I'm just trying to get an idea of what level my son might be at, according to Deborah Ruf's levels of giftedness. He seems to be on par with Level 3 and 4 descriptors and IQ scores (informal testing by his aunt with WPPSI-III) with the exception of early talking/communication/pointing. He didn't begin talking or communicating much until 16-17 months, then exploded with all the "preschool" skills, words, then phrases then sentences within a few months. He is now 4.5 and I could go into detail about his history but for the sake of being brief, I'm wondering if other parents have noticed their children being at a level 3 or higher without the communication piece fitting in so early.
Thanks in advance!

My DD did not meet the early expressive language milestones of levels 3 & up, but she'd caught up by 2 (and I'd even say that she was level 4 or 5 by 2 in terms of speech). She just exploded. In DD's case, I am certain that the reason she didn't talk early was a fine motor skill issue. In terms of receptive language, she was very, very advanced, and she was obviously trying to talk very, very early, but she couldn't always get the right sounds out at the right time. She has also not met the early-puzzling milestones for levels 3 & up. Other than that, she is clearly a level 4 or 5 kid.

I think some variation is expected. And it'd be the rare kid who fit neatly within any of the levels. You'll note that Ruf uses words like "most" and "many," which indicates that some of the kids that she put in that level did not meet that milestone.

Yes. DS was a late talker. We even had a speech evaluation done to ensure that nothing was wrong - we were told that everything was fine and he'd talk when he was ready...and he did.

My DS13 says he remembers how difficult this process was, and how dissapointing it was that he couldn't always produce the sounds as he intended them to be. Isn't that sweet?

I think that various 'body systems' come on at different times so that speech or reading won't fit with the rest of the levels picture. Remember that Ruf didn't test 10,000 gifted kids to make her levels. ((Anyone remember exactly how many?)) I expect the levels to be more accurate when more kids have been tested. I would use them more to document 'at least this gifted' than to 'rule out' giftedness.

Grinity

welcome surfbaby!

let us know if you have any other questions...

EW

Thanks for your input! Funny, we had a early intervention eval done at 15 months too for speech delay, of course he started a month later. A developmental specialist worked with him for about 6 months due to his over fascination with letters and numbers at the time. The fascination with letters went away once he taught himself to read (somewhere in the 2.5-3 year range) but he still really loves numbers/math, but less fascinated than before.

If you haven't seen them you might enjoy Thomas Sowell's books, Late-Talking Children and The Einstein Syndrome, prompted by his experience with his very bright son who was a late talker and then realizing that there was a sub-group of late talkers who were ahead of the curve with everything else.

Polly

This really sounds like DH. He didn't start talking until he was 2 and then it was talking like an adult over night. He's probably between a 3-4 but very asynchronous so it's hard to tell for sure. I've actually heard a number of people see this (have a late talker and then an explosion).

Thanks for the welcome and all the input, how nice to have a community to ask questions! And I'm sure I will have more, so thanks