Toddler obsessed with numbers . Is this normal?

[CraZypinkpants]

DS , 3 years and 1 month , was
jist watching football and shouting out the numbers from the players shirts -29/17/33

He can count to 100 and can do basic sums of one digit numbers - 3+5. 7+2

He can identify numbers up to 50. His favourite game is for me to write a number and he shouts it out.

If I say- go and get 12 leaves he will get 12. He can identify amounts correctly. There are 16 candles.

He loves shapes so and is now loving puzzles.

He is constantly counting or telling me the shapes me can see . I am slightly worried.

I am concerned he is obsessed with numbers. He constantly counts anything and everything. He isn’t advanced in any other ways e.g not overly chatty or identifying the alphabet .

I am concerned he has some
sort of number autism ??

You don’t have to be autistic to be clever!!!!!! Also even if he’s autistic- sounds like he’s enjoying life, you need to enjoy your child’s successes and be proud of him

My son was the same at that age. It’s just an interesting topic to them because it’s a way of making sense of the world. Your little one sounds bright - nothing to be concerned about and there is no such thing as ‘number autism’! He just has an area of particular interest which he has focused on.

It could be nothing and just an interest. A friend's son was obsessed with numbers and letters at that age and was diagnosed with hyperlexia (and later transpires he's autistic).

Maybe read up on that. I'm not sure if it can be just numbers.

Ok so the number version is called hypernumeracy

Sounds better than being obsessed with poo.

My 3 year old (a few months off 4) absolutely loves numbers, especially the times tables. He can easily add, subtract, multiply, divide, solve simple equations etc... My older child is in primary school and some of the maths the younger one does is about a year 3 level! I've known a few kids who have loved numbers at a young age and I don't think it's an unusual interest in preschoolers. It just looks a bit surprising when they have this interest but are also very bright and so grasp things you wouldn't expect them to get at this age. My son has really got into it via Number Blocks. I am not worried about it and I don't think you need to worry. It's a good interest to have!

He could be a savant? Any other signs ?

People are obsessed with autism these days.
Not everything unexplained is autism.

My son was the same with numbers from an early age. He’s now 19 and studying maths and physics at university. He isn’t autistic.

DS2 aged 17 was always lining things up equal spaces apart. Very tidy and particular. Very frustrated and angry as a child. I put it down to starting school too early (just turned 4) and wasn’t very good socially. Starting them a year later wasn’t an option at that point. Studying A Level Psychology. Not autistic.

I count everything. Cows in a field even though I know there’s always 17. Raindrops on a window. A train passes with cars and vans on and Incount the cars and colours and then they mix them up and I have to look away as it drives me mad. Not autistic.

I have had 2 pupils who I taught to drive that were autistic. If they hadn’t told me, I’d never have known. Just normal kids. Neither academic.

Oh good grief! That is one heck of a leap!

My DD age 3 is the same, always interested in numbers and looking for them on doors, lampposts etc but since she started watching numberblocks it’s taken her over! She is very advanced with reading too though. But I wish she had never seen that show, I hated maths at school and I don’t want to talk about it now! I am not interested in numbers, but now I have to pretend to be one all day and talk about times tables. What is 9 x 8? I don’t care 😂

I do like pretending to be zero though. That can be fun.

Hi OP,

My DS was like this with letters, but at 18 months.

The advice that I got at the time was that this was just very early development in one area of his thinking. They said the important thing was to realise that he had already done all the development in that area that he needed to do before starting school, and that he did not need to do more work until starting school. They said that the important thing next was to help him to develop all the other stuff, so he would grow up balanced.

So I was told to concentrate on all the other stuff like walking and eye contact and understanding jokes and conversation and dancing and eating all that normal stuff. I was just to leave the reading entirely.

I found that quite helpful. Oddly when he got to school in his single form entry state primary, there was another child the same who was much more advanced in the same skill. Both kids (and me) ASD but okay.

I hope that helps a bit.

My DS was the same when he was younger, mostly prompted by a love for number blocks. He’s 7 now and still loves maths

My dd was like this, she learned numbers and shapes very early and seemed a bit obsessed with them, she was always calling out numbers in shops and stuff from about age 2. She grew out of it and now has no particular affinity for maths, mores the pity.

My DP was apparently like this. He did a maths degree. He has dyslexia and numbers are just what he's better at. Not autistic just very very good at maths.