What was your gifted child like when they were 2 - 3 years old

[ChazDingle]

Won't go into too much detail but DS has been identified as potentially showing some signs of autism. One of the main things is that he extremely good with numbers and letters. Its early days still but it was also mentioned that some of the other signs might be toddler behavour that he grows out of and he might be gifted. When i look at the signs of autism and the signs of giftedness there is quite a big overlap. If your child is gifted what were they like at 2-3 and were they suspected of being autistic? Did they turn out to be autistic as well as gifted.

[timetorefresh]

At that age my DD was planning a lot of the activities she ended up doing at nursery. She kept the staff very entertained.

[takeachillpill2]

My DS (2nd child) was incredibly aware of surroundings and showed very early signs of separation anxiety and lots of other people commented on how it looked as if he was an old man in a baby's body as even when a few months old, it looked as if he somehow knew what was going on around him.

Other than that, with an older toddler, didn't have time to teach him letters/numbers but he picked it up himself. Was astounded when, a much older child was showing off his counting in tens to his parents, when DS (still in a buggy) was able to carry on past 100! Definitely strong ability to see signs/read early, numbers and full understanding of number.

Pre-school commented on how he would actively seek out learning opportunities even when very young and sometimes away from other children. But he was still sociable but incredibly self conscious (again aware of surroundings). I did ask the question about ASD/spectrum but teacher, very experienced, said 'he's just very bright'. Generally speaking school and other adults have always commented on how bright he is, but we did notice his capability to remember things and process and draw connections at quite adult levels, made an appearance very early on. And was quite interesting as with oldest child, we didn't see these things so it was evident DC2 was different in that sense.

DS now is still an extremely chatty child, still a bit self conscious but has lots of friends and a great sense of humour (quite sarcastic and adult)! He's still gifted and has a high IQ.

[marapournumber4]

Just noted this is old thread - but if it's of any help to anyone my gifted DC did not say a word until he was 3. Fab social skills but very independent. Amazing concentration, but happy to stop if asked.

[Feefooo]

At age 2-3 DD had really good language acquisition she started talking very young actually. DH has ASD, DD has dyslexia but tested really high IQ, when we smashed the dyslexia , she started reading Shakespeare obviously when she was 8. Shakespeare has really helped her developed a love for reading. She started drawing when she was 2-3 for hours at a time.

[Katyy92]

I’ve found this thread and find it really interesting. Our son is in the category but to be honest to us he not to be rude isn’t well above his peers by any means. He’s always been interested in learning, reading and we’ve always I suppose since he was little as a family encouraged that as we as people both are.

I was in the G&T at school and didn’t really see much benefit a lot of the time. We did get to go on some courses that were interesting and some development but senior school after Y9 it just stopped.

and my concern is when our bairn gets to senior school, I certainly felt I was then isolated in these sessions with my friends (not included), as me and they were from a lower background income wise to the rest of the group in G&T and that was difficult.

im not sure how it works in secondary school now but i do worry about that. As someone who was on a sports team too, it was clear that the school prided sporting over academic achievement

[Svara]

@caitlinm38231

So did it show itself in puzzles at a really young age? Was their activities you gave him to encourage that learning?

I posted months ago upthread. He was doing 20 piece puzzles at 20 months, up to 100 piece ones sometime when he was two. I bought him more cheap cardboard puzzles, he had my old lego and duplo, then his own sets for birthdays and Christmas. He was following instructions for 7+ kits at age 4. He liked to watch mythbusters dvds, history programmes like timeteam, engineering programmes. I taught him numbers and letters like many parents before school. The maths he just understood the first time he was taught, and he wanted to learn new things all the time, we just talked about it in the car. He was assessed at an end of year 2 level for maths halfway through reception, he did it all in his head though as he had no formal instruction.

[caitlinm38231]

So did it show itself in puzzles at a really young age? Was their activities you gave him to encourage that learning?

