Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums When did your gifted child talk/walk as baby???

My son started speaking at 6 mos, had 100 words at 14 mos.
Made up his own consistent signs to express ideas/thoughts too.

Walked at 8 mos, and ran steady, could turn on a dime by 10 mos. Very scary.

There's doubt in my mind that your child is profoundly gifted. Every gifted child is unique and develops differently. My child said his first word at 5 months and is speaking in up to 9 word sentences now. He is also reading. His gross motor skills have always been slow to develop. He didn't walk until one day prior to 15 months. He is day-time potty trained and even uses the bathroom standing up at 2 yrs. 3 mo. He has great fine motor skills and loves puzzles and drawing.

My youngest turned over from front to back at the doctor's office at 2 days old. I thought it was a little freakish, the doctor was shocked saying she'd never seen it before, and I thought it was a fluke. He did it a week later, and then here and there until he was consistent at 8 weeks. He was sitting and a week later he was crawling at 5 months old. He started walking the week he turned 8 months, and it wasn't just a step here or there it was walking across the room. He was running a month later at 9 months.

His speaking in complete sentences didn't happen until he was almost 3 however, but he has some speech articulation issues (frontal and lateral lisp). At 8 months however, he had broken his nose by falling into a table leg and had to have his nose set under general anesthesia. That evening, he was sitting in his highchair and he was saying both mama and dada and was adding in some other words and we're pretty sure he was saying actual words that we couldn't understand. We actually think he spoke for quite a long time before we could understand him.

I don't remember too much exactly, but know that both boys were fast talking, showing comprehension of the world around them, counting and reading (self taught although we provided plenty of materials to satisfy the need when we saw it) .

We like to joke, but it's true, that DS1 taught himself to read sitting on the potty!

Physically, neither were advanced, and the one judged HG today was a late walker, trike rider etc. We had him in P.T. for a while when he was three, only to have the therapist say he made the fastest progress she had ever come across. That's what still surprises us today - the way in which he just can't, and then decides to do whatever, and does really well.

We, too, have this problem with DD and I classify it under perfectionism. Do you think this is accurate? DD forever would not ride her tricycle and later bike that she begged for. It was so frustrating because we knew she was able but until she accepted that she really was she would not even try. Once she felt ready she progressed in a matter of hours and now rides her bike like a pro but only in the garage! She refuses to go down the driveway. Sometimes we trick her into it, but she is still content riding it in the garage. I suspect any day she will venture out. But what I just described is DD in a nut shell on everything. Trying to coax her into doing something is met with major resistance and only when she is confident in her abilities will she do it. Knowing this is part of her personality, it shocks me just how advanced she really is.

My kids were/are not in a hurry to do anything on time (forget about early!).

DD7 was born 8 wks early. She rolled over at 7.5 months. Sat up at 9 months. Started crawling at 11 months and took her first step at 13.5 months. At 2.75 years she could only say 10 words. Shortly after her third birthday she began speaking in fluent sentences. She was not completely potty trained until over 4 yrs. She did nothing, and I mean NOTHING, that ever tipped us off that she was gifted. Looking back though, was found out that she was functionally blind in one eye, with not so good vision in the other, when she was 4.5. She was put in strong glasses and patched for over a year. I often wonder how much that delayed her development?

DS20months rolled over at 6 months, sat up at 8 months, crawled at 9 months and took his first step at 13 months. He has only ever said 9 words in his entire life (and four of them I have not heard him say in at least 2 months). He is a very bright little guy, and knowing what his sister was like I am less inclined to worry this time around.

DS spoke a few words at 6mths and full sentences before his 1st birthday. He was signing after 6 mths. I was working so much then and had a helper who took care of him. We had one of those cloth posters that had pockets with alphabets a-z on them, and each pocket, a little felt object, like an apple or banana that went into the "a" or "b" pockets. My helper went through with him a few times and he showed it to us as a parlour trick! That was when he was 9mths. At the time, I had no clue kids could be taught anything, so what was happening it didn't even strike me very hard - I just thought - nice. Even when he was reading road signs or reciting his Mother Goose books before 2yrs old, I couldn't wrap my head around it that he was reading. I thought he remembered shapes and pictures very well and could recite them very well with a picture cue, duh!

Physically though, he's not as fast. I don't know when he rolled over etc. But he walked at 13mths. He never liked playgrounds etc and I found out later that it was due to vision and gross motor skill issues. He's 7 now and still undergoing OT. Still can't cycle on a 2-wheel bike and swim strokes, but he's starting to scoot and loves it, yay!

my son said mumma, dada abd baba in 3 months.
and started walking talking and every thing before any other kid....
is my son gifted???
how would i know about it??

My psychomotor skills were normal for my age, but verbally and cognitively, I was well beyond most premature baby expectations. I spoke at eleven months, read at about age one and a half, spoke a full sentence at the age of two, and read the Bible on a third grader's comprehension at the age of four.
I also had a thirst for justice at the age of six. Whenever someone was being teased, I kind of yelled for people to stop teasing (for example, my sister and I were at Wendy's when this girl started calling her mean names, and I yelled at her about "how mean she was being to Paige"). I recognized racism at the age of eight, and that's a pretty young age. I got interested in psychology in fourth grade, and I wrote like an eighth or ninth grader at the time....so I was pretty much cognitively ahead of other people.
I was extremely behind motor-skills wise...I couldn't walk until I learned to read, and I'm still rather clumsy!

My kids never learned to walk... they went straight into free flight and now travel inter-dimensionally without even flapping their arms...

I didn't look at who is posting but I wonder how much of this is a lady's thing? (Go ahead, slap me.) I know my wife kept a little book on these things and so it must be documented for posperity somewhere.

I am sure all of them walked before 1 year, 9 months seems to be about the average. While they all read before K (mom and dad read to them every day) the youngest was the earliest reading what I am going to guess at a 1st grade level by 2 1/2.

I can't tell you when any of them learned to talk but I can tell you I can't shut any of them up.

I will also caution all of you not to teach them about credit cards at all! *sigh*

Poppa