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Exceptional 2 year old or am I just a proud mum?!! - Any child dev'p experts around?

49 replies

jugglingact · 16/11/2007 18:27

Hi. My 23 month old ds is very bright. I know all parents think their own child is the best but comments by a whole range of people are leading me to belive my son is a bit gifted and I'm wondering about how to approach this. My knowledge on pre-school development is standard (my dd is 4 and a slightly above average child in terms of ability), I have a secondary teaching background so did do some child psychology, but that was 10 years ago.
DS can speak joing 7 or 8 words together, recognise all shapes including pentagon, hexagon, knows all colours even silver and gold, recognises numbers 1-10 and counts up to 16, recognises some letters, these are just some examples. He's a sociable and emotional boy so I doubt he's on the autistic spectrum. I'm just wondering how does one deal with this? Pre-school won'ttake him until he's of a certain age, it's getting harder to entertain him and whilst I don't want to limit him I don't want to push him to the extreme either. thoughts greatly appreciated...

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Anonymama · 16/11/2007 18:34

Yep, he does sound brighter than the average bear.

If you aren't working, then - if it were me - I wouldn't necessarily send him to pre-school. I think the child/carer ratio is fairly low and that your child would make more progress with speech development (and all the other areas you mention) with you & perhaps some older (3/4 yr olds) friends to play with. I probably wouldn't push him to solve equations or recite Shakespeare but take him to as many fun but 'educational' things that you can (afford to) or have a go at doing those things yourself. E.g. read to him, speak a foreign language to him or listen to nursery rhymes in English & other languages, give him challenging puzzles etc. But I would try to remember that he is only 2 too - lots of splashy swimming sessions, a bit of telly, some messy play, feeding ducks etc. with kids his own age, will give him a chance to develop important social skills and a sense of fun - which is probably as important as all the brainaic stuff.

Hope this helps. There are probably websites for parents of "gifted and talented" toddlers, so perhaps you might be able to get advice from there, or even hook up with some other brainy babies.

I'm afraid my 23mth old is not in his league, but we still sit round at night glowing with pride at his ability to count (1,2,3,8,9,10), laugh at his own burps, and wee in the potty

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pointydog · 16/11/2007 18:35

why is it harder to entertain him? Does all the usual parks, baking, making, walking, collecting etc bore him?

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goingfor3 · 16/11/2007 18:40

jugglingact my DD1 was like this at your sons age and now her peers have caught up and she is not any brighter than the other bright kids in her class.

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bubblagirl · 16/11/2007 18:43

my ds at 2.2 could regognise all of alphabet and numbers up to 10 now he knows and regognises all of alphabet and numbers up to 13 he is 2.6 also knows shapes and colours

he is advanced here but does have speech delay

i do help him with his learning but also do alot of activities such as play doh, making cakes, splashing in puddles , puzzles etc

dont concentrate on the fact that they can do it and try to get them to learn more as they will lack on other things do lots of role play games he seems a bit to young to not be able to entertain him

theres lots of things teddy bears picnics dancing and singing ,cars , collecting leaves and sticking them to paper i'm sure he must have some interest in activities we do lots of painting and drawing and crafts done this since he was 2

if you cannot get him to do things i would speak to hv as thought at this age all things are intersting just dont concentrate on teaching him stuff he will learn in time anyway have fun

its good though that he is bright at this age but dont only concentrate on that if ound myself trying to teach my ds more as he was so clever but now i just play and let him learn as we go along

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CodDickinson · 16/11/2007 18:45

its a trick

thats all

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coppertop · 16/11/2007 18:48

The Child Psych who saw ds2 at a similar age said that at this age it is far too early to tell. She said that she personally would wait until 5+ before deciding whether or not a child was "exceptional".

Btw I should mention that being "sociable and emotional" doesn't necessarily rule out autism.

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jugglingact · 16/11/2007 18:52

thanks all of you, some good ideas.

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Blandmum · 16/11/2007 18:55

Kids have very variable learning curves at all ages, but particularly so at this sort of age.

Agree with coppertop that 2 is far to young to be making dx of 'exceptionalness'

I'd just do the regular stuff, join a library, see if there is a local toy library, that sort of thing

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S1ur · 16/11/2007 18:59

Kids are exceptional in all sorts of ways, I suspect nearly all kids are in some way. Yours sounds lovely and bright and interesting but other than doing what you're doing I wouldn't be too quick to go through a G7T program so to speak. Do things together that you'll both enjoy and have fun, take him places, woods, museums, libraries, local walks to discuss features of interest but don't feel like you have to. Its nice he can do what he can - but it is sort of a trick in that cool you can feel proud and so you should... but not doing anything won't stop his brain developing, or prevent him being a gifted lad if that's what he is, however pushing formal stuff like letter number recognition might turn him off learning a bit...

