How did you find out your DC was G&T?

[BeenThereTooSEL]

My DD is 1y and we think she may be bright or possibly G&T.

How would we find out? Who did you speak to?

And what were your DCs like at 1y?

[eeyoresgrumpierfriend]

My G&T child did literally nothing as a baby. Didn't walk until 18 months, never crawled, slept very well, late talker...

By contrast, my non G&T child could walk by 9 months, was talking in full sentences by 12 months...

By the time they were 3 it was a completely different story.

[eeyoresgrumpierfriend]

Oh realised I didn't actually answer the question. We found out DS was G&T on his first day at nursery (aged 2.5) when we got a call from them asking us why we hadn't mentioned he could read. Still no idea how/when he managed to teach himself.

[MaQueen]

Eeyore our DD2 didn't walk until nearly 18 months, and wasn't chatty at all. To be honest we thought she was going to be a bit dim especially compared to DD1 who was very talkative and physically forward.

DD2 also could suddenly read. God knows how, but she somehow self taught. She progressed from the very first '4 words per page' Biff, Chip & Kipper books to the '20 words per page' Golden Key ones in about 2 months at most. It was almost spooky.

What I find interesting is the massive contrast between her at 18 months, and then how she was at about 3 (bit like you, her nursery asked us if we'd known she could already do simple mental arithmetic).

And yet, DD1 was physically very coordinated/adept from being a toddler and still is (played 2 county sports, and the darling of her PE teachers). But, intelligence wise has ended up 'pretty clever' (she's at a grammar school) but nothing like DD2.

[JustRichmal]

With regards to the "teaching themselves to read", the following could solve the mystery.

Someone in the family, eg, Grandparent or Aunt, may have been reading stories to them and pointing to words as they read. Quite a few parents do this, and it is a quite effective way of teaching them.

They could have been watching Alphablocks on Cbeebies.

They may have been playing with a toy computer designed to teach reading.

They may have been shown words at nursery.

Older siblings may have been playing at teaching them.

Usually they have had some input from somewhere rather than just working out for themselves that the strange black squiggles on a white background relate to particular sounds which form into words.

[MaQueen]

just I know no one else in the family had been showing her words etc (I checked) and her nursery confirmed they hadn't done anything like that with her either.

Her older sister is only 12 months older so wasn't really reading much herself yet, to be honest.

So, all I can think is that she gleaned stuff from the TV, and from me just reading to her and her tying in the sounds with the black squiggles? Also because her memory is eidetic (we think, it's never been formally tested) she only had to see a new word once, to then always know it.

[eeyoresgrumpierfriend]

Oh yes, we always read lots to both DC and I always tracked my finger along the words as I read do sure that was where he got it from. We just hadn't done any sounding out of letters etc... nor had anyone else.

MaQueen DS has a phenomenal memory too - he remebers everything he has ever read.

[JustRichmal]

It does sound like they picked it up from being read to, rather than teaching themselves. It could be that they pick it up like learning to speak a language.

[user789653241]

I totally agree with JustRichmal.
I didn't actively teach my ds to read, but he was exposed to letters, sounds, words, books, etc from early age. And had huge interest in them.
So the environment enabled him to learn to read with ease, but not really taught himself to read without any input.

[kalidasa]

A

[spaghettihoopsagain]

I would just live life with your child, talking to them along the way about everything you do and why you are doing it. See what they enjoy doing and go with it! I think it is very hard to tell whether a child is G & T at 1year old. Our oldest child wrote her name aged 2 years and 3 months - people were totally amazed at her and amazed at her early language. Now she is certainly not G &T - she struggles with spelling and finds writing a challenge too. Our son, who is G&T was referred for speech therapy age 18 months as he had few words, but was chatting a lot by age 2.5. He didn't write his name at age 2 like our daughter. Every child is different and it's hard to tell their future age 1!

[Chelazla]

I agree relax and enjoy your baby!

