My Ds is 15 months old and is beginning to read, he knows many sight words and has started to sound out words. He has an amazing vocabulary and talks in complete sentences. He was evaluated by a multidisciplinary team (Psychologist, occupational therapist, speech therapist and someone from the Autism Center) at a major university. All concurred that he has no signs of hyperlexia associated with Autism. Because of his abilities and family history they were inclined to believe
he is highly gifted. The Gifted Specialist from the Psych. Department spent some time observing and talking to him and
would like to see him periodically to see if he continues to develop at such a rapid pace.

Has anyone else experienced anything like this? How have things progressed for you DC?

I think I can answer this since I have all boys and 2 of my 3 learned to read very early. My youngest reader was about 23 months when he started. He read very well, very early, however, that reading ability turned into more of an insane math ability. Today his reading is really very good (4th or 5th grade level), he is only 6, but his math ability is somewhere up in the highschool range. His younger brother seems to be following the same pattern. I don't know if that's typical, but its certainly what has happened with mine so far.

Sounds like you have a very smart lil guy on your hands!

Just as a matter of curiosity, is there a reason that you think this relates to his gender?

Not quite as dramatic as your story, but I certainly say Yes to the question as put in the subject. My DSnow6 was a late talker, though, so it's hard to be certain how much he was reading before he could talk. Certainly some - when he was 17 months we had a weird experience where it seemed certain he'd read "DVD" on a promotional leaflet that had no picture of a DVD or anything else that seemed like a clue (he was mad about watching DVDs, and got very excited, although the DVD this was an ad for was an adult one with no attractive picture or anything!) I remember a discussion with DH about whether he'd only be able to read it in that particular font (the one associated with the trademark), whether he was likely to be able to recognise any other words, and how we could possibly tell given that he wasn't talking! I handwrote DVD and his (IRL!) name and a couple of other words on pieces of paper, and asked him which word said DVD, and which word said his name. In both cases he pointed out the right word without hesitation, and made what seemed to be an attempt to say the word. It just didn't seem to be right to be testing how much my pre-verbal 17mo could read, though, so I didn't investigate further. (I sort of wish I had, although I'm pretty sure I made the right call at the time.)

A few months later when he did start to talk, many of his first "words" were letters of the alphabet (many others were numbers). Certainly before he was two he knew all his letters by sound and by name, from Starfall (I remember joking that maybe he was going to send us email in full sentences before he talked in full sentences).

I'm not honestly sure how his reading developed in the following year - he used to recite his books, with or without the book in front of him, and I didn't want to quiz him, so it was hard to tell. He was 2y10m when I first saw (happened to see?) him pick up a book he'd never seen before and read it through. Around then he was getting obviously frustrated trying to read hard things, so I started buying reading scheme books and he sped through them. He started school at 4y10m reading chapter books and now he can read anything he wants to. However, true to the idea that early reading actually predicts mathematical ability better than literary ability, it's now in maths that he's most ahead (using a mixture of 6th-8th grade material now in what would be 1st grade in US terms).

Have fun!

Isn't it more common for girls to read early? I don't have any girls, so I don't have any first hand experience, but that's what I had always been told.

I've never heard that, but I'm no expert.

Holy cow! It sounds like you have one very smart cookie!!

My eldest knew his phonics sounds and complete letter recognition by approx. 12 months without real instruction. He began combining sounds into easy words by about 18 months (cat, hat, etc.) and was able to do easy readers by 2. We knew that his verbal abilities were ahead of peers but didn't fully realize that the understanding of letters and sounds (and eventually reading) was so abnormal at his age.

He's now approaching his 5th birthday and is an excellent reader. I'd guess that he reads on a 6th grade level++ but (of course) 6th grade material often isn't appropriate for him. He loves to read and regularly finishes chapter books in an afternoon. He tests above the 99.9 percentile on verbal IQ and ability tests. For his "school work," he does 3rd grade language arts and his spelling is commensurate.

Handwriting is often his limiting factor(it is age appropriate & a challenge).

He is working well ahead of grade level on math. Although he seems to understand difficult math concepts, his math/quantitative ability is very obviously not on the same level as his verbal ability. It is just not his passion. Test-wise, he's 99.8 percentile in quantitative IQ. After reading the other posters, I'll be curious to see how his ability develops as he ages.

FWIW- my DS reads everything- including a lot of book series intended for girls. At his age, he doesn't care! So I wouldn't be too concerned about gender for a while.

