Is it unusual that 19 month old can count to ten?

[RunnyBum]

Second DD but can't remember when DD1 did things like this. Obviously it's just repetition. Her speech is good I think, and she can only do bits and pieces of the alphabet. Basically I'm asking what a 19 month old should be doing? X

Good for her! She's doing very well, but not completely out of the norm, know for sure 2 of mine could, (& think the other could too, terrible how the middle 1 gets a bit lost isn't it). If you're looking for signs of her being ahead of the 'game' see when she starts counting real things (up to 3 at first,) rather than by rote. I think ds was doing that before he was 2 & to give you an indication he's 8 now & working at a level 2 years above average. For now, just enjoy her & continue to talk to her lots, play with her etc.

Oh & the problem with posting this on the g&t thread is that you'll find a lot of people on here will have dcs who have done this, I haven't really got a clue what the average age to be able to count to 10 is!

I have no idea whether this is normal either, but both of mine could - they were also speaking in sentences of politician-like length by age 2 and are now both working 2 years above average level at school. I don't think they're geniuses, they're just clever well within the normal range. I second Joyn's advice - talking to, playing with and reading to children are all boosts to their intelligence and verbal skills and more importantly are fabulous fun.

No.

no

my ds2 could, and could do negative numbers (subtraction) well before he was 4. He was placed on G and T register for maths, fell by the wayside for a bit but ended up with 100% UMS (basically but not totally full marks) at GCSE and is doing A level maths

Nope... My DS is the same age and can also count to 10... 20 at a push, most of his little friends can actually.

Counting numbers is just like reciting a nursery rhyme or learning a song. Not that unusual, tbh.
What is unusual is being able to handle numbers....counting objects, not just reciting the "number song", knowing that numbers increase as you add objects to a pile, etc.

But your DD sounds like she has an interest in learning which it thrilling and you can do lots of nurture.

It would be unusual for a child to be able to actually count at that age - not so unusual to memorise and repeat 1-10 (or bits of nursery rhymes, familiar stories etc).

Csn't remember about DS (and he was PFB) but DD definitely couldn't as her speech was nowhere up to it.

She does seem to be pretty clever now at 6 although may have peaked already for all I know.

Well my dd can't even talk yet...

Oh, really? Is counting things unusual at this age? DD could count properly (i.e. not just reciting numbers) before she was two.Now she's 2.10 and tbh I don't see that she has progressed much- she focused on learning other stuff and I've never tried to teach her numbers over 10.

Ds is 23 months and no way could he do this! He couldn't even pronounce all the numbers and I'd say he is pretty average. Oh well perhaps a little behind reading the replies here!

she wasn't talking at 19 months. I was beginning to think she would never talk, but all of a sudden took off.

winnybella dd learnt in fits and starts. she would make massive progress in number, then stall whilst learning loads of new words, she learnt to "read" 4 words, then nothing for ages. she took ages to learn any colours, then a load came all at once. ds is equally seemingly random in his learning. he knew his letters early, but does not show any inclination to put any of them together. he recognises his numbers, but does not seem at all interested in adding one more. he went from counting to 2 on one day to 13 on the next (13 stairs) does random counting of objects with no one to one then carefully counts, then back to the random counting again. and he is so different to dd that i worry that he is not as bright. of course he is a different child and does things differently.

dd used to have a friend who was a whizz at numbers shapes and colours before he was 2 recognising square, circle, triangle, rectangle, and at least numbers 1-5 when dd couldn't, but when he stated school dd was a better reader!)

Thanks everyone for your replies! I hadn't thought before but she does count actual things too and gets the number right, and she can identify 4 shapes. But anyway I don't mind, I couldn't keep up if she was too clever ;)

If you can show her 5 bricks, ask how many and she can tell you there are 5, I'd say that is unusual for an under 2.

She sounds like a smart cookie to me, (but as I'm sure a lot of other people will tell you, it's early days). Might be seeing you a bit more on this thread in the years to come!

Very interesting thread, thanks OP. DS has just turned 2 and has been counting since around the same age and can now count forwards to 20, backwards from 5 in both French and English (French childminder). He's always been fascinated by numbers so we bought him a little wooden clock with removable numbers and he can put them in the right order etc and if we show him clocks etc. he can tell us the "time" (I don't think he grasps the concept of what time actually is but he knows certain things happen when the clock shows a certain number). Wasn't sure if it was unusual or not but this has got me thinking!

Quite normal.

Normal, really? I don't think most 19 month olds can count to ten - very few can actually count ten objects.

DD definitely could by 20m, and attempted to 20 too. But I am aware it was pretty much just repetition as at the time our lift was out of order for 2-3 months and we lived on the fifth floor - so we counted the stairs in blocks of 10 or 20 as we went up the 140+ steps! DD was very verbal anyway and was always a very good talker - she's 9y now and still hasn't come up for breath

Any 19month who spends a lot of time with adults and regularly counts steps, spoons etc would. They may not know what it means, unless the adult spends time saying 'give me 4 carrots' etc.

I work with 2 year olds at the moment and I wouldn't even say the majority of them count consistently and correctly to 10. Many 18 month olds will only have a few recognisable words, and certainly won't be be reciting 1-10.

I wouldn't say reciting 1-10 is massively unusual in an 19 month old, but it isn't the norm. Counting objects certainly isn't the norm.

Maybe not the norm then-probably they don't spend a lot of time counting with an adult-but it certainly isn't unusual. DS used to count his cars, knew all the makes and could read Ford on signs. He wasn't unusual-merely interested in cars.

I'd say it is quite unusual. But maybe wait a few years before deciding if she is gifted!