Looking back, at what age did you know your child was bright?

[saladodger]

Just curious about whether a bright child is 'obvious' at a young age- was your early talker a bright child or did you have a late bloomer? Did you recognise it yourself or was it picked up at school?

cannot believe you all really believe that a 'purposeful' baby or a mimicking 10 month old are indicators of brightness? seriously, listen to yourselves...

can i also point out that walking early is not an indicator of intelligence!

What constitutes bright though?

DS2 was considered 'exceptional' by his pre-school. He was holding conversations at 18mths, grasped ideas and concepts way above the average expected of his peers, brilliant vocab, great social skills, amazing imagination etc etc. He seemed bright to me but not outstandingly so although by BIL used to call him the little professor because of his ability to hold a conversation.

BUT.... this has not translated into some amazing academic success to go with it although nothing much has changed. He is doing well, no problems but he isn't outshining his peers or living up to his earlier billing. I am not pushing him at all as he is only in Yr R. I wonder if he will come into his own in YR 1 when they do a lot less play and I might feel more inclined to push him a bit more at home.

Who knows with DS1. He has been tested and came out well on memory, vocab, language etc and is reading a few years above his age but everything else is a struggle (especially maths). He does have some SN though which definitely holds him back.

Agree that mimicking is something babies do from birth though

DS (age 8) was my first so I sort of assumed all children were like him. First word at 7 months (not kidding), 5 more the following month, 2.5-year-old sentence structure by age 13 months. 5-year-old sentences by age 2.5. Doctors always said he seemed very verbal and were pleased with him, but didn't say anything about him being especially bright.

Asked me how to read before he was 3, competently could read a Times newspaper column to me at 3.5. He didn't go to nursery - straight to reception, where he was reading the teacher's plan books (at their request to assess him), speaking to them with lots of banter & wit, bit cheeky. He skipped Year 2.

His social skills are lacking though, he tends to err on the side of 'nerdy' quite often. And now most of his friends in his class are older 9's and younger 10's, he is 8.5. They're rubbing off on him in a negative way - he's never really been interested in popular kid culture, until he moved up. He's also very small for his age, so the gap seems even bigger.

So to answer your question - I guess I didn't notice it until he was in school.

He is 15 now and is predictef 15. A* Gcses and had early offer to Cambridge. ( rejected)
Having had two more kids both exceptionally bright I can say with authority that Ds1 was different from birth
I'm not a my kid is gifted on a whim
He did everything miles early.
Walking early is not a sign on it's own but it often accompanies giftedness.

I have to admit, I was allegedly exceptionally bright (hard to believe, I know)..reading a newspaper at 2, early offer to Oxford too, and walked at 10 months!

Am just a bit touchy about the subject as DD is very bright but couldn't walk until 2!

The brightest members of my family have walked rather later than average though. Too busy sitting on their fat bums and contemplating the state of the world no doubt.

I think dd2 is very bright (nobody professional has actually confirmed this yet!)

However, she is 22 months and speaks in full sentences that strangers can understand and converse with her. Dd1 was not doing this until much later, so perhaps that is my benchmark?

Howver, dd1's nursery teacher called me back one afternoon to tell me that she had had a conversation with dd2 earlier in the day (when she was with the childminder) and did I know that she has a very wide vocabulary for a child of her age. Also, my SIL is a speech therapist and thinks it is hilarious that she can say so much.

She knows her colours, can count to about 20 I think, groups objects into amounts and can sing many, many nursery rhymes with actions. She also asks LOTS of questions. I'm sure many other children can do these things too though

However, she still thinks that pigs are frogs so perhaps she's not so bright, hey?!

Of course every parent thinks their first child is a genius,until the second one comes along. I thought ds1 was smart,but it was only when he was assessed at school aged 6 that we realised he was very bright. A great reader,but a source of worry -life doesn't come easy to him. My 4th child is now almost 3 and I've thought she was extremely bright since she was a few days old. Just a feeling I had,so far seems to be the case,but who knows.

I was pregnant at the same time as one of my closest friends. She was trying to freelance at the time so I spent a lot of time looking after her DS ( I'd been signed off work as my pregnancy was a difficult one).
It never occurred to me that he was in any way different and we just enjoyed hanging out nd chatting. My friend never mentioned the gifted word.
Now having kids of my own I think . We would discuss news stories, emotions, he would often ask me all about the twins I was carrying and want the medical ins and outs. He was three.
She has since told me that he rolled within days of birth. Sat up, ludicrously early. Ditto speaking. At some point before his third birthday he had taught himself to read fluently and do basic maths.
He is still gifted and is a great boy. But it has been a mixed blessing. He worries terribly about the state of the world and the environment. He takes little pleasure in his peers and would much rather play chess or piano.
My friend has wrestled with accelerated learning progs (decided against) and home ed ( decided against ). No doubt he will one day be a famous physicist but his childhood has not been a bed of roses.

nursery mentioned that my dd1 was bright when she was 2 - she knew the alphabet, numbers, was writing her name - stuff theyd taught her - i didnt think anything of it. she is 6 now and is g and t and doing work of the next year. she did not crawl, and walked quite late compared to others. does that help? she is one of youngest in her year but at the top academically apparently. who knows if that will mean anything in later life.

I think most mums know when they have a child who is very bright. It goes beyond the normal pride thing of being a mum as we all like to think we have a child who is bright. You generally know though as other people make comments when your child does or says something in front of them and you almost cringe with embarassment as well as being proud as you realise then they are 'different'.

My DS asked me what photosynthesis was when he was 3.5 and he knew all the organs of the body and how they functioned etc as well at that age.

When he was in year 2, the school gave him books for his age group and insisted that he read them all like the others in his class even though at home he was reading my company law books!!

"He is still gifted and is a great boy. But it has been a mixed blessing. He worries terribly about the state of the world and the environment. He takes little pleasure in his peers and would much rather play chess or piano."
He may benefit from working with other children of his ability, has the school not looked into that within the cluster of schools?

I feel for him. Life is very difficult for some of these children.

DAL - he has moved up a school year and another was consdiered. The trouble is that those children are still not intellectually his peers and worse they are too old to be his playmates.
He has been suggested he may like to sit for an extremely selective independent school, or even a special school in the States for the gifted but my friend has resisted. More than anything she wants him to know the joy of hanging out, the rush of scoring a goal or the lovely frisson of sharing some gossip. In short she wants him to take ordinary pleasures in life.
He does mix with other gifted children - summer camps, scince fayres, chess club etc but to be honest he is very egocentric and would much rather be alone playing his piano and doing his maths.

"The trouble is that those children are still not intellectually his peers and worse they are too old to be his playmates."
There are a lot of problems with having children working with those several years older as we're discovering with six year old DS: he can't socialise with them. The type of movies they watch (rated 12), the type of video games they play (violent with horrendous language and sexual scenes) are very far removed from CBeebies.

"He does mix with other gifted children - summer camps, scince fayres, chess club etc but to be honest he is very egocentric and would much rather be alone playing his piano and doing his maths."
I accompanied DS to his Beavers and Cubs AGM yesterday. A hundred odd parents had to wait outside for a bit with the kids but when they were let into the hall all his friends went running around catching each other while DS's first priority was elsewhere. He walked up and down the hall and then came to tell me he'd worked out the total number of chair and table legs. So I know where you're coming from.