Also, a speech therapist administered a PPVT to our son when he was about 2 and he scored at approx. 99.7% -which continues to fall within the range for his later verbal skill assessments

Good luck!!!

P.S. We found the book Smart Boys by Kerr and Cohn very helpful.

I'd be interested in seeing the research if anyone has access to it. Most of the studies that I've seen define early reading in such an expansive way that I wouldn't assume that they apply to kids who learn to read before 3 or 4. Anyway, that's all OT to this thread, I guess.

DS(16) was an early reader. I don't remember the exact milestones now but he was reading fluently before three and soon after his favourite book was the dictionary LOL. He has followed the pattern of others on this board. In kindergarten (5yrs) he was reading and comprehending at 5th/6th grade level, and yes he is very gifted in maths.

Hmmmmmmmm I have never heard of the early reading/later math thing before. DS8 was probably reading before I ever noticed. By Kindergarten he was reading at a 6th grade level and by the end of the next year he was at a late high school level. He does fine in math but I have not seen a remarkable surge ahead.

This is interesting, I have never heard that early reading would predict mathematical ability or toddler girls would be more likely to read early than boys. Anybody have a reference. I would love to see it. How rare it is to read as a toddler? This board certainly gives a very biased point of view

Your son seems definitely very bright. It is great you have found so many professionals to help you. Good luck!

Not that early! Before he turned two, my son did things like ask about the difference between question marks and exclamation points and pick out the letters "m" and "a" when I asked him how to spell "mama," but I didn't realize he was reading until he was 2 1/2 and I caught him sounding out words in the newspaper at breakfast. When he started kindergarten at 4 1/2, his teacher formally assessed him as reading at the end of 4th grade level (she didn't test any further). He's 5 now and probably reads at at least the 6th grade level.

I have seen an article linking early word decoding to math ability, but I can't remember where. My son is not nearly as precocious in math as he is in reading, but he has taken a sudden interest in numbers just recently, wanting to discuss, for example, the difference between 1,000 and "ten hundred." He's also doing simple multiplication. I have no idea whether this will turn out to be a full-fledged math spurt, or merely a blip.

Hi, my DS began reading easy readers at 2 1/2. He's 7 now, and in 3rd grade. He continues to read above grade level, although he doesn't appear to have a strong interest in reading. I don't think he practices reading much at all, actually, but appears to learn new words by osmosis.

He has been tested and his IQ is in the highly to profoundly gifted range... >99.9%ile.

It will be fascinating to watch your little guy develop! Keep a record of what he's doing (maybe home videos?)

Hi Oli,

I have read that also about reading early and later math ability but I do not recall where I read that. I went looking, didn't find anything whatsoever to back that up, but did find a study theorizing that ability to retell a story at age 3-4 predicts math ability two years later. Specifically the ability to relate the different perspectives of different characters and link events in a story. Vocabulary wasn't related.

http://www.arts.uwaterloo.ca/~doneill/papers/Storytelling%20and%20math.pdf

Polly

Hi PMc,

Sorry for getting off on a tangent before putting in an answer to your question -- my DS is 2.7 and at the level of reading easy readers. He did not read as early as your DS (15 months is truly exceptionally early), he was a late talker and perhaps half of his first "words" were letter sounds at about 18 months. He was reading a few words at about 20 months and fell in love with starfall, and seemed to learn to read from that, and now reads easy readers about 2nd grade level. I had assumed perhaps he would stall out at the level of recognizing single words and just wait a couple years to understand sentences but that did not happen. Then I assumed perhaps he would stall out at sentences with just short words but he pretty easily now reads words like deinonychus, thoughtful, etc. Beyond helping him navigate through starfall we provides barely any instruction. A few moments of fun games like, "can you find the word mommy?" if that counts.

He did stall out some in his drive to read after he had conquered the method of it - he understandably prefers to have mom or dad read to him for the cozy feel of that (and we enjoy that too of course, in moderation but not for multiple hours a day as he used to request). Now if we are busy he'll read to himself and seems to feel good about it. I'm happy for him that he has a way to entertain himself (and he needs a lot of entertainment).

There's hype about hyperlexia (a semi-professional early intervention assessor mentioned it to us at an evaluation for his late talking) but it's a very specific diagnosis that is unlikely (keeping in mind I'm no professional in the field) to have relevance to your DS. Seems like reading early is just par for the course for some bright kids.

