To think my friend's toddler is a genius

[flowerpowerr]

I went to visit a friend yesterday. I was shocked and impressed to hear her 26 month old DD already counting to 20 and identifying different colours! Is that normal at such an early age or is the child a genius? My friend and her DH are both bright.

I work in a preschool and have 3 children of my own. This is very average for a 2 year old.

Well I wish I hadn't opened this thread. My dd is 3 and can't count to ten yet! She does have a speech disorder I'm trying to make myself feel better by mentioning that.

Completely average, almost behind actually. My 6 month old is currently reading the wheels on the bus and then she will probably take out her 100 square before lunch

When dd2 was about that age a lady who ran play schemes thought she was a genius as she could identify a purple triangle. She could also count as high as she needed to, maybe 50 or a 100. She was starting to write her name at around the same time and could also read before starting school.

She’s 11 and the brighter end of average. Some kids are just early starters and don’t end up being exceptionally bright.

It's within the range of normal but tiny children are such amazing little information sponges I am always blown away by how quickly they learn stuff at this age too

Lots of neurotypical toddlers have a “talent” that in isolation seems terribly advanced- whether it’s counting/ sums, vocabulary, physical ability.

For my son it’s vocabulary. Since he was just 2 he’s been correctly identifying and saying the names of dinosaurs, component parts of steam trains (boiler, tender, couplings etc) and at 3 is completely able to hold a conversation, using words that make adults do a double take (yesterday he described his toast as “looking anaemic”.
It was admittedly, very pale.

He also uses phrases like “heavens to Betsy!” and (I’m less chuffed about) “flipping heck!”. (Thanks great-grandma for both of these) He sounds like a 2 foot George Formby.

It’s not that he’s a genius. I’m a lone parent and a TALKER. And I talk to him like I talk to adults (less the profanity and adult content). And he’s like a little sponge. So he seems terribly advanced. He is bright, and definitely one of the brighter kids at nursery- but in no way exceptional. And I say that as his mother who thinks the sun rises and sets with him.

Bless you for your enthusiasm though!

They don't all even out in the end. You get really bright toddlers just as you get really bright children and really bright adults.

@secondaccount

No they don’t all even out. But a seemingly really bright toddler and turn into an average child and an average seeming toddler and turn out to be a genius. 2 is just too young to tell.

I had slow talkers. But mine were very physical, early walkers etc.

I have one nephew who seems extremely “advanced” academically. But I have noticed a couple of things..

1. i know how advanced he is because his mum makes sure we do. Come on little johnny lets show auntie how we can count to 300/name 45 dog breeds/recite key passages of shakespeare.

2). His mum is also full on with practice. He’s done an hour a day flash cards, spelling etc since day dot. He also does the saturday morning maths/english/french classes.

He’s 6. He goes to a high pressure academic school where they get into trouble for not completing their homework every day.

Some kids are naturally bright. Some are taught early on. Some are normal intelligence but have a parent like pp who talks to them in a certain way or about certain topics and they pick up more about a subject than their peers.

I’m afraid this type of thread never ends well OP. As you can see, you get a whole load of posters falling over themselves to tell you how ‘average’ it is, while taking the opportunity to add ‘well at that age MY child could recite the alphabet backwards and was already enrolled for GCSE chemistry’ ...

Not a genius, my 2 year old is the same, just a normal curious toddler!

Absolutely normal (I know a lot of 2 year olds)

My son could count to 200 at 2, knew all his colours etc.

He is now 10, and fairly bright and capable but definitely no genius.

Well my 2 year old is only just starting to say a couple of words.

Pfffft. Child OP describes is not at all avg in my experience. We only seem to mix with other turnip brains (at age 2).

heavens to Betsy!

Amazing!

According to MIL DP barely started talking until he was about 3 and a half. He still managed to get into Oxford though. She always says he was too busy thinking to waste time talking

As an early years professional I’m frequently told by parents their child can count to 20 when what they mean is they can recite numbers to 20 by rote. That’s just like learning a song or rhyme really. Do they know what the numbers mean? can they recognise the numerals? Sequence them when out of order? Can they match the correct quantity to the number? And can they count a random assortment of items? Just saying the numbers isn’t counting. It’s a good start though not to be negative and helps us take them to the next steps when they get to school.

Normal. Ds1 was counting, subtracting, and vocabulary of hundreds of words at that age and would have conversations about subjects that some adults didn’t even know, was the reading, writing in sentences etc before starting reception.

He wasn’t or isn’t a genius, he was just a very early learner. He was in top sets in school, and came out with A-C grade GCSE and A-C in 5 A Levels. But compared to many of his friends who were getting 13A* at GCSE and 5 As at a/level, it was he done well and that’s it.

All I get from this thread is the annoyance of months, after 18 moths surely they’re just almost 2, 2 and a half etc.

hidethecrisps sums it up really. Dd could count to twenty by about 2.5 but her comprehension about what numbers meant wasn’t there and that’s the important bit really.

It’s a good foundation to have familiarity with numbers/letters but I don’t think it’s genius territory unless they’re showing an understanding of simple mathematics or something like that.

@IdiotInDisguise they don't need to be able to do either of those things at the start of reception. They need to be able to recognise their name written down and communicate clearly and personal/social skills.

@switswoo81 I do hope teachers don’t think early readers are all “hothoused”. I read early and so did both my kids. But I absolutely agree with you that they average out at 8/9 regardless - a point I often make to parents in DD2’s class stressing about book bands.

My son when young, could also read well and write quite a bit when at that age. It's not being a genius at all, In my case,I spent a lot of time teaching him lots of things. But it was in the days before the distractions of tv and techno stuff of any sort.

Your son could right at 26 months? Seriously? Did you keep any examples of his writing? That would be really outstanding! You haven’t told us if he turned out to be a genius or not.

My partners little boy can count to 10 and can identify different colours so I would say it is pretty good!