Originally Posted by leah
Anyway, my son has "definite difference" on many sensory areas, he's highly imaginative, extremely talkative, very busy, has always preferred older children, incredible memory, mimics things verbally to a tee, wonderful sense of humor, knew the correct names of pretty much every truck, tractor, and machine in existence before he turned 2, but my concern is that he seems not the least bit interested in learning "academics". He is so bright, and I am shocked that he can't or won't learn the alphabet or numbers by sight. Also, he seems to have trouble with puzzles. It seems like these are items that he would excel at if he were gifted. (He will spend hours immersed in "construction work" or science experiments or playing little people).


Hi Leah,
Your description of your son reminds me of my 2 yo. I had never talked about my 2 yo here before because I am not sure if he is gifted. He has an older brother (3 yo now) who knew the alphabet, count to 100, and started sight reading before he turned 2. Now at age 3, his reading and math are at 2nd grade level. He is obviously gifted. DS2 on the other hand, is not obsessed with numbers and letters like DS3. He still doesn't know the alphabet at age 2. His talents and interests are very different from DS3. For instance, DS2 could talk in complete sentences and recite familiar books from memory before his 2nd birthday (neither of which DS3 could do). He can do amazing things with blocks and puzzles (neither of which DS3 is interested in). Compared to DS3 who is very academically gifted, DS2 does not seem extraordinary. However, compared to other 2 year olds, he is shockingly advanced. I also suspect that he is gifted because he is just like my DH and DH is profoundly gifted (before I met him, I had never known it was even possible to have an IQ as high as his). DH told me he did not show any academic giftedness until school age, but everyone suspected he was very smart based on his verbal and creative talents, just like DS2.

I'm saying all this to let you know that gifted children can have very different abilities and interests, especially at such an early age. Please read my old posts about DS3 if you're interested in my own current struggles and questions, and others' helpful responses to them. Even though your son and my DS3 are very different in terms of their academic interests, DS3 is also very sensitive and has special needs in preschool which I'm struggling with. You might empathize with that.

Junior