Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school are they truly "gifted" at 2, 3. 4 etc?

I don't think we know.

A lot of kids do not bloom until well after their toddler years. And a lot of early lights slide back in relation to their peers. Some have an event that pushes them into excellence.

I think you need a model of how the mind develops that will generate predictions which are testable.

Given the influence of internal biology and puberty, diet, disease, parents, culture, peers, etc, its a difficult target to measure or even model.

I think there is lots to be said for an evaluator who not only gets gifted kids, but gets the current slang of the day, I know that ds missed at least one question for using 'like xyz', instead of stating unequivocally 'xyz' - I was amazed that the use of this word as a 'pause to consider' had escaped the evaluators notice - and my son doesn't even use the word very often!! I can't imagine how a child with many slang usages in their vocabulary would do in such a setting. (not sure I would call it blue blood, but perhaps 'isolated' from the main stream of modern childhood by academia/professional life might apply).

Maybe just having kids of their own would be a qualification to look for in an evaluator!

Hmm. So, are you saying that gifted isn't a constant quality and that one can be intellectually gifted at one age and no longer gifted at another or vice versa? I do certainly believe that one can be academically ahead (i.e. -- a high achiever in relation to your same age peer group) at one point and level more to avg later or vice versa. I'm just not so sure that ability changes that much over time.

eta: I'll have to read this over more closely, but I knew that I had this article somewhere: Gifted Today but not Tomorrow I don't know whether the authors are supporting my prior point that achievement is transient or whether they are also saying that ability changes over time. I guess that I look at those studies that say that gifted brains are wired differently (thinning of the cortex later like linked earlier, visible differences on MRIs, etc.) and think that those types of things indicate that they are wired differently and that isn't something that changes so much over time.

You do have a point... you'd have to somehow draw out the signs of giftedness (and I cringe at the idea of making kids performing monkeys). I guess some possible ways would be through play, observing the kids playing with the parents without anyone else in the room, anything parents could catch on video tape at home, etc. It seems like their could be more ways to do it that weren't as intrusive.

I totally get what you're saying about the doctor's visit. DD goes through shy times too and won't talk at all to other people, other times she's a complete chatter box.

Possibly one way to at least select kids initially would be to ask pediatricians if parents reported abnormally advanced milestones and contact those parents specifically (but, I guess, that might breach some patient/doctor confidentiality thing? Not sure, maybe the doctor could ask the parents if they would be interested?). Then you could ask the parents to keep diaries and possibly also have the kids come in every now and then and play together or with the parent. It certainly wouldn't be foolproof but it still might be enlightening.

I think it would be very surprising if either degree of giftedness did not change over time, or if it changed radically and persistently without powerful external pressures.

Brains are pretty plastic, and even last night's sleep affects what one is capable of. But it does seem to me that there is a strong underlying condition that you'd be working against to change capacity longterm. I know a guy who's brilliant, but rarely sleeps more than a couple of hours. If he started sleeping tomorrow, I suspect he'd get pretty smart again pretty quick, but would he ever regain what he's lost in 10 years of non-sleep? I sorta doubt it. It would be a really interesting case study, though.... maybe something like that's been reported on?

Performing monkey concept ... one I find myself repeating a lot. I have one of those kids that just does not perform on cue and I'm okay with that. I really think it has to do with emotional maturity. When she was a baby and doing off the chart things like learning the entire alphabet before she turned 9 months or talking in sentences before she was 6 months, etc ... it was a little frustrating because I would have loved to share that with her doctor but when we went to the appointment, DD looked like the typical baby. It was entertaining when we were given a checklist of what to expect in the coming months and DD had already mastered all that was on that list way. I remember my grandmother asking me if I was going to talk to the doctor about DD's abilities and I just laughed because A. the doctor would think me nuts and B. DD wasn't willing to share outside her immediate family. Now that she is older she is more open to communication with people she doesn't know and even though it isn't shocking that a 3 1/2 year old talks; it clearly is shocking to most how in depth their conversation gets with her and how advance her language is during that conversation.

There are days I ponder if maybe we were nuts to think DD not only gifted but HG+ and that she must be slowing down but when I step back from it I realize that I am so immersed in this world that I have grown accustom to it all and it is during those interactions she has with the strangers that I get my ah ha moments of yes she is different.

And yes, toddlers can be taught to the point of hothousing or whatever the term someone wants to use, but for lack of a better term (on my end), these highly gifted children that show signs from birth on just have a different wiring. Some might call it motivation and it is partly that but for my DD (anyway) her way of looking at the world is different then the typical kid her age. I don't see that changing or going away as she gets older... it is just who she is; part of her biological makeup.

Katelyn'sMom....


You spoke so much to my feelings. DD has never been the performing monkey..and at times I wish she would because I am proud of her....but the main thing that I have noticed about her differences is her way of looking at the world as you said. She does look at it different from the typical kid her age.And I agree I don't see thins changing as she gets older. I remember as a child realizing I saw things differently from others my age and felt alone on this...my mom recognized it even before then, and for me, that has not changed as I have grown and has always been one thing I have associated with giftedness...is seeing the world in a different way.

I too have had my thoughts that DD must be sowing down, but then something or someone makes me take a step back and I realize I am just so used to her way of thinking and the things she is doing that I do not even recognize it anymore. I have grown accustom as you said. But you are right, there are those moments, typically as seen through the eyes of a stranger when I go...yep, I just have become immune to it LOL. And in someways that is good, because she is my child, I am with her everyday and to me she is just her, my kid. LOL

I assume you mean slowing down here... and I have had this issue myself MANY times... especially between the ages of 4&5 with DS6. And even still today, I will put him into a MG category or second guess his giftedness and bam, he'll blow me away with something. I'm not sure gifted denial ends for us parents!

They are gifted, but it is difficult to tell sometimes. They develop so much differently from other children. One thing they seem to have in common is the questioning. The questions are unique and frequent. They really want to figure out their world and spend much of their time making sense of it.

i dont know pretty much about it but it seems to me that my son is a little gifted sort of baby.
or sometimes i think for every mom their kid seems to be the best and gifted.
but people say that he is gifted....