Is my child unusually clever?

[Cursingtheboobytum]

Hi,

Just wondering whether my 18 month old is just a bit smart or unusually clever. Purely out of interest at this stage.

So here goes

She's 18 months old and has a large and wide vocabulary (haven't counted but pretty sure we're talking in the hundreds here). For example, she knows all her animals, wild and domestic and what sounds they make. Can recognise a lot of objects and name them from puzzles to jugs, toothbrushes, cars, sofa, bowl, spoon, fork, door window etc.... Speaks three word sentences in two languages and knows when to use each language. Knows up and down, in and out, on and under, in front and behind. Knows her colours and can count to 5 in two languages. Can understand complex instructions (e.g. can be given an instruction with more than one step in it). Does things like using her place mat to 'fish' for things out of her reach on the table, has tried to take apart her bike with an alan key and will use chairs and steps to reach door handles etc..... Seems to be playing at pretending things sometimes, like being asleep ir eating with her play food.

What are your thoughts? Do I have a kid who's a bit smart or is she unusually clever? I don't really have any other child to compare her too.

I have my reasons for asking so don't flame me. And I'm definitely NOT a pushy parent.

Thanks for reading

Your dd sound very advanced for her age.

There's no point listening to what mumsnetters say, have seen loads of these threads, and even if you said your 18month old dd was sitting her A-levels, they would say "sounds normal to me"

It is NOT normal to be able to say 100s of words at 18months, it is advanced.

Do I feel bad now that we have let her down and she has an ordinary [well no baby ordinary but you get the gist] baby. Oh I hope she OK

No, doesn't sound any different to mine. DD2 is about 2 months older and was doing the same things you listed in your OP at 18 months. I don't doubt that they are clever but its not 'unusually' clever.

For what its worth, DD1 was just the same and people used to tell me how amazing her speech was and all the puzzles she could do etc. For a while I was convinced I had a genius on my hands but now at 3 her peers have mostly caught up. I think she is still bright and inquisitive and will probably be academic like DH and I but she isn't 'stand out' anymore in a group of her peers - and actually I'm thrilled about that.

But snowmaiden it might be advanced, but no-one can say if child is unusually clever - isn't that what other peoples' stories illustrate?

Lol at choas. SIL issues highly likely I'd say. Or MiL comparisons with the child's father at that age

I didn't say she was unusually clever, we can't possibly know that, but everyone is banging on as if she's average.

I love the way, on these threads, people can't just say yes, normal or no, genius. They HAVE to chip in with their own tales of genius behaviour.

snowmaiden - you are right that it is advanced talking for this age but I still don't believe it means that the child is unusually clever or gifted. Certainly ime it hasn't mean this.

I dont think that's fair, squeaver.

I think people are trying to contextualise their responses, rather simply passing a 'yes/no' judgement like they were God.

snowmaiden - you didn't say she was unusually clever, that is true, but op asked the question..how can we possibly know that? We can only look at our own children to help op decide - I have 4. One late talker, one on a par with op's child and 2 average (whatever that is?). The older 2 (13 &11) have got pretty much the same marks at school, dc2 edging it slightly in English. Therefore, looking at my children, the age at which they talked was pretty meaningless.

My ds who is 4 has always been articulate and inquisitive but that doesnt mean he will be a MENSA genius.I am more concerned about him being happy,healthy and sociable at this age.

Official 'normal' range is vocab of 20 words or so and she's miles over that.

She is miles ahead in the talking stakes of my ds who still uses no words at 20mo, but i don't think he is stupid so I suppose you can't presume she is genius because she does use all those words.

She definitely isn't thick though is she

There are also plenty of developmental connections going on which are not visibly obvious, so those things may not be as advanced if her development is going into communication at present, tho' equally they may be. Children tend to balance out around 3yo and then it is easier to see if a child is massively outstanding in some way - most child development people won't draw any conclusions until then.

I think whoever said, enjoy it, was right - relish her lovely wonderfulness and soak it all up because she is clearly a delight.