[lorelairoryemily]

Haha this made me laugh a little op im sorry, I'm not laughing at you though!! It just reminded me of a girl I used to work with who told a client that she was going to have her son tested because he was a genius. He was 2. The look on the clients face! Just enjoy your lovely baby, if she's gifted(and she may well be) it'll show itself in good time.

[Degustibusnonestdisputandem]

Why are people so focussed on their kids being gifted and talented? I spoke properly at 12 months, read at 3 years old, taught myself multiplication from a book before I was 4, etc. etc. I can remember being aware of myself as a person well before I was 2. Guess what? I'm not in any way shape or form successful. Quite the opposite in fact, I would class myself as an abject failure; as intelligent as I supposedly am...I'm not a 'get shit done' person. They are the ones that are ultimately successful, imo.

[Degustibusnonestdisputandem]

"Who", not "that"

[Wayfarersonbaby]

Like OhtheRoses I knew from about 6 weeks. DD was a very alert baby who hardly slept (but didn't cry much either); but she didn't talk super-early or anything like that. It was more that she clearly had an amazing grasp of the underlying concepts behind things, and never seemed to need to practice anything. She had amazing fine motor skills and acute eyesight which helped, but you could see an amazingly precise intuition about things going on. At 5 weeks she realised that she could use a round O-ball toy to make the dangling bits on her baby gym swing, and set about hitting them from different sides to see them move. At two months she was passing toys from hand to hand and turning them round as she did so to see their shadows change shape on a wall. At three months she would turn the pages of a board book without prompting when we were reading to her. So we worked out pretty early that she was very bright, and it wasn't correlated to early talking or anything like that - in fact she had her "language explosion" at about 17 months. At nearly 4 she is close to being a free reader, and is amazingly sharp conceptually, though we are pretty relaxed about teaching her learned skills like maths. Those can always be picked up by a clever child.

It helps I think that both DH and I were what would now be called G&T when we were young (I also had an eidetic memory, like MaQueen's DD, which disappeared in my early twenties, oh how I miss it!) Though I was in mainstream school (and hated it), DH was accelerated in G&T programmes (and hated it). So we're very aware of the pitfalls that await very bright children, and we are aiming to get a balance between helping DD but making sure she is as happy and socially rounded as possible.

Always be aware, though, that as problems go it is a pretty enviable one. With love and family support, most very bright children end up forging their own path and doing fine even in the absence of tons of learning support. There is something to be said for allowing them to develop other skills and not focusing too much on their talents - learning how to work hard and persistently, to be a good friend and develop their artistic or physical skills as well as their academic skills. The worst that can happen really is that they slightly underachieve where they could have got if they had been hothoused at Westminster etc.; but they are unlikely not to succeed in life. I give thanks for having my bright DD when lots of friends have had heartache in their lives and their children - really, I can't worry too much about the finer details of what she's achieving when in the wider scheme of things it is a joy to have such a clever energetic young thing. I want her to enjoy stories, imaginative play, make friends, have interesting experiences, be bored, be a bit frustrated (it's really important for bright kids occasionally to be bored and frustrated). Please don't worry about what your 1 y o is doing, just enjoy being with them and interacting! Read them loads of stories; sing them songs! Much better than anything else at that age!

[timelytess]

I'm not looking to coach her into anything. I think that's a pretty nasty jibe. I hope you feel better for it
MN for you. Don't let it get to you.

My G+T baby said her first sentence at seven months and was recognising written words from nine months. She learned to read 'properly' at twenty-seven months, at her own request.

At thirteen months she was able to strike up conversations with strangers, who seemed as delighted by her as we were. I remember this particularly because she came back to me one day to ask 'How old am I, Mummy?' and was told 'You are thirteen months old. One year and one month,' which she dutifully relayed to the stranger-family she had entered into conversation with.

She's 34 now, married to a G+T man and with a G+T dd of her own.

[user1477282676]

Aw. I thought my DD1 was gifted. She could speak at one year old and by 18 months was conversing fluently.

She was also sensitive and bright.

She's 12 now and very ordinary. She's good at literacy...very good...but not gifted. It's normal to think your first baby is Einstein.