Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums GT Research Gauging the intelligence of infants

When DD was born, she did not cry much - which concerned us, but the nurses said she was fine - she was born very alert and scowling at everyone with a "what the heck?!?" look.

DS head butted DH in his first week in a rage because DH was not me (he wanted to nurse and I had stepped out for a second).

DS was not motivated to move until he was ready and certain he was not going to fall or hit something, but he figured out how to get everyone else to carry him everywhere (including the director of our daycare, who would take him everywhere as an infant - as soon as he saw her walk by, he would wave and do everything to get her attention so she would pick him up and take him on her rounds).

another baby wanted DD's toy when she was around 10 months, and came over to try to grab it. The teachers saw his mouth go on her arm, but she said nothing, and had no change in her grim determined look on her face, so they thought nothing of it... and she refused to let go of her toy. The other baby crawled away, and then a little later, the teacher picked her up to change her and saw the bite mark on her arm, realized that the other baby did bite her after all - she just refused to let go.

She had gotten bitten a few more times after that by a few other babies and toddlers - but it never worked on her, she just refuses to let go of whatever her toy is (and she had a really strong grip).

and she used to crawl up to another baby as an infant, pull their pacifier out, and see what they would do. When they started to cry, she would try to pop the pacifier back in (she hated pacifiers herself and never used one). The teachers used to laugh because no other baby did that - usually other babies pull out the pacifier to suck on it themselves, not see what the reaction would be.

DD9 did this on day one (though in her case it looked less "forceful" than "casual", and she held it up for several seconds before lying back down), which I witnessed just a few hours after she popped her own shoulder and arm out of DW (injuring DW in the process), and attempted to use her liberated arm to push herself out the rest of the way. We still have the gasps of astonishment from the assembled medical professionals on tape.

DD would make an interesting case study for gauging the strength of infants, as she still has much more muscle mass than her age peers. Watching other kids try to push her off the ball in soccer is quite entertaining.

DD11 presented as way more PG as an infant than she does now (where most people seem to assume she's a small, bright, 13-year-old). Even though she was our only and we didn't have a lot of interaction with other babies, it was pretty clear that she was way ahead of the normal milestones.

Also note that the original quote refers only to IQ differences based on ethnic and racial background NOT differences based on SES. The journalist added "rich or poor" after "white and black". This is not actually the same thing. They may have controlled for parental SES and found that there is no ethnic-racial difference in infancy. There may be one even after controlling for parental SES at the age of 21 because there is a vast difference in other environmental SES factors apart from parental status for children of different ethnicities, such as school SES, neighbourhood SES and group culture.

And to supply a fun anecdote as well, DS2 (2 today!), due to a major birth defect, was born via scheduled C-section and immediately taken away by a pediatric team for medical care. My husband was allowed along and took pictures and a short video. He swears DS2 looked at the camera with interest at the age of 23 minutes. I swear I can see it in the pictures.

Don't know if this had anything to do with intelligence or just liking dessert...

Eldest DD went to a day care with kids 0-3 years old all in one large room. When she was about 11 or 12 months, she could walk, but it was easier to put her in the walker with a tray at snack time than to have her around the older kids. Babies like her got Cheerios for snack, but the older ones got cookies. The staff wouldn't let her use the walker anymore after she pulled this stunt a few times - get that walker rolling fast, crash into kid holding cookie, kid is stunned, grab cookie and eat.

Happy birthday to your DS2!

I believe you 100%.

I began reading to my DD each night while she was in the womb, and I always began by saying her name twice, in a particular, sing-song way. I was doing this with a purpose, waiting to see how she would react when she came out.

We were still in the delivery room, the nurses had finished doing all their highly-invasive things to her, they wrapped her up, and placed her, still protesting loudly, in my arms. I said her name in that sing-song way. She immediately stopped wailing, and locked her eyes on mine. I was rocking her back and forth, and as she moved, her eyes moved to stay with me. I had read that she shouldn't be able to track moving objects with her eyes for weeks, so that was a shocker.

When she picked up her head a few hours later, I was leaning back in a chair with DD on my chest, and DW napping in the bed next to me. She picked up her head in order to take a good, long look at what her mom was up to.

DS2.5 rolled over when he was 4 days old from back to belly (3 or 4 times in a row). The last I caught on video. He is still very strong and physically coordinated.