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

I'm going to answer for both myself and DD.

DD: We suspected fairly early. She was always alert and was making (and acting on) connections by 7 months that many children are oblivious to. She has always been observant.

By age 3 a friend (and gifted educator) mentioned that our daughter reminded her "a lot of the kids at school". It really caused me to think a great deal about what it means to be "gifted".

ME: I know that my parents suspected before K. They petitioned for me to be tested into K early.


DD: At 7 months DD got to play with the cups from my breastpump as I was cleaning them. The following day she refused to drink pumped milk (for over 8 hours); from a bottle, from a cup. She would only drink from the breast. She is VERY persistent. She was very interested in books from an early age and started memorizing books at 24 mo. by 2.5 she was "reading" environmental text; signs, logos, etc.

An acquaintance of ours died when she was 3. From that point on, she was very concerned about death. She is also a subject expert on pregnancy. By 2 she was using (trying to use) logic to convince me that I should do what she wanted: she particularly liked to use "reasonable" and "appropriate" in sentences.

She is also very interested in learning about the world around her; at 2 looking for the cause of the "doorbell" when we would enter a store.

ME: I was very verbal early, but I don't know of actual milestones.


DD & ME: none.



DD & ME: Not that we know.


DD: Yes, WPPSI-III at 4.11 to give us an idea of where she should be place for first grade. Likely she'll be screened again this school year.

ME: Yes, from what my parents explained to me, it sounds like I ceilinged the test used to place me in K. I was later given a full scale assessment in 2nd grade (probably SB-LM). I took the SCAT in 6th grade & SAT in 7th. My parents never officially shared the IQ scores... but the OLSAT in high school was listed on the score report.


Both: I'd say globally gifted.
See below: DD is only 5 (she'll be 6 in Sept)



DD: Gross motor skills were/are on par with "normal" development. DD seems to excel at ballet though (high interest area). All her academic skills, including fine motor, seem to be advanced. She's emotionally and socially advanced as well.

ME: roughly the same as DD. Until recently (in my 30s) I didn't realize that part of the reason I was having problems deciding what to do when I "grew up" was that everyone said, "do what you're good at" or "do what's interesting to you". So many things fall into those categories that it's not limiting. Now I'm working in a field where I can use a multi-disciplinary approach; I'm helping people, using analysis, solving interesting problems, pulling various bits of data together to form a whole picture, and communicating.


Thanks for asking! It will be interesting to see what you come up with.

1. When did you first expected giftedness in your child? I was always blown away by DS6.5's milestones, but I had nothing to compare him to. It wasn't until he was about 18 months old, and in private care, that I really started to see the clues (and look back and see what I missed - like being the only 1 year old I know to request a fork to eat his first birthday cake).


2. What milestones/traits (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social) really made you suspect giftedness? The one thing that sticks out the most was that he knew the alphabet before he knew the song. All the kids his age (12 months) were just learning the song. He, on the other hand, recognized the letters first. His alertness and physical milestones were all earlier than most (other than walking which was 2 weeks before his first birthday). I also remember at 18 months going in for his checkup, and the pedi stating how many words he should have and what he should know, etc... and she was blown away by how far ahead of the "norms" he was.


3. Did your child have any delays? If so what area (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social)? He had issues with handwriting. But I think it was his perfectionism that caused him the most frustration. He was writing/drawing so early, but couldn't always get his chubby fingers to do what his brain wanted them to.


4. Is your child 2E? If they are did they have other signs besides the obvious, more quantifiable ones? No, but he does have some OE issues.

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? Apparently he's gifted across the board. Prior to testing, I would've said he's verbally gifted, but his scores in math prove that it's actually his strong suit.

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)? He definitely excelled in his gross motor, verbal & literacy skills at a really young age (under 3), but the rest caught up.

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

Older: Age 7
Younger: 3 days

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

Older: Nothing until he sped through 2nd and 3rd grade math at age 7 after not even being able to count to 10 a few months earlier.
Younger: Put his pacifier in his mouth at 3 days old. Talked at 10 months. Read at age 2. That sort of thing.

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

Older: Lots. Speech relative to his brother, reading relative to his brother, everything relative to his brother really.
Younger: Some mild motor delays.

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

Older: Yes, dyslexia, ADHD, auditory processing disorder, visual problems.
Younger: Just visual problems.

5. Has your child been tested?

Yes for both.

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?

Older: Now he is less asynchronous, but he reading and math skills used to be completely opposite.
Younger: Gifted across the board. Though his strengths have always seemed to be more verbal, but when he was tested it the PRI was about a standard deviation higher than the VCI.

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)?

Older: Fairly even, though it seemed delayed overall.
Younger: Verbal, literacy, and math skills far outpaced motor skills.

Both kids test HG+ now, though the older one's IQ tested below average when he was 7.

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

I didn't call it "giftedness" at the time, but we knew DSnow6 was advanced pretty when he was a few months old. He was also a very early talker. I remember before he was 1, he was playing with a couple kids who were a bit older, and I can't remember what my DS said, but another mom said, "Did the baby just say that?!" When I really thought he was gifted was after reading an article about traits of gifted kids in the local paper, when DS was 3.



2. What milestones/traits (gross motor skills, fine motor skills, verbal skills, literacy skills, mathematical sills, social) really made you suspect giftedness? DS's verbal skills were extremely advanced, and he showed understanding of complex ideas at an early age. (I remember when he was 3, and I explained the rotation of the earth, he asked if all the people and the animals had babies, would the earth be too heavy to rotate? Then I suspected we might be in for an adventure with this kid!)


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

He couldn't jump up with both feet until he was probably 3.5 (or maybe he just didn't want to try! LOL). He still won't walk down steps one foot per step - he will step down with one, then put his other foot on the same step. He's very cautious, and so far has been behind in physical activities compared to agemates. For the most part, he's probably within the normal range of gross motor skills, but on the low end.

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

Not sure if this counts as 2E, but DS go to the speech therapist during kindergarten for 4 sounds he didn't yet have.

5. Has your child been tested?

Yes, when he was 4, he tested on the SB-V in the PG range. When he was 5, the school gave him achievement tests, also falling into PG range.

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?

DS is pretty globally gifted, though when he was 4 and younger, we thought him mostly verbally gifted as he wasn't interested in math, and his verbal abilities were way beyond his age. He taught himself to read by being read to, and by 3 was reading early chapter books like Frog and Toad. He's still not advanced in math as some of the kids on this board (he's about 2 years ahead), but when DS got to kindergarten, we focused on math for them to differentiate because that would be easier for them to see, which it was. Surprising to us, since his verbal skills are so advanced, the school staff didn't seem to notice DS's verbal abilities.

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)?

As a baby, DS seemed to hit most the typical milestones at a typical rate, perhaps a bit early. But anything related to verbal/literacy was much earlier. His math skills developed before kindergarten and advanced quickly.