To want to get my child tested by an educational psychologist....

[royaljelly]

Sorry quite long as a bit of backgroung is needed.

My daughter turned 2 at the end of June 2011 and she is really intelligent (may be biased).

The main factors are:

Can count to 20 in English

Can count to 8 in Spanish, (we do not speak spanish and think she has picked this up from Dora),

She recognises if you ask her to count in Spanish or English.

Often counts backwards from 10 correctly, even whilst playing

Will remember statements, such as, 'We will build a den after dinner'. As soon as dinner is done we have to build a den.

Recognises colours such as pink, purple, brown, as well as primary ones and will get the correct crayon even if the wrapping is a different colour.

Recognises shapes and can draw them if asked.

Spots mumbers in the street and calls them out.

Has circled the toys in the Argos catalogue for Xmas.... we thought she was scribbling but she has a definate view on what she wants, (quite a tomboy and has missed out the entire girly range except for a kitchen).

As parents we thought she was rather bright, but thought our own biased views made this the case. This has now been picked up by her childminder and even people at the bus-stop who think she is older than she actually is.

I have been on the Mensa website and they have said that for children under 10, their tests be carried out by an educational psychologist.

They seem to mainly carry out tests on ADHD or troubled kids and partner now thinks that if I go ahead and organise this it may label her.

I think that if we get advice on encouraging and building her intelligence then this will benefit her in the future.

I should add that we do not sit her down and command her to draw shapes or count, but do this as part of family fun time ie: sat on one parents knee as we play Trivial Pursuit with her much older brothers, (she gets to move the counter).

Do I go ahead with the tests or not. I am afraid of becoming complacent with her intelligence and not allowing her to have the best opportunies in the future.

*because of their... Also, their peers...

Bloody high IQ does nothing for spelling.

I'm just for "healthy, "normal" and survives adolescence" as the goal, to be honest. Too many 19 year olds wrapping themselves round trees in cars to worry about anything other than relatively decent futures as far as I'm concerned. (We have lost 5 kids in our community in 2 years).

My son's only eleven and already him killing himself in a car is a bigger worry than him joining mensa. :(

You say you don't push your kids, OP, but then you say you'll do anything to give her 'a leg up' and you're focusing on jobs and university with a two year old. Those two things are mutually incompatible; either you're going to let her develop at her own pace or you're going to push her at yours. Which is it?

OP you could have been describing my DD, and many others I suppose.

Only mine also understands french and some arabic and can speak a little french.
she is now just over 3 and is in a bilingual chinese/english class (only because we do live in china). She can count to 20, apeaks some basic sentences and started drawing storkes. She can eplain the meaning of the rhymes she sings and corrects our prononciation. she started 8 months ago at 2.5
She can now write her name and those of friends and family in English pretty neatly. She can decipher basic words such as CAT.
She can figure out simple 1 digit additions and loves "homework" (pre-k non verbal practice booklets).
She can also count to ten in spanish and recognises wether someone speaks cantonese, mandarin, philipino, thai, urdu, japanese.

Really it only means that she is an environment conducive to the above, has a bright engaging older sibling and is a very determined child.

We chose to put her in a montessori environment until she is 6 and she is absolutely thriving, learning from older children in the class and securing her aptitudes by in turn teaching younger ones.

I also think you should let her be and just provide a lot of enrichment activities to keep her stimulated.

I would say no formal assessment.
I think that a gifted and talented child REALLY stands out. Its not merely being a bit precocious. You would definitely recognise it if you saw.

My son was like that at 18 months.
I was just very proud.
Then he regressed and lost all his skills at 3 1/2.
I'm still very proud.

So just because my son was more advanced then other children at 18 months means nothing for his future. He actually has severe development delay now.

I'm so glad I didn't obsess about it like you and just enjoyed him being a child.

I doubt anyone will label a child as gifted at that age anyway and counting is easy to learn by rote. Even my son now can count down from 10 because we do it everyday to Change activities. Doesn't mean they have a clue what it means.

Seriously please just enjoy her. Nothing you do now will help her more than you playing and loving her. The teachers wont treat her any differently then other kids if she has a label attached, they will assess where she is and challenge her.

Not only are you being unreasonable, you are being ridiculous. She is 2 ffs, what good would possibly come of it. Just let her be a toddler, encourage her learning and enjoy her. MENSA for crying out loud, I really have heard it all now.

My daughter was like that at the same age. Now she's having extra maths tuition because she's behind. They nearly all even out in the end.

1. what EvilLittleLeprechaun said.
2. many 2 year olds would be able to count, converse fluently etc as you describe your daughter doing. It's within the normal range of abilities of a child that age - possibly to the right of the mean within the bell curve, but not so far it's surprising.
3. more what ELL said - let her be 2.

And really sorry to be blunt, but midwives say lots of crap when babies are born. I do too, if I'm present at the birth (sections/instrumentals). We tell people their children are the cutest, the quietest, we talk about "knowing eyes" (well I don't but I've heard more than one midwife use the phrase) - often I've heard them talk about how the baby's eyes are open "taking it all in" (they can't focus at a few minutes old /roll)... It's meaningless babble to make parents feel better about the process of childbirth and their new arrival. Take it with several large pinches of salt.

FWIW, I did get DS1 assessed at 4 at the request of his preschool. He was assessed and pretty much off their scales for 3D spatial awareness, pattern recognition and puzzle solving. I said "thanks, we love him anyway" and haven't pushed, prodded or poked him further. He's at school, thoroughly enjoying life and being 5. He only gets to be this age once, I'd rather he looked back on it as all fun as opposed to academic pushing thinly disguised as fun.