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S1ur · 16/11/2007 19:02

Not that you are of course, just mean focus on what he wants to learn about and forget early G&T curriculum. Pre-school teaches other things aside from formal ed that you may opr may not want him to learn at 3/4, i'm thinking social stuff, behvaviour, etc

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Desiderata · 16/11/2007 19:07

I wonder if Einstein went to pre-school. Why does everyone seem to concentrate so much on how intelligent their toddlers are?

Surely a grown woman can stimulate a 2yo without recourse to the national curriculum ..

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SpacePuppy · 16/11/2007 19:11

my ds almost 2 can only string 3 words and count 2,4,5,8 he only recognises the letters o and p, but he can build a 9 piece puzzle without my help! does that make him gifted

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S1ur · 16/11/2007 19:12

I think Einstein did notoriously badly at school, genius of his type tend to be a little different and lack skills that sit well in most schools I think and would prob get told off for focussing overly much on own interests oh and untidy handwriting.

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S1ur · 16/11/2007 19:12

Spacepuppy that makes him a budding architect!!!!

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singersgirl · 16/11/2007 19:14

Both my DSs were very like your son at the same age and they are now fairly bright, but relentlessly normal, 6 and 9 year olds.

Here are some of the things we did: storytime at the library, Reader Rabbit Toddler on the computer, drop-in playgroups, friends' houses, the playground, swimming, a slightly more structured music/drama session once a week, cafes and restaurants, the shops, cooking, Play-Doh etc. Personally I don't do art, but that was why we went to playgroup.

I'm sure your DS is a bright little boy and I'm sure you can find loads of ways to keep him happy and interested in the course of a day.

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S1ur · 16/11/2007 19:16

My dd is a gifted linguist as on this thread but she is exceptional for all sorts perhaps mostly for her bendiness during tantrums

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jugglingact · 16/11/2007 20:23

Desiderata; Of course I can entertain a 2 yo and stimulate them, I have 2 happy confident children. That was not my point - I just wanted ideas and views from likeminded mums, following on from being told by others that my ds was quite intelligent.
Like all mums, I believe all children are exceptional in their own unique ways and as my title asked' ...or am I just a proud mum'. I'm going to take from this thread, that yes, he's bright, but I feel glad to know that he's not off the radar.. And I feel humbled knowing whilst he knows his pentagons I can't get him to sit on the potty for love nor money...
Should have known, there's always one MNer who adds devalues the thread with curt comments!
p.s liked slurs thread!!

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Desiderata · 16/11/2007 20:25

There's usually at least one

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LedodgyDickinson · 16/11/2007 20:35

You probably do have bright boy but it's hard to tell if he's gifted or if it's due to the fact that he has been taught such things at a young age. He doesn't know what a hexagon or pentegon is without being told what they are first iyswim, the same with counting. It simply wouldn't occur to alot of parents of a child his age to go into such detail thus it's difficult to determine how much is natural intelligence and how much is simply because he's been taught these things earlier than most.

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LedodgyDickinson · 16/11/2007 20:36

*pentagon I mean! I am not G&T.

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Tinker · 16/11/2007 20:38

My 2.6 year old told me the moon was a semi-circle yesterday. I told her "don't be so ridiculous, it's a crescent" Tonight, however, it was a rectangle apparently

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myjobismum · 16/11/2007 20:40

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

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LyraSilvertongue · 16/11/2007 20:42

Tbh I wouldn't say he was that exceptional.
DS1 at the age of (just turned) 2 knew most of his letters, he could count up to 20 and knew all his shapes and colours etc. I can't remember how many words he could put together but a fair few.
I thought at the time that he must be gifted but he's now 5 and in year 1 and his reading is pretty much average and a lot of the girls in his class are much more advanced than him.
If I were you I wouldn't do anything, just see how he progresses and see how he does at school.
One of the girls in DS1's class has a reading age of 9. Now that's gifted imo.

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Evenhope · 16/11/2007 21:12

My DD1 was really forward at 2. She spoke well, knew left and right, had a fantastic memory and concentration span etc

She was always in the top set at primary but by secondary was about average in her class. She's just graduated with a 2:1 but is by no means exceptional. Some of her friends are real high flyers.

I don't think early promise is necessarily indicative of future potential, sorry.

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S1ur · 16/11/2007 21:26

Well I think it's pretty exceptional to go to Uni and get 2:1 good on her you must be dead proud. There's gifted and there's talented and there genius and there's all sorts of folk who are bright and great at a range of other none academically measured stuff too. To the op your ds will get lots of academic education (probably!) give him what you're best placed to do, a wonder with the world, an interest in things, confidence to fail sometimes too.

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