I have a hard time getting a sense of the incidence of early reading, whether its just uncommon or is vanishingly rare. The incidence certainly seems to have increased over time perhaps with children exposed to more literacy-related materials. I can only guess though that at 15 months it's vanishingly rare. Many children of the people here on this website read really early and yet I know of no one in my community who has an early reader (except when they say early and mean 4 or 5 years old). Virtually all actual research on "early reading" refers to children able to read some words by kindergarten, there's not much to go on except anecdotes here.

Polly

Our early readers� experiences didn�t translate into extraordinarily precocious reading skills or interests as grade school students or as teenagers.

Our ds could count to 100, say the alphabet, and more importantly identify all letters and numbers to at least 100 by 12-15 months. He sight read like crazy before the end of his first year on, but didn�t seem to practice sounding out words. I considered this more recognition than reading (at the time), but he did �read� a lot as a preschooler, mostly to gain information rather than to enjoy a story. He spoke conversationally, in complete sentences, before 14 months. When he started part time daycare at that age, the teachers� reactions clued us in that he had unique verbal ability.

Now at 13, his strongest area is science with math as a close second. Phonological decoding is weak, but once he learns a word, he remembers it so his vocabulary is still advanced and his intelligence is apparent when he speaks. However, I really have to say that what he talks about is always more telling than how he says it. Anything science and engineering related are always his favorite topics of conversation.

My son started sight reading at 14 months. He'll be three in a month, and this is how it's progressed so far:

A few months after he started sight reading, he started sounding out simple words, then more complex words. He would read books like Go Dog Go to me. (We could tell that he really knew how to read because we could hand him a new book he'd never seen, and he could read it.)

Now, at two and eleven months, he likes to read picture books to me and also by himself. He can read pretty much anything and will attempt to sound out unfamiliar words. He reads about like a first or second grader.

Of course, he still has the life experience of an almost three year old, so we select his reading material accordingly.

And I forgot to mention:

The early reading has led to other interests like spelling words (using blocks or foam letters) and foreign languages. Seems like an interest in decoding in general.

DS read early, but he was a hider so it's hard to say exactly when.... 3ish maybe? I know he had at least a couple words before then, but around his 3rd birthday was when he seemed to put some effort into it (all the while insisting he wasn't...) and he was fluent well before 5.

He's still a voracious reader at 10, but his main strengths are in math and science. Early reading hasn't translated into anything like good spelling, but he writes reasonably well (if the topic is interesting). I think the common thread is logic... His early reading was like working out the logic of letters and sounds, his math strengths are logic strengths (not, for instance, notable speed or fact recall....) and his science ability is almost entirely in experiment design and analysis, having never memorized names of dinosaurs or planets or anything like that. So it kind of makes sense that the early reading skills might be related to later math... although I think there are other routes to early reading that might not be logic/math related.

I understand your fear, because I experienced the same with my ds3 now almost 6 year old. As a baby he had many ear infections and couldn't hear well most of the time. He began speaking at five months, but he would speak for a month or two, then regress. I read a LOT to him. I showed him flash cards saying each sound slowly and clearly; I was trying to get him to talk. Ds2, two years older, began reading at 2yrs, 3months, and I taught phonics to him with ds3 sitting or nursing on my lap. One day, he was 23 months, he picked a homemade phonics book that belonged to ds2 and read every word, 460! From then on, he read everything he could get his hands on, provided the font was large. His pediatrician became concerned with his behavior, he wanted to read and count all the time, and played very little with other children. With close observation, we decided he was fine because he was emotionally responsive at home. ds3 took time to socialize well with other children, basically after his hearing became normal; by age four. Anyway, he is almost 6 now, and he reads at a seventh grade level, though we use reading comprehension at a sixth grade level. His math ability is also excellent, we use Singapore math, and he is currently doing 4a, we supplement with ALEKS, and he is social, active in sports, and a well rounded child. I advice you to observe his social responsiveness at home, and if it is normal, then don't worry! Also, read to him and let him advance at his own pace, no matter how fast! As a side issue, my ds2 learned to read after 2, and he was tested by Sylvan at 7yrs, 4months. His reading tested at a ninth grade level, and his math at the 12th. He was given form 20, which is the same test given to tenth grade high school students. I'm homeschooling my boys and they seem to complete a school year every 3-4 months.

More early readers here. At least 3 of our 4 (2 boys and 2 girls) started reading single words at 12-13 months and were reading simple books at 2. It's normal for us, so I don't think about it too much, but initially, it felt very freaky.

Mr W (24 mos) knew some sight words at 20 mos in both English and Spanish. Now, at 24 mos, we catch him reading by himself and then hiding the fact from us - and the fact that he is reasoning.