Lots of other people have said it so well. My DD1 was 2 in May and seems quite bright too, a similar level to yours, she can count to 20, recognizes shapes and colours (though isn't that usual at this age?) And has excellent language for her age. E.g.:

DD: "2 glasses, one for Mummy, one for Daddy".
Me: "Yes, that's right."
DD: "Daddy drinks wine, Mummy drinks champagne."

So what? I wouldn't dream of getting her tested now, what would it achieve? The only possible benefit would be bragging power. When people notice how bright she is, you want to be able to reply, "Oh yes, she has an IQ of 150, don't you know?"

Why not just continue hot-housing encouraging her, letting her be 2 and leave the gifted and talented stuff for later on, if she indeed is still ahead.

On second thoughts, maybe I should get DD1 tested. In fact, DD2 is 7 months old and can say, "Mama" and "Dada", maybe I should get her tested too?

My DS turned 2 in August and can do all the stuff in the OP, except Dora, but can recite any number of nursery rhymes. He's certainly not the most advanced in his peer group, so personally I wouldn't start getting excited about Mensa (it's crap, btw).

My 2 year old could "read" the entire Gruffalo and other books. He learned it off by heart though, so he was "cheating". He also knew to count in Spanish (Dora obsession). And playgroup leader told me he was "exceptional".

I never "did" anything with this, other than think "goodie!".

I clicked on this thread because of the psych ed, which I did use. for my other son. Who has various SEN. So have some useful info there.

but for a bright toddler, I'd just say "YAY!" and then all go and have some fun.

Hahaha!

My ds was like that at 2, he picked things up so quickly we ended up getting numbers up to ten in loads of different languages off the internet and helping him learn them just for fun. At 3, he could properly read, and could do addition and subtraction in his head with numbers up to about 15 reliably.

I could go on with a huge list of things that he was doing that would seem very impressive, and in my pfb haze, I too thought I was the mother of the next Einstein.

Turned out he has aspergers, and his brain just picked academic type things up very easily, but he has difficulty in other areas. We had an Ed Psych report done as part of his diagnosis, and got told he is in the top 5% with cognitive ability.

Now at 11, he is still bright, is on G&T, has just started at a super selective grammar school, but he is no way the brightest in his class. He has forgotten how to count to ten in Mandarin, Japanese and Arabic, but still remembers German French and Spanish, and is learning latin. But so what? Lots of children can do the same.

It all evens out in the end. You may have a bright child, which is great, but there are plenty of other very bright children out there. Your child is no different to many many other children. Your child's PHD from Oxbridge is not guaranteed yet - get over yourself.

How worrying for you OP. Have you seen the programmes about highly intelligent children,who often become lonely and isolated from their peers?

OP, I beg you to enjoy your little girl and all the fabulous things that make her special. Play with her, encourage her and glow with pride inwardly. However, PLEASE do not lead her to believe she is academically superior, just let her be a kid. Little people develop at their own pace - some fast, some more slowly, but the vast majority end up about the same in the end.

I was described as "gifted" when I was young. I was moved up a year at school, and was still the brightest kid in a class of children a year younger than me. My parents were of course very proud and I was made very aware of my potential "genius".

Skip forward to the age of 10, and I moved to secondary school a year early. By that point most of the other kids had caught up with me. I lost confidence and stopped trying. I developed eating disorders and had a miserable few years until I changed schools, went back to my proper year group and had a fresh start.

Sorry for the lengthy post. I believe strongly that kids should be kids. I wouldn't wish my early tweenage years on anyone.

Oops. In a class of kids a year older than me!

See, we all even out in the end...

Why does this sort of thing always turn into a bring the op down a peg or two thread, full of stealth boasts?
In RL you would just roll your eyes, surely
I can relate to the excitement of eeing your child learn, but woul also suggest waiting until in a learning environment to worry about tests. I would try to introduce things that won't go on too much at school - music, sport etc

PLEASE tell us what the midwife said.......no seriously, I am intrigued!!!???

Gosh my youngest dd could do all this at that age too! Actually at 3 she impressed the Spanish speaking Nursery worker at her nursery with the Spanish she had learnt from Dora. Is she a genius? Nope at 8 I would say bright, maybe even G and T, but not genius (thank heavens!).
Maybe you should read: "The Genius in my Basement" by Alexander Masters; and see if you really want your daughter to be a genius.

My DS was doing the same things at 2 years old. It would never have crossed my mind to have him assessed.

He did have a routine 2 and a half year development check with the health visitor and after doing the usual tests she declared him to be at the level of an average 4/5 year old .

She also told me not to expect him to stand out as anything special once he starts school as the difference in ability evens out as kids get older.

He is now in Y1 and is in the top 5 or so in his class but as predicted by the health visitor is not the class genius. He is just a normal bright little boy.

OP - maybe you could speak to your health visitor ?

Really, really, really want to know what the midwife said!

Op
Why don't you come back and answer some questions?
What did the midwife say?
Apart from helping uni applications (hee hee), why are you keen on MENSA?
If your child is average, will you give up on supporting her development? Do you feel it only worth bothering for an academically exceptional child?

Your posts seem to show some naïveté about lots of topics. Your DC might benefit from time spent with other adults (grandparents etc) to ensure she develops social skills, as you do seem lacking in communication skills.

Is this a joke?

My at 2.
Can count and recognise numbers up to twenty, and count backwards. He can also do up to ten in Madarin.
Recognises the whole alphabet and can recite it.
Draw shapes.
Knows all colours,
Understands sequence,
Talks in perfect conversation.
Is possibly extremely bright or just picks things up easily.
At seven I had an IQ of 138...I probably don't even have that now!!

And what I've done is make sure he's very happy and not trashing my house!!!

Grumpypants, I don't see it as stealth boasting, more as trying to demonstrate to the OP that her child isn't as unusually intelligent as she seems to think.