Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Does the rate of development slow down?

This was me as a kid! My Mom told me that when I was 2-3 I would spend hours talking about living as a woman in the early 1800's in NYC. She said I would go into great detail about what I wore, my other mother, and what life was like. Apparently I had astonishing accuracy in what I described.

Everyone in my immediate family has bought a one way ticket to life's final destination so I can't call my Mom up and ask her about it. I often wish she was still here so I could compare my son's development to my own. My IQ was tested at 8 and I came back normal gifted (139) and there was never any discussion of grade acceleration or gifted programs back then. I wasn't even placed into the honors track until years later after my mother threw a gigantic mom fit at the school.

I was a lot like my son though in my demonstration of knowledge because if I didn't want to show my skills I would refuse. The only reason I was ever tested was because the school had me in the lowest reading group and wanted to hold me back! I found some other tests from that that same time showing I was reading at an 11th grade level. I remember resolutely staying silent when called upon to read simply because I didn't want to read out loud. If my son is anything like me it's really going to be loads of fun in elementary school.

I've noticed periods of time where my DS8 hibernates. I've learned that his brain sometimes needs a break and a few weeks of going to the park and reading nothing but Calvin and Hobbes is rejuvenating.

I used to think that he "slowed down" but I've realized that he teaches himself things that he didn't learn at school or from me-- so I'm not always fully aware of everything he's learning. For instance, his teacher got him into an online math program and now, he seems to be doing things that he's never been explicitly taught or he's taking it to the next level without overt instruction. I've also learned that his interests are not always going to be academic but are intricate and interesting to him. Right now, he's learning Magic the Gathering which looks like a lot of fun.

My DS will have a learning explosion when something grabs his attention-- however, his interests don't last as long as they used to, so I would call them enthusiasms rather than passions/obsessions. That is kind of a nice change because DS is becoming a bit of a renaissance kid with his file cabinet of knowledge.

It's kind of a long answer- DS was like your little one. He learned letters, numbers, advanced shapes before age two and entered K reading fluently, knowing how to multiply, divide, etc. It was quite a dramatic difference compareed to most of his peers- I don't think it really slowed down. He can solve word problems at age eight that have my husband and I scratching our heads.

Short Answer: Doesn't slow down.
Medium Length Answer: I asked the same question, thinking it was only temporary. It wasn't. Began using these forums at age 2, he's now 4.
Long Answer: I personally just couldn't believe what I was seeing. Thought that of course all children must be doing these things. Went through a long denial period. Then by 2.5, someone looked me right in the face and told me he was gifted and I finally got it. For the next year, I was grieving that my parenthood with him wouldn't be "normal" but challenging and exhausting. At 2 and 3, he became so intense I lost my mind. Now at 4, the learning hasn't 'slowed' down, but it's different and more mellow because he can read, write, spell, and do math (not that your child or any gifted child needs to know these things at four, but for mine, he worked everyday to understand these skills and he is thrilled to express himself and have these tools to work with). He's about 2.5/3 years ahead academically (read a book tonight, I look at the back, it's a second grade level reader, into multiplication among many other topics that he talks about from sun up to sun down).
You'll find your stride as he grows and you grow as his parent.

Our experience has been that it becomes less shocking as time goes by. Plus, your child will gather friends who are similar in rapid learning or other talents and it kind of dilutes the craziness a bit. If other kids are doing it...right?

Enjoy the ride!