But he slips up sometimes - Monday we were at the store and he stopped in the medicine isle and picked out a box with Orajel on it. We were not aware that he was teething. But, he was, and knew what he needed and where it was and found it and put it in the cart.

The Montessori school was all over us on his 3rd day about how advanced he was. "Do you know that he knows his letters and some words?!!!" LOL. Last week he signed himself in with his own PIN, too - he has known my debit card PIN for six months now..


FWIW, I was reading at a 12th grade level in the 3rd grade. The weird thing is that I knew the words before I had heard them spoken so I ended up with some strange pronunciations.

DS5 is like this as well. When he was as young as 3, he pronounced "jalapeno" with a hard j sound and "debris" with an s because he'd learned those words by reading to himself.

Had an experience like this with DS8. We were working on spelling. I asked him how to spell "rendezvous." He said that he didn't know what it meant. I told him I was sure he'd seen the word before, and spelled it for him. He said, "I know that word. I think it's in Harry Potter when they talk about the DA. It means a kind of meeting, right? I just thought it was pronounced REN DEZ VUZ." From that moment, he was able to spell it perfectly. *lol*

Same here. Both DC18 and I read early and spelled early, resulting in some words being mispronounced. Lol.

I had some of those mispronunciation issues as a kid - I remember going to school in junior K (age 4) and pronouncing 'memory' as something like "mee-MORE-ee".

But more on topic, my DS is two and a half and did his first real definite reading of a word (out of context, no familiar logo/picture/font to work from) in mid-November, so 2y4m. Now at 2y6m he's got a handful of sight words and is sounding out simple CVC words, and asking a LOT of things like 'what does that word say?' or 'what's the question mark for?', and really likes for us to write out words for him on his easel. He asked me to draw a trumpet and 'draw its word' the other day, then looked and said "that has the word 'pet' in it!", which surprised me (probably more than it should have, LOL).

Apparently this is pretty much bang-on, to the month, the exact same timing for when I started to read, so I guess he comes by it honestly!

Yes, my 16-mth old reads several sight words and knows his alphabet by sight. He also has an extensive vocabulary, and speaks in up to 10-word sentences (though he is generally prone to 4-5 word sentences and to cutting out connecting words like "the" and "being" verbs). I think he frightened our doctor at his 15-mth appointment, since she had the other physicians in her practice come to watch him talk. I have not, however, noticed him sounding out words other than saying the first letter of each word.

My mother has always insisted that I was a very early talker and reader, and has kept my first diary with an entry from when I was three and a half, so I'm not overly concerned about possible hyperlexia-related issues. It's nice to be able to know exactly what he's trying to communicate at a time when he's often frustrated by what he cannot do; I feel really lucky!

DS 3rd grade does this on a regular basis! Interesting.

I didn't get a chance to read all the responses, but to answer your question: YES! We had a very similar experience. We noticed that DS5 could read at 18 months when he corrected his sunday school teacher when she had said the wrong word reading something on the wall. He had been reading some before that, but we assumed he just knew the stories of things since he had always loved books and we read so much to him. But it turned out he could actually read quite well at 18 months and continued to progress in reading. He is now 5, not sure what reading level but he can read anything. Maybe somewhere in the 6th/7th grade level? But his real interest is Math. He LOVES math. He is already doing algebra and probably averages around 6th grade level for math...but not quite sure. We did have him tested before school started and he is a PG child, which did not really surprise us based on all the early stuff he did. He ended up skipping K and is in first grade with LOTS of differentiation.

My 9yo GT son talked and read very early. The first time he went to an adult babysitter he was about 1 - 1 1/2 months old. When I picked him up, she said 'Do you know that your son says 'hi' back when you say it to him?'
I did know he did that, but I never told anyone, because who would believe that??
He ended up talking in sentences at 5 months old. 'What is this?' 'What is that?' etc... very curious and it drove us nuts :O)
He read 'Gastroenterology' to me off a sign at the doctors office at the age of 3 to the shock of everyone around me...
Kids are amazing aren't they??

My son spoke early - at 6mths. He knew his alphabets at 9-10 mths. At the time, we had a felt wall-poster chicken with 26 pockets for each of the alphabets. His nanny (DH and I were working so much then, we had no idea that having a talking baby was special or different) showed me he knew how to put each letter back if you called it out. He was sight reading shortly after (could read out any page of Richard Scarry's Mother Goose, so it had to be by sight!). I think he learnt to put the letters together after 2 years old.

