Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school I'm new to this, is my 24mo old gifted?

If you are following her lead, keeping it fun, and including lots of non-academic un-learning activities in your daily routine, you aren't hothousing. There's definitely nothing wrong with talking about numbers or letters or whatever, so long as it's fun and pressure-free.

I apologize but I did laugh at the never testing IQ because I remember feeling that way... but when it turned out all those kindergarten outcomes were "for real" and not just drafted to make people feel good (like the Gap selling size 6 jeans as size 5)... and nobody else's kid in pre-school was reading chapter books... we did change our tune and seek a professional opinion ever so quietly. :-)

Follow her lead and try to ignore the world. Our 1st loved flashcards... I don't remember ever sitting and "doing" them with her but I used to buy them for the car. We gave her a leapster before she was 3 which taught her to write her letters, and more. Our middle child wasn't into the same things so we followed her lead. She loved - still does - detailed non-fiction books like everything about dirt, crystals, etc. Technically, the books weren't meant for her age but who cares. Uh she just asked me what 56 divided by 8 is... uh give me a minute...

I think it helped us that I didn't know we weren't "normal" the first time. Sometimes I look back and wonder did we do this... but I know if someone here asked I would say - you can't take any child and make them interested in writing party invitations or stories in pre-school if they don't want to... So I think if your child can get your attention to play what they want - and they want you to show them how you write your name or how to bag up serving sizes of goldfish based on the number on the box... then have at it. Some kids we've meet would be interested in more academic things because it was the only thing their parents would do with them. But I've done puppets, hide n seek, tickle monster... and we've did sequencing games, and infinate rounds of memory games before we could stay dry all night so...

But yes, you may learn this is the best place to share your child's wow they did x, or ask do kids do y, because a good deal of the world doesn't always appreciate hearing about it. And imho (well not really "h") you won't make life harder by enriching her interests... she may have been born to be a little different. It is a path you will all figure your way through. But for now enjoy. And play ;-)

I third that! If you're following her lead and you quit when she gets tired of talking about a given topic, you're doing fine.

It sounds to me as if you're doing just that. I say don't worry. Just do what feels natural to you. Answer her questions, do fun things that support her interests (whether they look like typical play or not, you know when you're both having fun), and give her opportunities to try new things.

Just like you're already doing! Good work!

So teach her!
Don't worry about over doing it, toddlers are stubborn and independent. She will let you know very quickly if she gets tired of something!

I agree that you're safe if you're following their lead, and if you're following their lead you'll know it, because you'll be perpetually exhausted, amazed and disoriented. My son's first sentence was "Read book, mama," and by 18 months he was asking me to read for such long stretches (45 minutes to an hour) that I would be the one who was restless and bored. I would have been happy with a 10 minute bedtime story, but he demanded more. At age 2 he came across a Magic School Bus book at a local science museum and fell head over heels in love with the series, eventually developing a full blown MSB obsession that lasted for the next 6 months. I wouldn't have thought to introduce those books to him for a few more years (and they're the last thing I would have picked to read aloud a dozen times each), but that's what excited him. At 2 1/2, he spontaneously started to read, and I realized that he had already mastered everything in the phonics books I had been saving in the back of the closet for when he reached "reading" age. Likewise, I didn't allow him to watch tv until he was 3 and then sadly discovered when I introduced it to him that he had already outgrown Sesame Street. I've missed many opportunities to teach him things because he taught himself first.

Maybe we should try the Magic school bus books, if she is not interested yet then later. DD was totally in love with Barney at 12mo when we allowed her to start to watch tv. It is only for special occasions, like being sick or traveling. Now at two she starts to be over it and adores Mary Poppins. What kind of phonics books you had waiting for him? We do not have any yet as I did not even have time to get books with alphabets before she knew all of them. It just started so innocently she first knew abcd and then suddenly all of them.

Hi,

Oli your child certainly does not sound average.

You asked about teaching reading. I'm a proponent of teaching reading early to any child that likes books and where the method can be tailored so they enjoy it. I base this on my son who is 26 months and reads short words phonetically and can piece together the meaning of some sentences, and enjoys it. It leads to a lot of conversation between us on topics I otherwise wouldn't realize to start, out in public reading things on signs etc. Like the other day we discussed what a bus stop is because he read "Bus Stop". I feel that I fall into the group of people who taught their kids to read. I don't feel I was pushy, there were no flashcards, but I did do things like make a game out of asking him to find a particular letter or word on a book page we were reading, ask him what sound particular words start with, etc. Much of his learning to read came about because he was delayed in talking (luckily caught up now) and on a late talker website I found a mention of starfall.com as being helpful to practice sounds/words. Once he saw/heard starfall he was hooked and asked to be read stories etc from it daily for as long as we would do it. Initially I balked at the amount of time he wanted to spend on it (and I felt bored clicking for him over and over, he is too impatient to click a button only once) but as he actually began learning to read I stopped worrying about it. After a few months, now he wants to play on it for only about 15 minutes a day, more to see particular favorite stories just like he likes particular books. No other website has seemed as good because the others I've found either are too repetitive or take too long to load each screen. Workbooks -- I bought a couple but he prefers to use them as coloring books so that's what they are currently.

I have not been able to make sense of the prohibition on early reading. It seems to be that in our culture children are considered cute and age appropriate if as early as possible they can sing in order a string of meaningless (to them) sounds (the alphabet song), or memorize meaningless phrases like "C is for cat". The reasoning behind this string of sounds and the odd pairing of the letter C with the word cat, should however be carefully kept from them for about 4 further years.

Worried that I am a hothousing parent I tried to look up the research on early reading being bad and honestly I could not find any well done original research that showed this, just lots of citing of particular citations that led to papers about slightly different questions. Would love to hear from anyone who can point to research I have missed.

Polly

Oli - I would not worry about over or under doing it. When my ds was 4 he wanted to know and do everything solar system. He would ask me so many questions to which I did not know the answers that I would secretly cry out of frustration. Bc he learns without repetition I had to be very careful not to give him the wrong answer. I went with it though. I followed his lead and spent many hours in the library getting strange looks from people bc my kid was talking about the universe, black holes and supernovas. I took him to planetariums and did other related activities well beyond his age bc I knew he would be interested. I've always believed learning should be fun and never followed a script. Leap frog is great - ignore the age rating and go with your gut.
I encourage IQ testing around age 4 if only to help you advocate for your daughter's needs in the school system (if she's going to attend school in the US).
Best of luck!