Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment How long have you been around? Early ID...

I mean this as a spin off to the Dr. Ruf thread. I know a lot of theories seem to go around about early identification of gifted children but I thought why not make a quick and dirty survey of the people we have here?

Of course, this is far from perfect since we're a self-selected group and we can't exactly control for other factors but it would be interesting to see if there are any common traits that are recognizable.

I thought of a few questions to ask but if anybody else has any other ones than I'd be happy to add them. Maybe afterwards, I just put the numbers into excel and find some rough stats. I know we have a number of parents of 2E kids around so maybe we could even improve on Ruf's studies.

So here are the questions I thought of:

1. When did you first expected giftedness in your child?
2. What milestones/traits (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social) really made you suspect giftedness?
3. Did your child have any delays? If so what area (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social)?
4. Is your child 2E? If they are did they have other signs besides the obvious, more quantifiable ones?
5. Has your child been tested?
6. Is your child across the board gifted or quite asynchronous? If so what are his/her strengths and were they obvious from a young age?
7. When your child was young (baby/toddler/preschooler), was their development fairly even or did they excel more in certain areas (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social)?

If you don't want to answer here you could PM me and I could just include your answers in the stats at the end. Feel free to do this for all of your kids. If you know for yourself and/or your partner I'd include those too. Obviously, include a disclaimer here that we're relying on memory etc...

It's going to be easiest for me if you can give some sort of short answer first (like yes/no and what areas) and then after that explain your answer more in detail if you'd like.

1. When did you first expected giftedness in your child?
When DD9 was 2.5 years old, I came home from college and picked her up from day care, they said they moved her that day up to the 4-5 year old room since she knew all her colors, numbers and letters. They didn't tell the next teacher that she was so young, and when she commented on her good art work I said "yeah really good for a 2.5 year old", just floored her. Here's to butting heads with the educational system ever since lol.
2. What milestones/traits (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social) really made you suspect giftedness?
I never suspected it from the start. Since she was my first child I always thought my kid was normal, so her passing books to me a 8 months old I really thought was normal development. It wasn't until they moved her up in preschool that I suspected she was gifted.
3. Did your child have any delays? If so what area (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social)?
No delays.
4. Is your child 2E? If they are did they have other signs besides the obvious, more quantifiable ones?
No
5. Has your child been tested?
Yes, but only with JHU CTY talent search. Will be pushing for testing this year for her and hopefully her twin sisters as well.
6. Is your child across the board gifted or quite asynchronous? If so what are his/her strengths and were they obvious from a young age?
She is gifted verbally, and is a social butterfly. Her math is good at and gets A's but didn't test as gifted in math.
7. When your child was young (baby/toddler/preschooler), was their development fairly even or did they excel more in certain areas (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social)?
I would say development was even for her.

Do you mean "suspect"? If so, I guess I should say that I was looking for it from birth (since DH & I are both HG+), but I actually convinced myself that she wasn't, because she didn't seem that advanced until around the time she turned 2.


It was the early reading. Of course there's more than that, but it was the early reading that was just too striking to ignore.


She's been behind in a few skills (probably due to lack of interest or exposure), but not any areas.


Probably not.


Not yet.



She's pretty asynchronous. She's probably advanced in every area, but her abilities range from only slightly advanced (e.g., handwriting) to very, very advanced (e.g., reading). I suppose it's probably not normal for babies to be obsessed with books, or for one-year-olds to memorize (long) books, but none of that was really obvious to me until I realized that she was teaching herself sight words (at just after her 2nd birthday). In fact, I remember thinking (forgive my naivete), "Oh, she must not be as gifted as I am, because I started reading at 2, and there's no way she's going to be reading at 2." Ha, ha, ha.


She's been advanced in every area, but not evenly so. As a baby, she was physically and socially advanced. As a toddler, it was probably mostly her interests that were unusual, and perhaps her fine motor skills. As a preschooler, it is the verbal and literacy skills that are particularly unusual.

So much for short answers, eh?

1. 1st expect giftedness? It came as a surprise in kindergarten when he was tested by the school
2. milestone/traits? Reading the teacher's instructions in kindergarten reading books.
3. Delays? Non-verbal til age 3
4. 2e? Yes, autism diagnosed at 2.5
5. Tested? Yes, initially at 2.5 as part of autism diagnosis...then in K...then in 2nd grade.
6. asynchronous? Both mathmatically and verbally gifted; not as gifted in working memory and processing speed.
7. even development? Not at all. He is still behind socially: he's 7 but socially is 5. He is way ahead in math, literacy, and certain verbal skills: he will "get" logic type plays on words, yet he won't get typical 1st grade jokes unless they are explained to him. He is slightly behind in gross motor skills, and about even with fine motor skills. This is all with MASSIVE amounts of ABA, speech, OT, and social skills training. He was developmentally delayed in almost all categories, but once the window was open, he FLEW! Yet, looking back (using some of Ruf's characteristics) he showed gifted traits and I overlooked them because I was so focused on autism.

Nan

This is kinda silly because we have not been around that long. So this Probably won't help you.


1. 8 months-we knew she was ahead. 18 months-we suspected giftedness. 22 months-I looked it up.

