Is my 1yr old a genius?

[Thatsmoneyhoney]

Hi all.

I was just wondering if my son is gifted or if I am just extremely biased 🤣 of course everyone thinks their child is amazing!
But...
Please can you let me know your opinions if you think my son is very smart for his age.
He has just turned 22 months so almost 2.
He knows most shapes and colours. All the letters in the alphabet. Even ones at random. He won't just sing the alphabet. He is able to say each letter in the words when we read books or out on walks he'll stop and look at road signs and pick out all the letters.
He can also count to 20. For instance if he has some blueberries. He'll move them and count 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5 all the way up to 20. And he also recognises numbers. So if a road sign says 30mph.. he'll shout THREE ZERO!!
He also recognises his name in letters and will shout out his name if he sees it on his lunch box or something.
Is my boy a genius??

I have 3 children but my first was a verynkate talker. He didn't talk until 3 and our 2nd child has a disability so I don't know if my 3rd son is just average for his age....

He does sound bright OP, the best thing to do is just nurture his interests and take his lead!

DS2 was like this. I remember clearly when he was 18 months he picked up a match box and interpreted the warning on the back into 'do not put fire on the baby' 😁

He could solve a Rubik's cube aged 6 in under 90 seconds by learning the algorithms

He has done very well at school, is starting his GCSE's and predicted 8/9's across the board.

He wasn't and isn't bored at school as he is constantly challenging himself to learn and do more

No ASD traits or similar

Your DC sounds delightful @Thatsmoneyhoney , enjoy him!

@Singleandproud
That is so similar - down to slow maths speed - shes not finishing tests at y7. And still counts on fingers. But also the stopping reading novels and was probably similar reading age at 7.
Mine isnt as high iq though not been tests. Came out as top percentile on SATs spag and top 10% for maths.

He does sound bright, OP.

I was an early (self taught) reader. As a PP says the reading evens out at school. Doesn't mean he doesn't have an aptitude for language or for visual stuff. Time will tell! In the meantime the best thing you can do is nurture and encourage his interests and have lots of fun together.

Because 22 months is developmentally closer to 24 months than 12 months old

What constitutes gifted?

My dd1 was like that, she's still ahead academically at school but the gap is say is narrowing. He's gifted yes but I wouldn't think he was anything more than above average op

@letsgoooo a person that scores over 115+ on an IQ test or WISC V or similar assessment.
Obviously most people do not have formal testing, for my DD it was included as part of her autism assessment.

1. Mildly gifted: 115 to 129
2. Moderately gifted: 130 to 144
3. Highly gifted: 145 to 159
4. Exceptionally gifted: 160 +

Children who are gifted and have a disability including autism are known as Twice Exceptional / Dual Exceptional

He's a lot nearer to his 2nd than his first birthday though.

From six months and one day after your last birthday, you are nearer to your next birthday. We don't all go around rounding up (or down) our ages though, do we! Don't be silly.

@girlswillbegirls @greenpolarbear

We didn't not encourage her not to read or write we just kept her occupied with other things and concentrated on building other skills. Friends and acquaintances with equally bright children have found they have boredom issues with their kids reading early.

In the case of DD it helped she was in childcare full-time from 3 years old which was a mixture of childminder and nursery. Both environments taught her a lot of social skills and she is popular at school, which apart from the foreign language she does finds easy. (Even with the foreign language they do it is possible for her to get lots of help.)

Both myself and DP could read before we started school but there was no national curriculum in those days so our teachers didn't have to give us exactly the same work as everyone in the class. (Our class size was roughly the same.)

You are lucky to get that in a state school.

It does help that I have plenty of nieces and nephews, some of whom are bright, so have ideas to keep her occupied. So we are concentrating on other things like sport and the arts. DD has a busy summer holiday.

My son does all of these things from the same age except he gets lost when counting out items and will skip numbers and get to twenty when there's maybe been 17 or 18. Everything else sounds like you're describing my child.

I really don't think my son is a genius. Faaaaar from it.

Not the point of the thread but I think the reason kids are measured in months not years until 2 is because there are massive differences between a 12 month old and a 23 month old developmentally, even though technically they’re both 1 year old. OP - if your son was closer to 1 year than 2 I would be more inclined to think he was a genius. That may be why some PP think the title of the post is misleading/goady.

Anyway - my DD was very similar to your DS at the same age, we didn’t think she was a genius because she was our first and we thought it was normal as nothing to compare with. When she did start school she was always at the top of her class and ahead for her age (late August baby). As PP have said it sort of evens out as the other kids catch up. If he is a genius I’m sure there will be more signs the older her gets.

I would just enjoy it! It was great having a verbal kid so young - she could tell us what she wanted, was easier to reason with and we definitely had an easier time of the toddler years compared to her DS who would just scream NO and throw things at us!

My daughter (almost 3 now) was actually very similar just before she turned 2, recognising letters and numbers which I found amazing. However I’ve found now she’s very much evened out with her peers and is not sailing ahead like she did. She was a late walker though and she’s not a very physical child so she definitely focused on different areas of her development

He's way ahead of my child who is same age.

My daughter can count to 4 or 5 (sometimes misses 2 though 😂)

Colours aren't really clicking. She knows yellow and green but often says things are yellow when they aren't.

Letters, she can do A,O and S. haven't tried anymore.

She does memorise LOTS of animals beyond the obvious ones

I would say her language ie very advanced too. She will say most words now and put up to 3 words together x

Wow OP, he sounds very, very bright.

He might be a genius. It's certainly possible.

People will jump over themselves to tell you he's nothing special though.

Sounds just like my son. At 14 months old he knew his alphabet and would pick out letters on shop signs and read car number plates every time we went out.

He's now 19

ASD? Yes, very much so
Genius? Not really, but top grades at college
Good reader? Nope! He can barely read.

All that knowing his letters and alphabet was just learning and recalling shapes. He is extremely dyslexic to the point he needs everything read to him. He had a reader and a scribe for every exam.

he sounds really bright. Good job. Make sure you also focus on his finger skills. Like holding a pen etc. That is useful for kindergarten. Also dont neglect his social skills.

Kindergarten and school will teach him knowledge but there are other skills you need to help with at home. I work in a school and the kindergarten teachers would rather have kids with these skills rather than knowledge. Maybe ask some teachers or nursery staff what you can focus on to improve his development

My son was like this, and now at 11 he is bright (top or near top of class). Not gifted as far as I know though.

My daughter was not similar, no interest in letters or numbers until kindergarten. Yet now she is 10 her reading and writing scores are higher than my son’s (his maths scores are higher though) And she is a lot more observant and artistic than him (but less organized).

Likely your son is bright but gifted is something else altogether.

Hate to burst your bubble?
On the contrary, you seem quite pleased to...

Can he squash 29 coloured lolly sticks through slots in a cereal box though (cut at jaunty angles) and can he gather all the lolly sticks in two hands without succumbing to the dropping some every time you pick one up rage? Those are some primary indications I understand.

good developmental markers but not uncommon in my experience

sounds adorable

Sounds like ds1 who's now 11.

He's been ahead of the curve right throughout primary. Definitely not genius territory, more that he's always been older than his years - A funny little character,

My son was the same, and still is very ahead.

Although these skills are great, what are his other skills like? Can he do his own coat and shoes, zip, button, feed himself using cutlery, clean himself, tidy up, use scissors, mark make, listening skills, point out characters on stories and say how they might be feeling, physical gross motor skills. These skills are more important at this age because they are the foundation. Young children need to build strength in preparation for early writing, listening skills and building strength in their mouth for early phonics ( blowing bubbles, chewing food that isn't soft, singing) a few examples to think about there x