Also curious what your 'reasons for asking' are? :)

Thank you everyone for your replies. A mixed bag indeed.

My husband and I love her dearly and she's very entertaining and delightful. But we can't take our eyes off of her for a second because you never know what she's going to do next.

We're not a particularly wordy family, but (and I put my fire proof hat on here) we don't have a telly so tend to interact a lot with her.

I'm asking because over here they don't start school until they're 6. We could send her to an international school at 4.5 but that costs money. But if that meets her needs (if those are her needs) then we need to start thinking about finances now.

She has been walking since 12 months and physically is very capable too. She runs and climbs along with the three year olds at nursery and also rides her push along bike since 13 months. She sings three or fours songs too. And uses fork and spoon correctly and has been since 15 months. I guess only time will tell. I just had this vision of her being bored and kicking around waiting for 6 years old and school.

Thank you again

Incidentally - if this insight helps achieve the objective of your asking... my nephew was very similar to this... at 12mo he was asking me if I had a good day at work and did I like my job etc and listened to the answers!!!

However he is now a young lad who is bright but rather lazy and extremely proud of the fact he is incapable of doing anything useful in the house!

So, brains aren't everything, though they come in handy if the owner applies them. :)

I am ashamed to say that I'm not sure I can remember with any accuracy what the DDs were doing at 18 months

You sound like you're doing a great job. There is no reason, with all your interaction, why she should be bored. I am very much in the camp that we start schooling too early and would love to have put off school until they were 6. My children were happy until they started school, especially dc2.

Cursing She sounds just like my two and my oldest has just recently turned 3 and I can't imagine her not starting school until she is 6. In your position I would start saving now just in case.

Just because they're clever doesn't mean early school is right for them though. If she did turn out to be a genius you could even find that you struggled less to meet her needs at home than at school because you'd have the flexibility to do what you wanted with her.
It's really impossible to predict.

OK, well the average number of words at 18 months (according to the babycentre) is 10-20.
So at this moment in time the OPs child is displaying signs that her current development is well above average.
Whether this development continues we can't predict, but I think the OP wanted to know if her child was 'currently clever', not if she will grow up to be genius.
I don't think you need to do anything unusual with her though, just continue as you ar, you are obviously doing a great job.

Ahhh - well I suppose a lot depends on how effective the learning is once she starts at 6.

Here the earlier start isn't necessarily engaging the brain as it is glorified play anyway often and some children are not emotionally ready for school so young.

If she starts at 6 and they really drive the standards and keep her challenged and encouraged it could be totally perfect for her.

If you can give her lots of variety and interesting tasks in the meantime it could be as good as early school and better for the family financial health.

For instance I baked a lot with my mum pre-school and without realising learnt lots of maths and science from that which stood me on good stead at school. :)

GinPalace I agree with that.

She does sound clever, my ds1 was operating at a similar level at that age and he is very bright (was at that age and continues to be so). However, only you will know if she will be bored by not going to school. Are there pre-school or other childcare options that may suit? My ds would have gone nuts had he not been able to attend somewhere where he could absorb more learning, but he was also ready socially too, which is just as important.

She still sounds normal.

My youngest son was up and climbing with the older kids from the moment he could walk (12 months). He is 6 now, still climbs, is like a dolphin in the water, started skiing when he was 3 (and we moved to Norway), the education children get in places where they start school at 6 does not disadvantage kids at all.

We came back to England in September, and despite my son not having had any formal schooling, and not learnt to read, he joined a year 2 class and has covered all Reception level reading before Christmas and is currently racing through Year 1 level work, and is at the same level as the rest of his class for maths and all other non-literacy subjects. He has no issues with subtraction, addition, multiplication even if he went straight from a Norwegian nursery to a UK year 2.

Cripes I'm so glad there are a few people who have said this isn't normal - I was beginning to question my sanity there! That sounds like a very advanced vocabulary to me (although as my two were walking at 11 and 10 months respectively, not particularly early walking ), there must be alot of geniuses on MN.

Just she is normal, but still well above average.