[Svara]

@caitlinm38231

Hi,
I have been going down a rabbit hole online recently and thought I’d reach out to see if anyone has experienced something similar with their child. My daughter is 2, turning 3 in September. She is almost completely non-verbal (can say by-bye and ta). Health visitors decided to refer her to a pediotrition as there was concerns about Autism. After being assessed they decided my daughter wasn’t showing signs of Autism and was more likely just a speech delay. In the last couple months though, my daughter has become amazing at puzzles. She is completing 100 piece puzzlers on her own, and will sit for over an hour doing puzzle after puzzle. She does them upside down too. Down my rabbit hole online i came across Einstein Sydrome, and gifted children. I wondered if anyone elses children had showed signs of this, Or if I’m thinking into it all too much.

Ds was the same with puzzles, he's not autistic, just gifted, especially at maths and spacial stuff. Going on to do computer science and maths at 16, not exceptional but does well without much study. Some issues with disengagement in primary.

[Morph22010]

@Rufus27

This.

Well say what you want but it was defiantly an early sign as it turns out (I am the original poster of that comment from 2013) , he liked order, putting things in an order like numbers and letters. We are now 10
years on and he has a lot more obvious signs of autism

[Rufus27]

This.

[Morph22010]

My sons always been really socialable and always been ok with eye contact. His speech was also in line for age. I think it’ll just be a case of wait and see. I take it she’s had her hearing checked?

[caitlinm38231]

My kitchen table currently 😂

[caitlinm38231]

They are pictures puzzles. We lay out the 100 pieces infront of her and she will just scan them all and pick out the right piece immediately. She’ll sometimes do separate parts of the puzzles and join them together later. It was just so out of the blue her interest in them. But the first thing she does in the morning when she gets up is a puzzle. I’m really not sure she is autistic. She has great eye contact, she’s really sociable, no other traits to do with food or sleep. It was just the speech delay that was of concern to the HV.

[Morph22010]

@caitlinm38231

Hi,
I have been going down a rabbit hole online recently and thought I’d reach out to see if anyone has experienced something similar with their child. My daughter is 2, turning 3 in September. She is almost completely non-verbal (can say by-bye and ta). Health visitors decided to refer her to a pediotrition as there was concerns about Autism. After being assessed they decided my daughter wasn’t showing signs of Autism and was more likely just a speech delay. In the last couple months though, my daughter has become amazing at puzzles. She is completing 100 piece puzzlers on her own, and will sit for over an hour doing puzzle after puzzle. She does them upside down too. Down my rabbit hole online i came across Einstein Sydrome, and gifted children. I wondered if anyone elses children had showed signs of this, Or if I’m thinking into it all too much.

Are they picture puzzles or puzzles with some sort of order to them? Mine could do alphabet and number puzzles with lots of pieces really young but wasn’t really interested if it was “just a picture”. I’m the original poster from 2013 and my child is now 12, was diagnosed autism when he was 6. If she is autistic it will become more apparent as she gets older.

[Onlyrainbows]

I'm actually gifted but AFAIK nobody could tell until I was 9/10

[caitlinm38231]

Hi,
I have been going down a rabbit hole online recently and thought I’d reach out to see if anyone has experienced something similar with their child. My daughter is 2, turning 3 in September. She is almost completely non-verbal (can say by-bye and ta). Health visitors decided to refer her to a pediotrition as there was concerns about Autism. After being assessed they decided my daughter wasn’t showing signs of Autism and was more likely just a speech delay. In the last couple months though, my daughter has become amazing at puzzles. She is completing 100 piece puzzlers on her own, and will sit for over an hour doing puzzle after puzzle. She does them upside down too. Down my rabbit hole online i came across Einstein Sydrome, and gifted children. I wondered if anyone elses children had showed signs of this, Or if I’m thinking into it all too much.

[Svara]

DS hit motor milestones on the early side, independent at the playground with steps, ladders, bridges, slides at 18 months. Balance bike as soon as he was tall enough at two and a half, climbed to the top of those giant nets at three.

Speech at the low end of normal, didn't speak much until two and a half.

