You Tell Me--Is My Son A Baby Genius?

[preschoolteacher]

So as daycare providers, you all have seen so many children throughout the years. It got me thinking that you are a good group of people to ask this question to!

Recently, my almost-14 month old son has been doing things that I personally think are advanced for his age. I'm curious if this is true--or maybe I'm just a really proud mom reading too much into normal toddler behavior? Either way, the little dude is happy and healthy which is what really matters. The title of my post is tongue-in-cheek, but of course, I would like to believe he's a smarty pants!

Here's what gets me wondering:

Baby boy was playing pretend at 11 months. His first make-believe game was bringing us empty bowls/cups and pretending to feed us. He would say "mm mm mm" and pretend to chew invisible food. He made this up on his own (we didn't teach him at least). Now, his pretend play has gotten more complex. Just this evening, he walked over to the (turned off) stereo, did the baby sign for "music", and then grabbed his doll (he loves his baby!) by the arms and made it jump up and down on the floor. I asked what baby was doing and he said "dance." He also lies down and says "ni-night" and then starts making weird noises... the first time, I asked him what he was doing and he said "sno" (snore). We had just read a book about a snoring cat.

He says roughly 50 words. At his 12 month check up, he was saying about 20 words. Some of his vocabulary includes: Shoes, snack, box, stop, watermelon, cracker, banana, cheese, chalk, Play-dough, stool (step stool), tickle, cheers, and the names of the daycare kids. He knows cows say moo, sheep say baa, snakes say hiss, dinos/lions say roar, and so on (and we did not teach him this beyond reading animal books). He has been speaking in two-word sentences for the past month -- Mama go, Mama ball (what he calls playing catch), bye-bye car (cars driving past our house).

This morning I was putting on make-up and made a reference to a book we had just read the day before about a dog and a baby who get into the mom's make-up. (Good Dog, Carl!) He walks out of the room. When I go to see where he went, he had gone to his book basket, dug through about 10 books until he found the one I mentioned, and was paging through it.

So those are the things I'm mostly wondering about! I'd love to hear any stories you have of kids this age or other kids who have you wondered about...

[MyAngels]

He sounds awfully cute, and yes, very smart for his age . I'll bet you're one proud mama!

[cheerfuldom]

He sounds a bit ahead of the game verbally for sure. but pretend play and recognition sounds right one track for a young toddler.

[Michael]

That sounds like a gifted baby. I learned my son was gifted at 5 years old. While it is a blessing it is also considered a handicap in the educational system. Most schools want children to be "cogs in the wheel" and gifted children need special attention that most teachers don't have time needed to keep a gifted child interested. They learn far too fast. There are some areas that have great charter schools and gifted classes if you are lucky to be located near them.

Jonathan was using and learning on the computer at 2 and reading at 2 1/2 years. It took someone who saw him reading the editorial section of the LA times, out loud to me, to inquire if he was really reading it. She recommended we get him tested, which at the time I had no idea was an option, and for what reason? He was tested at 165 IQ. It is more expensive and time consuming to raise a highly gifted child. Adults love talking with them and find them very entertaining. Problem is, they need to be with children their own age. So we tried a gifted school that was VERY expensive in Bel Air, CA. It was like paying for college and he was only 6! We ended up homeschooling him. He currently is getting his degrees in both computer science and pure math. He also works on his off days as NASA / JPL in Pasadena. He is a great person as I am sure yours will grow up to be. Take care of your son's special needs.

My wife wrote a lengthy article on Daycare.com some years ago about our experience with a gifted child. If you have time, you should read it. https://www.daycare.com/story/index.html

[SilverSabre25]

Sounds like my gifted kids. I forget with the "official" milestone things say on the subject of the pretend play, but I want to say that it's not "supposed" to be until more like late one/early two.

A good clue about intelligence is a sort of...global ahead-ness. My daughter was one of those. Ahead in just about everything. My son is too, except for speaking in sentances. He says a lot of single words (mostly sound effects) but makes his point VERY clear and expresses complex concepts through words and phrases, and his receptive language has been extremely good for a long time. He just has a chatty older sister who makes it hard for him to get a word in edgewise, ::::::

[preschoolteacher]

Michael, thanks! Gifted or not, we actually are planning on homeschooling as well. The schools in our city are overcrowded and teach to the test. Art, music, and other electives that used to be part of the classroom day are now offered as after-school activities that extend the children's school day up to 10 hours if you enroll in them. If you don't, your kid won't be getting art, music, etc. in school. There are some great private schools but like you said, tuition is comparable to a college education.

