Is a child's giftedness really determined by how quickly they developed as babies/toddlers?

[emy72]

I had a look at the NAGC website and a lot of the research tied to levels of giftedness seems to suggest that the latter is directly linked to how early your child could talk/walk/read/use the computer etc....I wonder whether this is true and what people's experience of this are. I also wonder for things like reading/using the computer etc how much this is a child being gifted and how much this is actual parental input. Or maybe both? (ie if there are no books or computers in the house, a child would be less inclined/ stimulated to learn)

It seems to imply that if a child is a late developer then chances are they will never be gifted. Any thoughts on this? (Ps my own experience is a bit mixed on this one, so I was wondering what other people's experiences were....)

My eldest was designated as gifted and talented at age 4. At age 13 (year 8) he is achieving level 7 and 8 in most subjects at school. The youngest is achieving the same levels as his brother did at the same age but is not gifted and talented. Cannot see the difference myself. I think teachers see a spark in some kids but there is not much actual research in it.