Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Is there room for 1 more?

I'd like to start by saying that I'm not sure if my daughter is bright or gifted. After reading through some of the threads, I'm leaning towards bright. But, I am a very hands on parent and I love doing activities with my daughter and trying to stimulate her as I know birth to 5 is the time of the most growth and frankly, sometimes it can be difficult to keep up with giving her learning materials as she learns so quickly-which is something some of you all may also struggle with?

So from 12 months to 18 months I planned activities daily for her (I work from home). Trying to expose her to as much as possible. Then my husband left me and we moved in with my parents (was supposed to be just a month, but it's been 6 and possibly looking at 6 more months till my house is ready. Baby girl is 26 months. But:

-at 6 months the milestone list the doctor said was way benign her abilities and at the 12 month appointment she had met nearly all the milestones when we were at the 6 month apt. If that makes sense?
-we start signing around 11-12 months and she really took off at 14 months when we started baby signing time. I have ambitions to turn it into a second language once I start taking my asl classes. Atm I feel like I'm holding her back. Because she just absorbs signs. And I don't know all the signs.
-language wise she is doing 2-3 word sentences. She picks up on English very quickly. And patterns and routines. Label something roughly once and she knows it (pot pie, chocolate milk, anything I eat or do-she learns it. Getting her to try it is another story).
-she clans up her toys when asked
-she has her ideas about clean and will find anything out of place. A single thread on a clean floor? She'll find it. As well as helping feed the dogs, or folding laundry. She's on it.
-testers her foot of her pajamas got wet. She blew me away when she first got a towel. When that didn't work, she took her clothes off and put them over the heat vent. Not even kidding.
-she learned to work the DVD player by watching us
-she has a tablet she learned to use fully by herself. I download learning games and she figures out the games and concepts in a flash. She sorts, plays memory, 2 step games (wash the fruit and match the profile. If you pick your finger up you start over). I noticed she didn't get match/memory games right away. I got some mickey match cards in target dollar isle, and we used those and she picked it up that day.

Right now she is struggling with tracing, but improving daily.

-she could count to 10, with help by age 2, which she learned room a disney learning adventure dvd. Now at 26 months she goes to 7 by herself. Counts objects like magnets, m&ms unprompted.
-she is VERY sensitive. In the sense that she gets MAD and in the sense that she gets embarrassed very easily and runs to a corner and hides if corrected.
-and her attention span. Wow. I spent 40 mingus reading bed time stories last night. And we stopped, not because she didn't have the attention span for more, but rather because I couldn't keep my eyes open. Similarly at Disney on ice she was glued the whole first hour. Lost attention after the intermission when they did toy Story and Mulan-2 movies she wasn't familiar with.

But I don't think she is a full year, or years ahead or anything. My friend babysits a boy turning 3 in March, and he knows more words and speaks in longer sentences, so while she is ahead of kids her own age that we meet, I think it is more of her being bright than gifted.

I'm sorry this past got so long. I think I just don't feel like I have a safe place in my real life to sorry all this out. Naturally grandma (my mom) thinks she is gifted, and I can't sort it out with other moms less they feel I am comparing her to their child or saying their child is behind.

I don't think I really expect any responses, I just needed to get my story out there whet I won't be judged and I'm hoping this is that place.

(Unless of course anyone has ideas to keep her simulated during the day. Activities we aren't doing our the like)

I think it sounds like you have done a great job creating a stimulating environment for your daughter, which is a great thing. It is really way to early to worry about bright versus gifted. I would put that on the back burner till she is closer to school age.

As for things to keep her stimulated during the day. I think I would suggest trying to have some things available for her to do by herself, without your help, or with minimal help. Like an art station with things she can tear up and use a washable glue stick to stick on a page to create something. Or direct her to a bookshelf to look all picture books, or building blocks, etc. Or go outside and just let her explore or dig.

In addition I would suggest you involve her in cooking and preparing food, setting the napkins on the table, and general life skills. I think that this teaching to be independent is really important.

Maybe you already do all these things. In that case maybe someone else will have a suggestion that will help.

Good luck!

Welcome! I hope that you find comfort here (even if it's just people to listen to you at the moment). I don't think you'll find any judgement here about allegedly hot housing your child on this forum, because most of us know what that feels like and know that it simply isn't true.