This is terrible - it took two nursery teachers to convince me that he was unusual at age 4, and that's when I started reading up about GT issues.

We thought our son was reading when he was 3. He would "read" Dr Suess books letter perfect (even if we had only read the book together once). We started pointing out individual words, which he couldn't read, so we realized he was memorizing the book. He was, however, really reading middle of 2nd grade (400+ lexile), at least (teacher stopped testing at this point) when he started Kindergarten. He got him moved to fulltime gifted program, but I wish we had accelerated at that time also. He spent 5 years bored in school before he was finally accelerated.

I didn't have my child evaluated, but he did learn his letters and number shortly after turning 1 and was obsessed with them. I was a little concerned about autism and hyperlexia at one time. We filled out an Autism eval. form and he didn't fit. His ped. told me he believed he was gifted. He started reading sight words at the end of his 14th month. He is now 2 years 3mo. and is reading books and speaking in up to 9 word sentences as well. He asks all kinds of questions about everything. He has a very vivid imagination. It's very entertaining to watch him playing with his stuffed animals, Little People, etc... He gives his stuffed animals different voices and they actually have conversations with each other.
My child hasn't had the tantrums other 2 y.o. children do because they can't communicate. We communicate very well and when I ask him what's wrong, he tells me. Good luck in finding resources out there for a child this young. I have found nothing. Don't worry.

I haven't read all the replies - by my DS (now 6) was an early reader. It's hard to pinpoint when he actually read, but there were weird things like at about 18 months he had "memorized" all 23 titles of a Beatrix Potter mini library we have and could tell you what they all were (by the number listed on the spine - even without looking at them). He definitely knew all his letters and was "reading" some simple words (cat, hat, his name) by 24 months, and then by about 3.5 I'd say he was fluently reading things like "Henry and Mudge". He also has a crazy math thing going on - and that was actually what stood out to us (perhaps to the oversight of the early reading). Before age 3 he was skip counting by 20s, skip counting backwards by 3's, had memorized all the squares from 1-12 (thanks to a book that we read to him two or three times tops), and now in first grade is easily learning algebraic concepts, division, fractions, etc.

He sounds so much like my son. My son took a slightly different route in his early learning. At 11 months, he took to spending hours in front of his playschool easel learning to write his alphabet. He was reading fairly well by 18 months and then like many others discovered math. His reading skills are high school level (at least) but math and science light him up! He is extremely intense and has single minded focused to the point of craziness! When he decides he's going to learn something, he does, it doesn't matter how long it takes or how many people he has to annoy to get the answer, he will.

At the age your son is now, I signed him up for Time4Learning on the computer. Bad mommy using the computer for a babysitter! But honestly it was the only way to keep up with him. He wanted to know everything, completely insatiable. Enjoy the ride!!

That's wow even for this board. Enjoy him! Does he already curl up with a pile of books and get found hours later? This is to be encouraged :-) My main advice would be to make sure that he has a place to play and read away from you (his bedroom, for example) and that it's comfortable and that you encourage him to use it frequently, e.g. by having a "quiet time" each day when he has to be there (awake!). The intensity is easier to cope with if you get regular and predictable breaks, even if they're short. (Is he napping still? even if he is, he won't be for ever, so you may want to avoid having his nap time as your only time away from being "on" for him, for your sanity's sake.)

I can't remember whether you were in the thread where I was advising getting a chunky basic calculator for a young child, but this might be something he'd enjoy. And plenty of books, including ones that are too hard for him to read right now but have good pictures or whatever, and not forgetting all the usual 2yo stuff, of course!

Sounds exceptionally and profoundly gifted. My 2.5 y.o. (will be 3 in Nov.) reads at a 2nd grade level and does many gifted things, like knows his numbers to a billion and the names of many dinosaurs I didn't even know existed, but your child is way, way beyond that. Wow!!!

That's one thing I enjoy about these GT communities... no matter how off-the-charts one kid is, along comes another... wow, wow, wow.

That is just amazing.

I have to comment because I read your son was 22 months. I have a daughter who is 22 months. She is nowhere near reading though. Hah! She does however love to talk. She has perfect pronounciation and loves long words. She just loves words. So, the states are a fun hobby of hers, too. But, I don't even think she cares what they actually are. She just loves saying there names. She is the same with dinosaurs and planets and number and shapes and body parts... I could go on and on. If you tell her a word she holds onto it.

