Able Baby

[FrogPool]

DD is 17m, born 5w early so corrected 16m. Her vocabulary is too big to record and she understands pretty much everything we say to her. She can recognise and say 15 phonic sounds and can recognise numbers 1-10 written down and say these. She can look at two items and know there are 2. She can recognise and name some shapes (circle, square, heart, egg, star) and can recognise and name the colours white, black, green, blue, pink, yellow and sometimes red. She is putting words together to make short sentences. She can tell you her first name if you ask her and she said "yes" before she said "no". She understands where, who, what questions (but not why yet) and answers them. She can recognise her own name when written down. I've read lots of threads on here and don't think she is the cleverest child on the planet or anything but think that she may be doing some things a bit earlier than the average and hoped that here might be an acceptable place to ask whether she does seem to be a bit ahead of the curve, as I'm not sure what is usual. Asking out of interest more than after advice.

Yes she is miles ahead of her milestones I'd say. Girls do tend to be verbally more advanced than boys, but even taking that into account it is rare to recognise 10 printed numbers at 15 months.

Keep doing what you're doing, sounds like you are doing great!

Thanks v much for the reply - interesting to know! She's actually 17m, though (16 corrected due to being born at 35 weeks).

If this is all 100% accurate then she is incredibly ahead! Wow!

@FrogPool >>whispers<< mine were like this. I kept it dark and let others comment and said "oh, I'm sure it will wear off" and nod and smile. They both brought me home an Oxbridge first. Shhhhhh

@RosesAndHellebores 😁😁 Congrats to your children, fabulous achievements!

She sounds very bright and you should be proud of her. As should every parent 😊
If I were you though I'd focus on helping her to be as well rounded as possible. So don't push too hard on those obviously academic skills like recognising words and numbers. Instead, encourage her to be sociable and curious. To explore the world around her, ask questions and make up her own mind about things.
Intelligence is wonderful but it needs to be used well to have a positive impact.

@Rainbowcat99 thank you ☺️ - fully agree with all of this and it is the way we both prefer to parent. I referred to the more "academic" abilities just to provide context and get some feedback as to whether she is doing things a bit earlier than average.

That sounds good OP.

Mine was like this and people used to be amazed by what she could do as a baby. I remember taking her to the eye hospital at 14 months and she could answer the ophthalmologist’s questions about the pictures on the sight chart. The doctor fetched all her colleagues to come and see.

She’s now 13 is still very advanced in some areas. She is also autistic and struggles with many things other kids her age find easy. But she is delightfully knowledgeable and eccentric and really good company - enjoy your LO, OP, she sounds like a bright spark.

Yup, definitely streets ahead of average. No advice (mine are nowhere near!) but don't let people play it down! It's exceptional!

Thank you v much!

I also had a very advanced verbal child. She has stayed ahead of her peers academically. She is autistic, so struggles with the social side of life.

She sounds very advanced. Also have a 35 weeker at 14 months now and although he is a delight, we have zero actual words. Definitely no sentences. We have babbling with “ba” or “da” and we actually got an “uh oh” the other day (although nothing since so probably a fluke). Interesting point from a PP about girls being more advanced verbally. My DB’s daughter was similar and is now two and talking in full sentences. My DS is no where near where she was at his age. Enjoy her and if she continues to be super smart, hopefully this means she’ll have a great career and exciting life ahead.

Sounds very advanced. I think most children who go on to be very academic do show abilities early, but on the other hand a lot of children who are advanced at a young age just develop earlier and it evens out later on. So I’d recommend enjoying her amazing skills right now but try to avoid developing expectations (especially expectations communicated to her) that she will be very academic. It’s really hard on kids who have been labelled advanced or specially talented if they find their peers catching up with them.

She sounds like a bright baby and an early talker! I would enjoy her as she is now and let her continue to play and learn.

Just a question, when you say she can recognise her name what do you mean? If you wrote a long list of random words with her name amongst them she’d be able to point out which word was ‘Olivia?’ Or she points to the name tag on her bedroom door and says her name? It would be unusual to the point of remarkable for a child this age to genuinely recognise words, but lots of them can point to the big ASDA sign and say ‘Asda.’

My DS1 was well ahead of his peers as a youngster. He's still very bright at age 16, not a genius or anything but an intelligent boy.

Gosh she sounds very advanced!! My 2.5 year old is just at the stage of sentences. Hopefully someone can come along with some tips on how to nurture her abilities

Sounds amazing, OP. My advice: read stories to her. Lots and lots and lots. I have a very academic DD in who is at a top Uni and studying a very challenging science subject. Her English teacher used to say she inhaled books and I honestly think that her love of reading if a big or even the main key to her success.

I have a friend with delightful kids like this (boys). My kid struggled verbally at first but had the same number recognition v early. Last night I was messaging an old friend about chemistry theory because at 8yo he's playing around with atom simulators and picking stuff up that is taught at A-level. It's gameified, he doesn't know the theory, but that's the way his brain slants. No advice, enjoy her, feed her brain, and know that you, and she, might get a bit of stick for the way she is. I did, in school, but I was in a deprived area and wouldn't have stuck out so much elsewhere. Oh, one thing: challenges. I never learned how to be bad at stuff as a kid, and had to do it when much older. It's really rounded me as a person but it was awful to go through in my twenties in front of people. She may feel crushed by failure. My kid is the same. V physical, extreme reaction to not understanding things. Something to watch for. You'll learn loads by following her interests with her, it's brilliant.

She's about 50% ahead developmentally which is very advanced (probably less than 1% of children would achieve these milestones at this age).

Both mine are / were the same and aren't autistic and haven't plateaued.

@Kanaloa interesting question. I have written her name on a piece of paper quite often and told her what it says. I do the same with mummy, daddy and her much older brother's name, as well as words like "cat" etc. Recently, I wrote a few words of these words down and pointed at her name and asked her what it said. She told me. So, she hasn't yet picked it out of a group of words but I haven't asked her to either.

See in that case I’d be careful saying she recognises her name. I have parents telling me this all the time and I always just smile and then check for myself a few days after the child starts at nursery, because it’s invariably the case that the child has learned to say it’s their name when the parent puts on a voice and points to a word saying ‘what’s THIS? What does THIS say?’ When they see a list of names and are asked in a neutral tone to find their name (like at self registration) they then aren’t able to do it, because they actually don’t recognise their name.

But it would be really remarkable if she did truly recognise the letters of her name at her age! Either way she sounds a very bright child, developmentally quick. Interesting that her brother is much older, sometimes I find those with much older siblings are great talkers because they’ve got lots of input. Anyway you’re obviously doing a great job!

Really interesting to read people's experiences! @dizzydizzydizzy We read books to her all the time, she has enjoyed that since she was very very small. When we are reading some of her favourites, she can fill in a word if I stop and wait. Obviously, she isn't reading them but she has remembered them.

Thanks to those who have pointed out that it's important to learn how to fail as well. She may well even out with her peers, as some of you point out - it won't matter to me either way, but I don't want her to ever feel like she has failed or isn't good enough, so I'll definitely bear all this in mind.

@Kanaloa interesting, thanks! If she seems interested, I'll try asking her to find her name in a list of words and see if she can.

Her brother is much much older and spends most of his time in his room haha. However, me and DH talk to her all the time, so she does get a lot of input.