Much of what you describe sounds a lot like my DS at that age, particularly with respect to the signing and the large attention span. We signed with him starting around 6 months and didn't get any signs back for awhile, but then around 14 months he started signing like crazy. And when he did, they were never about needs (hungry, wet, more); they were about interests (book, bird, dog). His first attempt at humor was through signing.

I had had to fend off concerns from my uninformed relatives that signing would delay his speech. Nothing could have been further from the truth! Only a few months after he started signing, he started talking as if he had been an early talker (and dropped the signs, oddly enough... which was kind of frustrating because he didn't quite have the diction down to understand what he was saying for another few months). By 22 months, he was recounting stories and speaking in fully-formed paragraphs.

We were in a position like you where we noticed that he seemed rather advanced compared to most other kids his age (the precocious speech was what tipped us off), but it wasn't particularly important. At this point, I wouldn't worry about whether your daughter is bright, gifted, or what any of that means (it doesn't sound like you were, anyways). Since you get to spend so much time with her, the best thing you can do is follow her interests and see where it leads the both of you.

When we finally had his intelligence assessed with the WISC last year for educational purposes (he was 6.5), we were shocked to learn that he was not just bright but also highly gifted (i.e., exceptional even within the gifted population). So you never really know what the future is going to bring... but it's a fun ride filled with all kinds of unexpected turns!

I agree with howdy that you are doing a very good job providing the learning environment for your DD. My DS6 started using iPad not long after he turned one year old and started learning alphabets from the videos and games we downloaded for him. He was obsessed with it. He also learned the phonics together with his older brother and started watching and playing anything with phonics. He also liked to draw so we downloaded this paint pad on iPad and he just draws whatever he wants on it with different colors and brush sizes with his fingers. He still loves it to this day.

As long as you control the screen time, I would say tablet apps and videos for educational purposes are good sources for youngsters who are eager to learn. They can learn so much from it. Honestly we did not think of teaching my DS alphabets that early but he just picked that up by himself.

I would say no need to worry about if your DD is bright or gifted yet (probably not until school age). Provide as much stimulation as possible. Find things she can do that she's playing and learning at the same time to keep her interested.

Best of luck to you!

It's important to remember that bright vs gifted isn't a binary thing, but a continuum. In addition, forums like this tend to attract the more exceptional so it can skew the perception.

Regardless, at that age the label isn't important. What matters are her wants and needs to grow and some arbitrary label or score doesn't change that.

As a general rule, I'm not overly concerned about her label, but as this is a forum for patents of gifted children, I want sure if I would be accepted into it? I don't want to step on any toes. I'm glad I tipped my toe in though. It is refreshing to not be looked at like I'm insane for trying to do such things as keep her stimulated.

Howdy-great suggestions. I'm doing some, but Def could increase her at supplies she can use independently.

George-that sounds exactly like my daughter (up until the paragraphs. She is still just saying sentences and she still signs. I was told they mimick adults, so I continued to sign everything while I talked-even if she knew the word, and she copies that.) Even the peer criticisms is quite familiar to me.

And my goal was never to hot house her (not that I'm being accused of it here). I just watched her grow and tried to give her tools to her interests. Except maybe the sign language. I did that with knowledge of the studies in mind (language connections, increased self confidence for communicating, etc).

Ajinlove- the paint app is a good idea. Thanks

Malraux-thanks for responding. I fully agree with you I love her no matter her intelligence. This just seemed a good place to turn for ideas, and agree song the responses, I think it was more that I just wanted to feel a little more normal for enjoying exploring with my daughter.

Even when I say something as simple as "I make play dates for my daughter so she can play and learn social skills the people in my life look at me like I'm crazy for trying to expose her to as much as I can. (Mention that I play memory with her or learning apps and it's all down hill)

Welcome!!! I don't post often, but have gotten a lot out of the members of this forum. I have a second grader who is at the high end of the gifted spectrum and a 18 month old who is advanced, but no clue where he will end up😀.

Sounds like you are doing great with him and I too struggle with how to keep meeting my toddlers intense needs to explore and learn. I am probably a little more relaxed this time around because I made it through the toddler years with my daughter and so far she is turning out just fine😀 Feel free to post, I am going through the same thing😀

Generally speaking, I don't think you have to worry about that around here.

I forgot to add (and my post hasn't shown up to edit)-I bought some new art supplies for my daughter this weekend to start allowing her to explore her creative side a bit more. Perhaps a little table or art table will be coming for Easter