I'm aware of two adopted kids with very enriched environments. One came from China at a year old, has super high IQ scores, and is enrolled in a competitive 30K per year private school. The other shows early reading at 2.5 yo.
There's nothing magical about birth in terms of brain development. It starts before birth and continues for years afterwards and it seems reasonable to think that environment influences that process dramatically. For kids like you described, thank goodness that's true!
I just worry that to many people, this sort of thing translates to "If you hothouse the heck out of a kid, you'll have a genius on your hands." I don't think that's true, nor do I think it's fair to the poor kid. (And just to be clear, obviously that's not what you meant here, G3.)
The fact is that "enriched environment" is usually misunderstood by most people to mean "all flash cards, all the time."
Of course environment matters, but I think there are limits. And what matters most in an environment is a safe place for the child to explore and the opportunity to pursue his/her interests. Not school at home!
