some studies have shown that it is more likely for other siblings to be gifted, within 10 points I believe, if one child is gifted. So far, 3 of my 5 have been identified as gifted. The twins are actually within a point of each other overall.

Yes, we have 2 gifted dds over here, HG is how I classify them. One might be stronger in language, the other one is stronger in math.

Over the years (they are still young, 4 and 7) they have shown different strengths. When younger one was 1 and talking really well, we thought she was more gifted than her sister. Then her sister had a huge cognitive spurt at 4, and she appeared very gifted.

It is indeed common for siblings to be close to each other. The GDC is the one that cites the 10 point difference. However, if you are talking about MG kids, it is very likely then (the way I see it) for one to be gifted and not the other.

Also, be aware that younger ones are less likely to be formally identified as gifted. Maybe it is because they might be less academic than the older one, or they might find a different niche to shine..

my girls are only 21 months apart so I wonder if that will make a difference in how they perceive themselves since the first won't have long to establish the role as the "smart" one in school before her little sis is on her tail.

Every family is different, but actually, according to research, the closer the kids are to each other; the more likely it is for them to be different.

It is not a formal decision the child makes, but early on they might start seeing that one is recognized say by reading well at an early age, then they might try something different.

Kids also will tend to compete more with each other if they are the same gender.

My brother is only 16 months older than I am. WE fit the typical pattern in that we boith have many "older" characteristics; but I also have some Sandwich traits that he doesn't have.

Again, it doesn't mean anything in terms of individual families/kids; these are just tendencies.

For us we have one DD13 who meets DYS criteria, her twin who might be MG, and another set of twins both DS9 who are probably not gifted.

I will say that the perception that the younger one is 'behind' in some way is very very common among families where the first child is unusually gifted. My impression is that a good 50% of these younger children outscore their older sibs on IQ tests.

As an oldest sister and Mom of an only, here's how the sibling thing looks to me:

It seems easier for a later-born giftie to look more 'normal' and be less needy. Personally I think that a younger sib gets to be around more people who 'get them' right off the bat, because they have first born to interact with in addition to mom. I think it is a great benefit to a child to be born into a family that has a child in it, so the child can relax and accept the condition of childhood as more of a given.

Many of our first borns have a decidedly 'tick-like' approach to their mommas, which most 2nd borns either skip or have a less severe case. My SIL called my niece 'The Tick' for about 3 years.

Smiles,
Grinity

DC18 was the HG oldest, with DC15 looking as if she were behind in comparison to her brother. She didn't catch fire until she had found an area in which she didn't have to compete with an older, more accomplished brother (academically and in sports).

Growing up, I noticed this as a youngest observing family dynamics of 6 GT+ children as well. My oldest brother was HG and tended to do the talking when the rest of us were born. My HG oldest sister (less than a year younger than him) took over art and creative writing in the family. They were both typical oldest children with respect to achievement and milestones. The middle two GT in our family definitely have middle children traits--being lost and not "achieving" until they found their passions. My GT brother definitely fit the younger sibling role, being quite intelligent but allowing everyone else to express what he needed or wanted to Mom and Dad or relying on siblings to figure it out eventually. He always has been less academic than our other siblings and has expressed his intelligence as an EMT. I was the only younger sibling (PG) noticed as GT by comparison to my oldest brother.

Yes, all 4 boys. I grew up with 2 sisters & the 3 of us were all gifted.

I have 4 boys. They are so different from each other it is hard to tell. I think they all have some amount of giftedness (not completely sure on #3), but the levels might be very different.

DS10 is borderline MG/HG - does well in a public school all gifted classroom - tends to be in the higher groups there but is generally well served (but with major handwriting/writing issues and some ADHD stuff - very disorganized).

DS8 fits DYS criteria comfortably (except for reading achievement scores, but math is well above minimum DYS levels). He is very spacey and diagnosed ADHD also. The math will be way too easy for him in the all gifted class.

DS6 tested bright/borderline MG (done as part of an ADHD eval when he was 5 and not terribly cooperative). He has pretty severe ADHD and speech issues. At times he looks more gifted - he is amazing with certain things that he likes - he races through ThinkFun logic games (like Rush Hour or others). His speed and abilities on those always stand out to people who see him and he is pretty amazing at just about anything on the computer or electronic, but is just not great verbally. He is learning quickly in K though, so I am just not sure on him. My guess is that he will do well in normal school, but be grouped in higher groups. He may end up needing more - he does say math in particular is pretty easy, but his abilities are nothing like DS8, so hard for me to judge.

DS3 seems gifted to me. He is the best verbally of them all (letters and sounds before 2 - very big vocabulary - starting to read now, but nothing really amazing like others here). He is also strong with numbers but maybe just now starting to show it. He is a little more balanced, but is definetly the most like DS8. I would guess that he would end up testing as high or higher than DS10 - too early for me to guess whether he would be as high as DS8.