I read your wife's article. Thanks! How many years was your son home schooled for? I wonder how your wife would feel about writing an update some day! I know other providers here home school. I'm always curious about curriculum choices and how parents make it work.

Thanks for the responses everyone

[Michael]

Michael, thanks! Gifted or not, we actually are planning on homeschooling as well. The schools in our city are overcrowded and teach to the test. Art, music, and other electives that used to be part of the classroom day are now offered as after-school activities that extend the children's school day up to 10 hours if you enroll in them. If you don't, your kid won't be getting art, music, etc. in school. There are some great private schools but like you said, tuition is comparable to a college education.

I read your wife's article. Thanks! How many years was your son home schooled for? I wonder how your wife would feel about writing an update some day! I know other providers here home school. I'm always curious about curriculum choices and how parents make it work.

Thanks for the responses everyone

Yes, she needs to update the article again. Jonathan was homeschooled from 8 until 13 at which time he went to the community college and now CSUN. We did both hard cover and online curriculum. We paid for tutors when we were no longer able to teach at his level. Our daughter Jessica has been homeschooled her whole life, although she is itching to go to public high school next year. (I think she watches too much Teen Wolf) School was never that much fun. Who knows, she may just like it.

If you need suggestions for online schooling, let me know. Not all states are kind to homeschooling. We have quite a few threads on it: https://www.daycare.com/forum/tags.php?tag=homeschool

Suggest you join The Home School Legal Defense Association http://www.hslda.org/

[Angelsj]

I also have one of those...well actually three of them. ::
But the one I was referring to was my dd 17. She is a junior in college, only because I held her back as much as possible, to allow her to emotionally mature. She tested just under 180 IQ at the age of two, and about 165 at the age of 10.
She was speaking in full sentences IN TWO LANGUAGES by the age of 10 months. She now speaks four languages fluently, and another five less fluently.

Best advice. teach wide. Don't try to make him go up as much as possible, because you may not ever get there. Nothing we gave her challenged her. She has still not found anything that does, and she began college courses at 14.
But teach wide and deep. Let him explore what interests him, deeply and fully. Encourage him to look into subjects fully, and into subjects that are deep and "adult" if he wants.
My children have explored complex physics and chemistry problems by the age of three, the concept of infinity at the age of four and the depths of calculus before they were 10. Let them go, give them lots of opportunity, and watch them fly!

[Michael]

I also have one of those...well actually three of them. ::
But the one I was referring to was my dd 17. She is a junior in college, only because I held her back as much as possible, to allow her to emotionally mature. She tested just under 180 IQ at the age of two, and about 165 at the age of 10.
She was speaking in full sentences IN TWO LANGUAGES by the age of 10 months. She now speaks four languages fluently, and another five less fluently.

Best advice. teach wide. Don't try to make him go up as much as possible, because you may not ever get there. Nothing we gave her challenged her. She has still not found anything that does, and she began college courses at 14.
But teach wide and deep. Let him explore what interests him, deeply and fully. Encourage him to look into subjects fully, and into subjects that are deep and "adult" if he wants.
My children have explored complex physics and chemistry problems by the age of three, the concept of infinity at the age of four and the depths of calculus before they were 10. Let them go, give them lots of opportunity, and watch them fly!

Stellar! Hey both you and the OP are from Minnesota. You got something in the water up there??

[Cradle2crayons]

I agree 100% to what Michael has said.

I knew my daughter was gifted very young as well. The ADHD and oer abbreviation diagnoses threw us off track a little.

It's very difficult to keep her on track and if she's bored oh my gosh!!!

I really had no idea she was truly gifted until they did her ADHD testing at age 3 and did an iq test as part of the assessment. The number really surprised me. Not quite as high as michaels genius but very close.

Honestly I was clueless how to deal with her, the genius with all of the abbreviations!! I homeschooled her for a while too until I found this local public school that caters to the smarter children. It's been a true blessing!!