Obsessed with puzzles, doing 20 piece puzzles labelled 3+ at 20 months, at two would stand at a table working his way through every wooden peg puzzle at nursery, tipping them out one by one then stacking them neatly as he finished them. Loved Duplo, then Lego from age 3. Enjoyed looking at books.

Except for speech he essentially was like a child one and a half times his age, so three at two. He would follow instructions, was very independent, common sense and maturity of an older child. He was never really a toddler.

[Morph22010]

@tetherless this is my old thread, child ended up being diagnosed age 6

[foxgoosefinch]

Hmm, I’m pretty sceptical of a lot of that link - fair enough the stuff she says about “level 1-3” children but the things for levels 4 and 5? “All appeared to understand parental directives between birth and four months”, how on Earth can a genuine researcher write this with confidence? A bit of bollocks going on there. It doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence in her methodology.

Anyway, it’s v interesting to read your update on this thread, OP.

[eXistenZ]

There have been studies done on this topic. This website actually breaks down giftedness into 5 levels based on the milestones achieved by the child. I found it quite useful. It gives you a better understanding of where your child fits in.

deborahruf.medium.com/ruf-estimates-of-levels-of-giftedness-7213a77089e9

[AegonT]

At 2 she spoke like a kid at school with a very impressive vocabulary. She started to write her name and was very good at counting. Massive tantrums!

At 3 she started wanting to read and picked up phonics easily. She could write simple sentences with the words spelt how they sound. She did sums in her head and wrote them out too. She remembered facts well. She still had big tantrums!

She had a gross motor delay and so walking, running, climbing, jumping, hopping etc was quite behind her peers.

[Jumpalicious]

Also to add, glad of your update OP!

[Jumpalicious]

At 2-3, a good vocabulary, including some unusual words. Very good memory for names, colours, knew numbers to 100. Into science even then - asking big questions about the world. Wanting things quantified (eg how many, how deep etc). But wasn’t yet reading, not drawing particularly well, don’t recall much if any writing. To this day, strength remains in numbers and an excellent memory, which makes academics very easy.

[Wailywailywaily]

Hi OP, thanks for your updates over the years, it is interesting to see the different stories unfold. I’m sorry that your DS has had a difficult time.
DS is also year 6. No one has mentioned ASD in relation to him for a few years now, his speech caught up and so did his smart arse sense of humour. He continues to be top of his class and has an entrance exam for a super selective science academy this weekend. I suspect that he will sail through in the same way as he does with every aspect of education. I have warned him that he will no longer be the smartest in his class and he says he’s just excited to meet other kids like him.

[Morph2lcfc]

Hello I’m the original poster updating as ds is now 10 and year 6 and I still see similar types of queries so I thought it might be useful to update.

We eventually got the ehcp in mainstream after appealing to tribunal and he got 32.5 hours ta. It still didn’t work out as ds just couldn’t cope in the mainstream environment. He was fine with the work it was the whole sensory environment he couldn’t cope with and he was having regular meltdowns and school kept excluding him so it wasn’t a good time. Year 4 he eventually got a place in asd provision and has settled reasonably well although we’ve still had ups and downs and obviously Covid hasn’t helped.

He’ll be going up to secondary in sept and has a place in asd provision for children without learning difficulties so he’ll he able to do GCSEs and a levels there.

It’s a lot more obvious now that he’s autistic and looking back the signs were definately there at 2-3. He’s still very clever and sails through the age related expectations at school. Not sure if he is gifted as he won’t perform on demand so to speak but he definately has a love of learning and does a lot of reading/learning for fun off his own back.

Looking back I sometimes feel abit bad I didn’t push more for a diagnosis when he was 2-3 but from what I’ve learnt since he prob wouldn’t have got much extra support then anyway. I’m also aware of kids that are diagnosed early and are well supported through primary which then makes it virtually impossible to get specialist for secondary so they end up with things then going very badly wrong at secondary when they can no longer cope. Although it was about two years of hell at time in mainstream primary at least this has now guaranteed us specialist secondary. Fingers crossed for the next stage