Hi
I am new (obviously.) I googled gifted forum, and this came up first.
I am so intimidated by the number of posts some of you have. Holy cow!
So, I have a ton of questions.
First, My daughter is 22 months old. She is sometimes a stinker, but always a joy.
She has blown away any milestone chart I can get my hands on.
Gross motor:
-Sat unassisted at 4.5 months.
-Stood unassisted and crawled at 6 months.
-Walked at 10.5 months.
Language:
-first word (gorilla) at 8 months. (I am sure I discounted many small words before this, but nobody could ignore that one.)
-Speaking in short grammatically correct 3-10 words sentences by 18 months. She has always spoken with every part of speech. She never just combined words.
She has always been different. I remember talking to a girlfriend about attention spans and I was actually took me a couple of minutes to realize not every baby was born with an endless attention span.
She could sit and read books with us forever. Which is why she learned her colors, shapes, letters, numbers, and whole bunch of other stuff before she was 18 months old. It would be easy to know when she actually knew these if I actually had taught her, but that was not the case.
For example, she just came up to me showing me a seashell and said, "This reminds me of a cone." Cone? Where did she even get that? Ice cream cone? It indeed looks like a cone.
She also was fully potty trained by 18 months.
Now, at 22 months (on the 23rd) she is completely diaper free (even at nights), speaks like a mini-adult, and has a better memory than I do.
She also has imaginary friends and is constantly seeing things we do not see. She talks non-stop, is sometimes lost in the world of make-believe, but, does not like talking to strangers.
My husband was in the gifted programs. His dad is an uber-genius. There are extremely smart people in my family ie an engineers, a judge, doctors, but no one I would peg as a genius. I was not in any programs, but there were none as far as I know. I grew up on a farm. But, according to the military my IQ is 137 or 139. I can't remember, but it was enough to get me into some programs which required a top-secret clearance and intense training. But, I do not consider myself as smart as my husband.
Now, my questions:
-Does she sound gifted?
-What did your kids act like when they were almost 2/2?
-Do I need to get her evaluated. I can't see any reason to, but I am worried she might miss out on things without the proper ID.
-Is IQ hereditary?
-Her language is what really sets her apart. At 22 months, she talks nonstop in complete and complex sentences. I have counted over 20 words. Let's see, today she said, "I want to go to Jason's deli because I know I am going to get a lollipop after I eat my vegetables there." She also can say 4 and 5 syllable words near perfect. My question is" She is obviously ahead in the verbal area. Does that ever even out?
-I am a stay at home mom and devoted to her. We go to museums as she demands. We go to the playground. She loves playing in the backyard. But, that is it. No school. Do I need to get her signed up?
-Should I be teaching her how to read? She knows letters but I have not told her what sounds they make. (I wish I had way back when when she asked the names. I should have just told her the sounds, right?)
Thank you in advance for giving it to me straight. I am not on the internet often, so I am hoping I can get everything I need right here. That would be great. Obviously, I will still think she is awesome no matter what you say.