2. Verbal skills. I guess. I remember at about 18 months she learned the word "instead", and it was so fun to see her experiment with it. She said something like, "I don't want a bath. I want to play outside...in..in..instead? Instead!" I go back and forth, thinking stuff like this is normal.

3. No. No delays.
4. No. Not 2e as of now.
5. No. Not tested.
6. She is very much globally ahead. But, this is kind of silly because she is only 22 months.
7. Very even.

1. When did you first expected giftedness in your child?
2.5 years old. That is when she started preschool and all the teachers kept telling us she was so smart.
2. What milestones/traits (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social) really made you suspect giftedness?
Comprehension and processing. She is 5 but I when talking to her I feel like I am talking to a 10 year old +.
3. Did your child have any delays? If so what area (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social)?
No
4. Is your child 2E? If they are did they have other signs besides the obvious, more quantifiable ones?
No
5. Has your child been tested?
Yes
6. Is your child across the board gifted or quite asynchronous? If so what are his/her strengths and were they obvious from a young age?
Asynchronous. She is extremely fast at comprehending and processing information. She is very good with numbers too. She does not read very well yet (it is too slow for her). She is also athletically talented. Looking back, her strengths were obvious.
7. When your child was young (baby/toddler/preschooler), was their development fairly even or did they excel more in certain areas (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social)?
It seems like she experiences large leaps in development. Things will be flat for a bit then all the sudden she will blow us away with something.

I never suspected my son was gifted. He was late with all milestones - gross motor, fine motor, verbal communication. He always excelled in social situations and when he began talking (finally), he had great insight. But, from Kindergarten on, he struggled in school. We had him tested in K and 4 times since. He is gifted in the verbal and preceptual reasoning realms, scores in the superior range on most speech and language tests, yet has expressive langauge issues, is severely dyslexic and dysgraphic and has attention issues. His processing speed is borderline -very low. Luckily, he is a hard worker and very likeable.

So - was his development even? No. Is his giftedness even - not even close.

My daughter was always early at meeting milestones, taught herself to read at age 4, is athletic, artistic, well spoken and well liked. She is very average - yet does well in school and in life.

IQ does not gaurentee school or life success.

Amen to that.

Our elder DS could count long before he talked; could read before being able to jump or complete other basic gross motor milestones. He now comprehends fiction roughly at his own (3rd) grade level, but nonfiction at college level. Deeply asynchronous, lovely, gifted, and challenging.

DeeDee

1. When did you first expected giftedness in your child?

From birth. People have been remarking on her "alert" and "intelligent" gaze from the beginning, starting with the delivery nurses who described her as "behaviorally mature" or something of that sort. Like no5no5, though, I was predisposed to expect it, since she comes from two families of academics.

2. What milestones/traits really made you suspect giftedness?

Early on it was gross motor, but really it was how she used her gross motor skills in an intense sort of way to explore her world.

But ever since language took off (she is now 2yr3mo) it has been about the content of her communication. She's somewhat ahead of the curve on language (grammar, vocabulary, etc.) but not shockingly so. But what is astonishing is what she has to say. She has a grasp of time, emotions, causality, narrative structure, real vs. pretend, etc. that I think is way way beyond normal for this age.

3. Did your child have any delays?

No.

4. Is your child 2E?

No.

5. Has your child been tested?

No.

6. Is your child across the board gifted or quite asynchronous? If so what are his/her strengths and were they obvious from a young age?

Across the board. Still a bit early to tell, but she does seem to be an "all-rounder." She does have her areas of strength, but I would say no more so than a typical kid with individual interests. For example, she is very mechanical (locks, zippers, buttons, buckles), but doesn't get jig-saw puzzles; she is highly verbal, but shows no interest in reading; she seems to have a good quantitative intuition, but she has been stuck for months at only understanding numbers up to 2.

7. When your child was young (baby/toddler/preschooler), was their development fairly even or did they excel more in certain areas (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social)?

See above, since she is still a toddler.

1. When did you first expected giftedness in your child?

When she started reading words and books she had never seen before (26 months old).

2. What milestones/traits (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social) really made you suspect giftedness?

Precocious literacy (not hyperlexia).

3. Did your child have any delays? If so what area (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social)?

Expressive language, fine motor & social. Language skills are now an area of strength, but that's after 2.5 years of intense therapy!

4. Is your child 2E? If they are did they have other signs besides the obvious, more quantifiable ones?

Yes, she has PDD-NOS, on the autism spectrum. Her issues are relatively mild -- bearing in mind that everything on the spectrum is serious business. I think we could have easily convinced ourselves that she was just a "smart quirky" kid, as everyone around us was discounting our concerns about her development because she was/is so smart. We are fortunate to have caught her ASD early.


5. Has your child been tested?

Yes -- both assessed for ASD and IQ tested (separate processes).

6. Is your child across the board gifted or quite asynchronous? If so what are his/her strengths and were they obvious from a young age?

Asynchronous in terms of intellectual v. social. She is just turning 5, so we probably won't have a clear picture until she gets a little older.

7. When your child was young (baby/toddler/preschooler), was their development fairly even or did they excel more in certain areas (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social)?

Clear strengths in "academic" skills (literacy, math, comprehension), with clear weaknesses in areas that often pose a challenge for kids with ASD: fine motor, social, expressive language.