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.

sorry - in her pram at 2

And just to add - my mum swears when I started primary school my teacher treated me as a genius as I was so far ahead - at that point!. But I was not a genius - although bright enough to recognise this at 6/7.

Maryz I stuck it on my watch list before I went to bed, just after the first post came up.

No-one else had posted yet, but I could tell this thread was going to have lots of informative, amusing, and just plain sarcastic posts.

This morning, I was not disappointed!

[ProudParentOfTwoYearOldThatCan'tDoAnyOfThatStuff emoticon]

oh dear! my 17-month-old daughter still craps her pants. [hsad]
i am worried that she will turn out to be an OHB.

Why don't you teach her to read and then let her loose on all the books she wants? FWIW I could read before I started school and used to watch open university science programmes when I was very young but sadly I can't recall any of that now!

What would you do with whatever information you would glean from this testing? Wear it as a badge?

Let her be herself, encourage her to do the things she truly loves and, believe me, if she is truly gifted she will continue to blossom and will eventually be recognised for it at school and treated appropriately. You don't need an ed psych to tell you to follow your child's lead.

My son could do all of this at 18 months, and more. He's now quite an average 4 year old, bless him! Chill out.

I was tested by mensa at 16 and "awarded" an IQ score of 170 (I think the kids nicked most of it). No once did it occur to me to put it on my UCCA form.

brdgrl - so what! It really doesn't matter. Einstein was famously very late to walk and talk - didn't do him any long term harm.

I did have someone apply for a job once who put their mensa score down. The other manager I was with wanted to not interview this person on the grounds that anyone who did this was obviously a twat. We did interview him - and he didn't get the job.

My friend's son could recite the whole of the Jabberwocky at 2 - and point out if she hadn't put quite enough Sudocream on when changing his nappy.

Just flunked his A' levels.

I haven't read the whole thread but I have no idea why you would want to get her tested.

A good Ed Psych report costs in excess of £750 these days.

Your daughter sounds bright but not remarkable, tbh. My 2 year old dd can do quite a few of the things you describe and it's never crossed my mind that she's gifted - I thought she was reasonably bright and no more.

In any case, you can't usually tell which children in the early years will turn out to be gifted as they approach GCSEs and A levels.

My 15 year old daughter scored 10/10 on her Apgar- should she include this on her university applications, bearing in mind that standards have definitely slipped since then, and there was no such thing as a 10* back then?

Bof - I can just see the bunch of childless, unworldly elderly men who assessed my last university application crowding round your DD's application murmuring appreciatively and with some bemusement 'Apgar, you say? Mmm, sounds very impressive, will it be one of the European things?'

But yes. Op, please don't. My mate's parents did this and she remembers the test being really quite scary at age 3/4 - not nice experience for a little one (she did fine on it, just hated doing it).

OP, I'd say that the least of your worries is that you may 'become complacent' with your daughter's intelligence......

[hgrin]

I apparently had a genius-level IQ as a young child. I turned out to be maybe a bit above average and did OK at school/university but certainly nothing exceptional. I'd just learned to count and read very early (could read 'proper' books at your daughter's age) for some reason. Children develop at different rates, it's normal.

I would agree teaching her to read (if you haven't already) is probably the best thing you can do, if you want to do something. I've always got a lot of pleasure out of reading, and never saw it as 'homework' or a chore when I was at school, probably helped that I'd been doing it for as long as I could remember so it was natural to never be without a book!

Does she like music? I liked to 'play' at the piano when I was tiny apparently, if someone lifted me onto the stool. Never became a genius composer or concert pianist or anything, but I do still enjoy playing for fun!

It has not ever occurred to me to put my toddler IQ score on a university or job application form, I think that would be a very odd thing to do indeed!

Sorry, can't resist it......

My ds also turned 2 in June and can do all the things you mentioned aside from count in Spanish (never seen Dora) but, he can sing just about every jingle/theme tune from CBeeBees, complete with actions.

Get your dd tested if you like, but I'd suggest that you update in the Gifted and Talented section rather than AIBU.

I do love a bit of competitive parenting - it is always good for a giggle.

DS is freakishly good at climbing for some reason - it drives his nursery carers bonkers. He has figured out some quite advanced climbing techniques for getting up vertical surfaces - clearly this is unlikely to advance his education/career prospects in any way and you would think it would be an unlikely thing for someone to get competitive about.

I took him to a park recently where he kept climbing a ladder on one of the big climbing frames. Two dads were there with similar aged children and they nearly went into a frenzy trying to get their toddlers up the ladder. One actually hissed 'look - that little boy can do it!'. Seriously - every time he went near the thing, there they were, practically shoving their poor children up the ladder after him. One of them was throwing a wobbly and his dad kept trying to push him up. I did wonder if I should say 'look, DS is a climbing ninja. This is not normal and in no way makes your child rubbish!' but I suspect it might have made things worse.

I might get him a little pair of climbing shoes and a rope and announce 'come on DS, you know your national squad climbing instructor said you had to work on your smearing technique today' next time we go there.

My 2 year old also speaks in Spanish learned from Dora. She also has a cute little accent (sounds nothing like our entire family of Scots) that I have realised sounds exactly like Peppa Pig.

I did initially think she was some sort of genius but decided she probably watches too much telly.

But what did the bloody midwife say? Nine pages of this and still no answer [hangry]

I once had a boyfriend who's parents thought he was a genius. They sent him to a very expensive good school that taught him extreme arrogance to expect more from life than the 'average' boy. He was a member of Mensa from a very young age. He's now in prison doing 7 years for a white collar crime that he was arrogant enough to think nobody else was clever enough to spot. Sometimes I think his parents set him up to fail, by constantly telling him he was intellectually invincible.

If you truly think your DD is gifted then save your money for now and buy the book "the social and emotional needs of the gifted child" which should help.

Please note I know someone whose child has been tested from very early on and was cited as wow amazing etc, my DD was not tested although she appeared bright. Both children are now 8 and the tested child cited as amazing when age 2 is slipping back and is not showing any of the earlier promise while my DD is leaping ahead. Children develop at different rates and it is better to keep a watching brief now.

On a serious note, I hope the OP takes on board all the comments from people who were considered gifted children themselves.

I was one of them. I went on to get decent, but not outstanding, a-levels (not least because I thought I was clever enough not to have to work hard) and a good, solid 2.1 from a good university, followed by a post-grad. If you had extrapolated out from the potential I showed as a young child, you would have expected me to be brandishing a handful of ph.ds and 1st class Oxbridge degrees.

OP, you've got a reasonably bright child. Be pleased, be proud, encourage her etc etc. But having a certificate from an Ed Psych saying 'this child was tested by me and is, urrrr, reasonably bright' isn't going to do you or your child any favours.

Is that a clever reference to the legendary 10/10 Apgar post/thread, there?

I've heard of it, but never seen it.