Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Head size?

Wow, this thread is beginning to make me feel uncomfortable. I just said my kid had a big head.

My kids all have relatively small heads, but each jumped from around the 25th percentile to near the 50th very quickly during infancy. By the time my third one came along, I was able to predict it in her. They aren't remotely autistic.

On the other end, my daughter has humongous feet. She's also very tall (predictions from age 2 are minimum 5'10"). Her first 18 months or so were characterized by growth spurts punctuated by occasional brief non-growth-spurt periods. It was amazing.

V.

Long time ago I read that the correlation between big head and gt is quite small. Here we go, I found the book.

Head size correlates 0.14 with IQ. (One would be a perfect correspondence between head size and IQ, zero would indicate no relationship whatsoever)

DS6 has a huge head in the 99%+. We got to the point that I had to take him back for repeated measurements to make sure he didn't have hydrocephalus. When DS4 got to that point, I was just told, "He is like his brother. It's genetic" DS4's head was a little bit smaller though but still easily in the upper 90%.

me too... thought it was some light hearted fun....

Now that I think about it, I remember times when my kids would eat and eat and eat, and we'd expect a big increase in vertical size. Yet baby didn't get bigger. Instead, baby would suddenly make cognitive leaps and gain new skills: it was brain growth! It was very trippy.

Val

I just have to stand up for the small-headed people of the world!!

DH and I both have fairly small heads, and we have advanced degrees in science. I could literally get away with wearing a child's size bicycle helmet if needed. But then again, it is in proportion to the rest of our bodies, which might be the answer here. Both DH and I are pretty thin and lanky creatures. My arms look like toothpicks. So small bones and a small head are just in proportion.

DS has inherited our bone structure. His head looks frighteningly small compared to most of his age mates. But then again, so does his whole body. Except for the tremendously big feet. (which he inherited from me!) Thanks for making me smile by pointing that one out, Val!

Okay, now everyone is going to be picturing me with a tiny head and arms, and big clown feet! Sad, but true!

Hey folks, if what I said makes you uncomfortable, just ignore part of it. I fully support my friends in their decision to have their mentally handicapped daughter sterilized. But the comment about some 'mothers' was a personal reaction I don't need to expound on here.

Btw, when I took GS9 to our family doctor when he was about 5 the doctor looked at him, looked at me, looked back at GS, looked back at me...and all I had to say was 'you should see his mother and other grandmother'. My head is average to slightly above average size. GS used to be teased terribly about his headsize. I told him he needed a head that big to hold all his brains. He has grown into it, somewhat.

Two out of 4 kids have very large heads. The other two are medium. All HG*. Biggest head kid has lowest IQ score. Looking at the other kids in the PEGS class, slightly higher percentage of big heads, but there are a few small ones.

All three of my children have heads less than the 50th percentile. My DD4 was around the 25% if I remember correctly from the last time it was measured. But then again my children are all pretty small in height and weight as well. Their bodies couldn't support big heads.

Okay, when I was in 9th grade, I joined the field hockey team at school. I needed cleats, so my mom bought me a pair. Problem was, we lived in a small town and the only shoestore only had a few pairs left. Nothing fit perfectly. We had to go with a pair that was about two sizes too big. I wore extra socks (it was freezing in New Hampshire anyway) and everything was fine, except for the fact that the shoes were quite obviously wa-a-ay too big. Someone nicknamed me "Submarine feet." It was all in good fun and I'm chuckling about it now.

Val