Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Normal?

Yup, I have two kids, one HG+ for sure and one that I suspect is, and they were also polar opposites in terms of putting things in their mouths when they were babies.

One sucked his thumb--usually when he was thinking--but put nothing else in his mouth ever. He stopped sucking his thumb at 3yo, the very second the dentist told him to stop and gave him reasons why. He never sucked his thumb again.

The other child hated pacifiers and was never a thumb-sucker, but he would have put a Buick in his mouth if he thought he could get away with it! Nothing was safe!

I actually love that we can discuss these things as most of us only have experience with our own kids so it is hard to know if something was normal or not.


We genuinely believed at least for 18mo that every kid can does the same than DD. Then now if we look back she was advanced in almost everything but at that point we were just concentrated on her development and not comparing it to others.

LOL - you've just summed up my DS. I haven't a clue what LOG he is. At (almost) 4 DS still tries to put toys in his mouth.

I like this. DS's affinity for a specific tactile experience has prompted odd looks and questions from past and present teachers. DS engages his environment differently.

We just adopted a son. Yippee! We are surprised at his incredible strength and alertness.

Even though he is adopted, DS knows who I am and quieted to my voice within 3 days (probably because I breastfeed him).

He smiled at 3 days old. He smiled at the same spot in a song I sang him, so that I could get him to do it on demand.

His ped noted his "remarkable muscle tone" at age 1 week and he has been able to stand since birth. (master of none: DS was born early and remains in the 5th percentile for height and weight, but we understood that SGA babies often lack muscle tone, so we're thrilled.)

He rolled over from his tummy to his back at 3 weeks old.

He's been able to sit propped up since birth. Yesterday DH sat DS 2.5 mos. on the couch and he fell asleep for 30+ minutes sitting up.

Last week, as I had him on his belly, DS crawled six inches to the end of the diaper changing table, about four body scooches before I caught him.

I don't know if DS 2.5 mos. is going to be GT but we are very happy he's strong and alert.

my ds 3.5 walked late, potty trained late, and has sensory integration disorder. he walks on his toes, licks tail pipes and cats, freaks out about loud sounds. i knew he'd have trouble in school bc of his serious dislike for noise, texture, and change. so i was a little surprised that after he turned 3 he wanted to learn to read, when i said he was too young, he taught himself. now i have a 3.5 year old who can read kindergarten level books and do simple math 2 years before he can attend kindergarten. i find myself so often watching him and thinking "is this normal?" lol. now i KNOW he will have trouble in school- overly prepared academically, but not socially.

i'm glad i found this forum, i was just telling dh that i was doubting my son's abilities and maybe thinking it was normal for a 3 year old to teach himself to read. we have a screening coming up, and i'm glad i found this place to help me refocus on my son and his obvious needs.

thanks.

I sing the same 2 songs to DS15mo every night. One of the songs has 4 parts with the same rhythm, and the second part has different lyric from the rest of them.

Something similar to this:
Part 1 => Lyric A
Part 2 => Lyric B
Part 3 => Lyric A
Part 4 => Lyric A

After I sing the 2 songs, I usually hum the 2 songs over and over again until he falls asleep.

Yesterday night, right after I finished humming the first part of that song, DS started to sign the lyric in the second part of the song. I did it a couple more times, and he only signed in the second part of the song. I am truly amused.

I might be overanalyzing. On one hand, I think DS might be more advanced. On the other hand, he is 15-month-old and can only say 2 words consistently.

I had never thought about the head control issue. I have been on this board for my first born who is 3.9 and I never thought too much about her head control. My second, who turned two last week, was one of those babies who picked her head up the moment they placed her on a table after birth and looked around the room. She rolled over at three weeks and smiled around that time too. I never correlated that to giftedness but got chills when I read all this thinking, oh no this one might also be gifted and who knows, more so--that's great and scary at the same time. People comment on what she knows and says all the time but I guess I take it for granted since this is all I Know.