Is my 21 month old just really bright or should I be concerned?

[Collyn09]

Hi,
My son is 21 months old. We have always encouraged learning in general, and have introduced him to numbers and letters from an early age. The past six months he has become increasingly more interested in them of his own accord, and we have been more than happy to indulge him. He can recite the alphabet, put it in the correct order by himself and regognises all the letters independently (both big and small). He can also count to 20, backwards from ten and can arrange these numbers in order by himself. In addition he knows all his shapes and colours. As a parent, you can't help but be filled with a sense of pride at all this. However, although I am hoping he is just naturally bright, a niggling thought I have inside just won't leave me. I'm beginning to become concerned about the possibility of him having autism. I have family members who work in this area, and although they acknowledge that these things are autistic traits, my some does not seem to have any other traits in addition. For example, his speech is excellent and he does not become upset when someone rearranges the order of the alphabet etc. I know it is a very large spectrum, and by no means a one size fits all type of thing. I was just looking to see if anyone else's children or any other children they know of was like this with numbers and letters and did not have autism? Thanks in advance.

Have you spoken to your health visitor about your concerns?how does he socialise with other children?

I have, she said we will discuss it more at his two year review in July.

Nah, dd1 was doing this at 18 months (some kids are just trick ponies) and is 15 now and entirely NT. She actually has the lowest IQ of my three, although all are notionally 'gifted' in those sorts of terms. (Hasn't meant anything different for schooling, just a label). My youngest taught herself to read before she could speak (although her speech was delayed) and she doesn't have autism either. Ds1 started pre-school on his third birthday and they ran him with yr2 math as he just had some sort of innate understanding of numbers. He is the only one who has Aspergers traits (some sensory stuff and mild social anxiety) but he didn't pick up any sort of dx until he was nearly 10, and even then they just tagged 'traits' to an add dx (which the psych said was probably not add, just boredom with education).

Kids are like sponges. Some of them will soak up everything you spill near them.

Thank you, that's exactly the thing I'm trying to get a feel for. I know it wouldn't matter to either of us if he were to be placed on the spectrum, it's just a case of for warned is for armed. My mum said I was similar as a child (although not as young), so it is more than likely to be just a natural interest he has. You've made me feel a lot better though thank you.

My ds was like that at that age but as he got slightly older there were other slightly odd other things. Practical things like potty training he was really late on at well over 3. He did get looked at my hv wen play school raised some concerns of autism but hv thought he was an intelligent boy and not being stimulated enough and we moved him to another and he was fine. He is 4 and in reception now and I get the impression he is in the top groups (they don't say which groups are top) but socially I would say he is behind other children. I don't think the things mention are anything of concern at the minute

As you said it's something he was interested in, so he learnt it. Children learn what is important to them. For them it's no different to being able to recogise all the characters from a TV show that they like, just looks more impressive.

Dd1 was writing words at 22 months, and dd2 was reading books by that age too, plus doing things like counting in 2s backwards from 100 (in dd2's case) but neither are on the Spectrum, and although both are bright, they're not super bright. It's just something they find interesting.

I reckoned ds was the only child who could spell "sonic boom" and "concorde" before his own name (aged 2yo). That was because there were youtube videos that interested him so he could load up the computer, type up the (8 digit numbers and letter) password, that he'd learnt by watching it be typed in, get up youtube and find his favourite videos by searching.
Although this sounds impressive, I'm pretty certain that any reasonable bright child would be able to do the same if they wanted to.

Sounds like he has a great memory and is keen to learn!