I wish she would want to learn to read, but nope. I am stuck doing all the reading. She has known every letter no for so long it is like she doesn't care anymore about them. I am trying to get her excited about them again by going over there sounds. I wish I had done that in the beginning, but I actually was trying to tone it down at the time, because it was so unusual. She was like 15 months old yelling out letters everywhere. Other moms were making me feel bad.

My daughter also is go go go. She never wants to stop. I like your ideas about tiring them out. I am going to take her swimming tomorrow.

What we like to do is go to the museums. we try to go every other day. She loves the natural history, aquarium, and zoo. She is like another child there. It is so funny because she doesn't get much out of the playground. She'd rather go to the museum.

But, of course you know, PMc, that all children are gifted... and that when you quit hothousing your child like this, he'll level out around the third grade... so you don't need to do anything special. Just let him be.

Wow! Your son sounds like an amazing little boy! DD is a little younger than him (18 months) and she has a few sight words but is nowhere near actually reading as far as I can tell.

But I can relate to wearing him out. She's actually in daycare right now where basically she's running/climbing/playing non-stop but before when she was home with me we'd have to get to the park at least twice per day and since we don't have a car she'd walk with me to the grocery store and to run errands too. We also have the late bed time... it's so tiring! Even with daycare we still need to go out at least once in the evening... and she throw a fit whenever we have to go back inside.

put him in front of a keyboard. My son was reading at 2. Although he didn't have the manual skills to write, but he could tap out keys. He loved to type words and sentences (he often asked me to spell words for him) and kept a writing journal at 3. Really an amazing early literacy tool.

I am trying to determine where my almost 3 year-old may be. Can you guys help? The bottom line is should enroll/apply to an excellent accelerated learning school (with brutal commute) -- or can we piece together something closer to home.

My DS (almost 3) started reading about 26 months (now at about first grade level)...but is mostly obsessed with numbers/math (puts together story problems..."15 leaves take away 2 leaves is 13 leaves" and "2 cookies plus 2 cookies plus 2 cookies is 6 cookies"...likes to talk about number relationships "10 is closer to zero than 36". He counts everything -- like the 76 chairs in the restaurant. He is really into base 10 concepts right now ("63 is made of 6 tens and 3 ones"). He skip counts in 5s, 10s, 2s. Keen observer and incredible memory. Chatterbox (early, complex talker) -- extremely articulate. Yet, no interest in potty training.

In your opinion/experience...where might he fall in the spectrum.

Many thanks!

Have you read Deb Ruf's '5 levels of giftedness?' - it's the best way to document level of giftedness. Worth a read if you haven't already.

The best way to know if you should be doing all that driving (which I hate) is to visit your local public school, and sit in on both the Kindy class and the 1st grade class. That should give you some information. Be sure to visit the gifted school and observe what the kids are doing before you sign that contract.

Best Wishes,
Grinity

It's impossible to say, but it does sound as though you've got a very unusual little boy there. FWIW (not much, they're all different) yours is doing a bit more maths and a bit less reading than mine was at that age, from the sound of it, and mine is hapy with age peers, but in an extremely flexible school and various differentiation. It's well worth swapping a 5 minute walk for a one-hour bus ride in our case; but your calculation could well be different.

Thanks I will check it out!

My DS was a very early reader until like yours he discovered math. At 3 I would enjoy my time at home. All the "school" worries will be on top of you before you know it!

We will play it by ear...and he may not start school until 4 or 5 (depending on his desire/development). But the great school with a killer-commute has a pre-k program. So we were investigating.

It is really helpful to hear where your DDs and DSs were at this age and what you did, considered or experienced. Thanks for sharing!

I am really trying to gauge whether or not a specialized school (moves/commutes) will be in our future. Time will tell...but your stories help me predict the odds :-).

Hi Islandtime - when my younger son was very young he used to go to the childcare room at the Y while I exercised. It was for two hours tops, so having the perfect environment wasn't an issue.

It was an eye-opener. I read all the books about milestones and development, but so many of those are subjective. It wasn't until I saw my son at the YMCA that I realized he did not belong with his age mates. It would not have worked. No way. And he was not as advanced as your son.

Fortunately he has a birthday at the cut-off (making him young for his grade) and he was able to do k-2 in a mixed age Montessori school that had many other extremely bright kids. If his school had not been flexible about the birthday cut-off, I don't know what we would have done.

If you haven't already, take you son to some group activities that are segregated strictly by age in fairly narrow ranges. You should do this at a facility that draws from a broad community (this part is critical). It may be an eye-opener for you.