Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Anybody have a boy who learned to read very early?

Wow! Your son sounds like an amazing little boy! DD is a little younger than him (18 months) and she has a few sight words but is nowhere near actually reading as far as I can tell.

But I can relate to wearing him out. She's actually in daycare right now where basically she's running/climbing/playing non-stop but before when she was home with me we'd have to get to the park at least twice per day and since we don't have a car she'd walk with me to the grocery store and to run errands too. We also have the late bed time... it's so tiring! Even with daycare we still need to go out at least once in the evening... and she throw a fit whenever we have to go back inside.

put him in front of a keyboard. My son was reading at 2. Although he didn't have the manual skills to write, but he could tap out keys. He loved to type words and sentences (he often asked me to spell words for him) and kept a writing journal at 3. Really an amazing early literacy tool.

I am trying to determine where my almost 3 year-old may be. Can you guys help? The bottom line is should enroll/apply to an excellent accelerated learning school (with brutal commute) -- or can we piece together something closer to home.

My DS (almost 3) started reading about 26 months (now at about first grade level)...but is mostly obsessed with numbers/math (puts together story problems..."15 leaves take away 2 leaves is 13 leaves" and "2 cookies plus 2 cookies plus 2 cookies is 6 cookies"...likes to talk about number relationships "10 is closer to zero than 36". He counts everything -- like the 76 chairs in the restaurant. He is really into base 10 concepts right now ("63 is made of 6 tens and 3 ones"). He skip counts in 5s, 10s, 2s. Keen observer and incredible memory. Chatterbox (early, complex talker) -- extremely articulate. Yet, no interest in potty training.

In your opinion/experience...where might he fall in the spectrum.

Many thanks!

Have you read Deb Ruf's '5 levels of giftedness?' - it's the best way to document level of giftedness. Worth a read if you haven't already.

The best way to know if you should be doing all that driving (which I hate) is to visit your local public school, and sit in on both the Kindy class and the 1st grade class. That should give you some information. Be sure to visit the gifted school and observe what the kids are doing before you sign that contract.

Best Wishes,
Grinity

It's impossible to say, but it does sound as though you've got a very unusual little boy there. FWIW (not much, they're all different) yours is doing a bit more maths and a bit less reading than mine was at that age, from the sound of it, and mine is hapy with age peers, but in an extremely flexible school and various differentiation. It's well worth swapping a 5 minute walk for a one-hour bus ride in our case; but your calculation could well be different.

Thanks I will check it out!

My DS was a very early reader until like yours he discovered math. At 3 I would enjoy my time at home. All the "school" worries will be on top of you before you know it!

We will play it by ear...and he may not start school until 4 or 5 (depending on his desire/development). But the great school with a killer-commute has a pre-k program. So we were investigating.

It is really helpful to hear where your DDs and DSs were at this age and what you did, considered or experienced. Thanks for sharing!

I am really trying to gauge whether or not a specialized school (moves/commutes) will be in our future. Time will tell...but your stories help me predict the odds :-).

Hi Islandtime - when my younger son was very young he used to go to the childcare room at the Y while I exercised. It was for two hours tops, so having the perfect environment wasn't an issue.

It was an eye-opener. I read all the books about milestones and development, but so many of those are subjective. It wasn't until I saw my son at the YMCA that I realized he did not belong with his age mates. It would not have worked. No way. And he was not as advanced as your son.

Fortunately he has a birthday at the cut-off (making him young for his grade) and he was able to do k-2 in a mixed age Montessori school that had many other extremely bright kids. If his school had not been flexible about the birthday cut-off, I don't know what we would have done.

If you haven't already, take you son to some group activities that are segregated strictly by age in fairly narrow ranges. You should do this at a facility that draws from a broad community (this part is critical). It may be an eye-opener for you.