My son is adopted and while I haven't had him tested yet, I see the signs with him also. He's a very very fast learner and I'm already hearing he's bored in kindy. S I've taken over doing some extras with him to keep him interested. He doesn't have any abbreviations, thank goodness so this is a little different as far as dealing with his gifted ness (is that a word )

My advice. Always keep them interested. Take their interests and run with them. Don't allow their schools to dumb them down to meet some invisible number. Don't treat him different socially because a lot of gifted children are already treated different developmentally and intellectually. Be sure he spends a lot of time with his own age group.

[Michael]

I agree 100% to what Michael has said.

I knew my daughter was gifted very young as well. The ADHD and oer abbreviation diagnoses threw us off track a little.

It's very difficult to keep her on track and if she's bored oh my gosh!!!

I really had no idea she was truly gifted until they did her ADHD testing at age 3 and did an iq test as part of the assessment. The number really surprised me. Not quite as high as michaels genius but very close.

Honestly I was clueless how to deal with her, the genius with all of the abbreviations!! I homeschooled her for a while too until I found this local public school that caters to the smarter children. It's been a true blessing!!

My son is adopted and while I haven't had him tested yet, I see the signs with him also. He's a very very fast learner and I'm already hearing he's bored in kindy. S I've taken over doing some extras with him to keep him interested. He doesn't have any abbreviations, thank goodness so this is a little different as far as dealing with his gifted ness (is that a word )

My advice. Always keep them interested. Take their interests and run with them. Don't allow their schools to dumb them down to meet some invisible number. Don't treat him different socially because a lot of gifted children are already treated different developmentally and intellectually. Be sure he spends a lot of time with his own age group.

You brought up something that I think is true for a lot of children, especially gifted children. "They" will dummy down to their environment. It is so important that they get the tools and attention they need. Only testing will give parents an idea of what their needs are. We had no clue. This was the first school Jonathan went to at 6 years: http://www.mirman.org/admissions/testing

Some good reading: http://www.tip.duke.edu/node/809

http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/25/the-illusion-of-the-gifted-child/

[Cradle2crayons]

You brought up something that I think is true for a lot of children, especially gifted children. "They" will dummy down to their environment. It is so important that they get the tools and attention they need. Only testing will give parents an idea of what their needs are. We had no clue. This was the first school Jonathan went to at 6 years: http://www.mirman.org/admissions/testing

Some good reading: http://www.tip.duke.edu/node/809

http://ideas.time.com/2013/04/25/the...-gifted-child/

Yes, I discovered this when she was in preschool. At the time, she was an only child and her ADHD doc encouraged socialization with others her age.

So, we paid a ton of money to send her to a private preschool.

The point of sending her there was really just to be around others and keep her mind busy.

By the end of the fist two weeks she would cry badly at drop off. I thought it was just because she was used to being home with me, the. I heard the I'm bored, and I thought there's no way!!

Then I would get calls be a use she was inconsolable.

After some digging, I discovered that they were not even giving her school work at ALL. I confronted them and I was told that the others were just learning colors and the typical stuff for her age and she was BORED. Apparently she had been asking for abc papers and they refused because the others weren't ready for that. They refused to give her books because the others couldn't read at all.

At interview, they appeared to understand her level and said they'd move her to the four year old room or give her extra work to keep her on track. But in the end, they refused because she was outside the norm.

After it was all said and done, she was inconsolable if left with anyone else. For a while, she didn't want to do any work like before because she said she was stupid?? I had no idea where she got that from except at that preschool.

It really harmed her by sending her there and I was really angry.

Apparently they assumed because she had abbreviations, that she was stupid and incapable of learning. I never for sure found out if they CALLED her stupid or not. But since nobody else had ever said that to her or made her feel hat way I can only assume what they did to her there.

When it was time for kindy and first grade, I did my research. I talked to a lot of parents who said that x school or y school only taught what was on state testing. Or z school had this or that wrong. So I homeschooled her.

Then for second grade, we moved back here, where I grew up, and I found this public school. And I was impressed. And she's been there for two years and she's THRIVING.

She does, however prefer homeschool and we have offered her that option after fifth grade, if she still wants it. I understand why she prefers it, but because we live in the middle of nowhere without any real homeschooling association options that we like, I knew that school was a better option during the young years, now we are involved in sports and youth extra activities and the social aspect will be covered in the future.

[Angelsj]

Stellar! Hey both you and the OP are from Minnesota. You got something in the water up there??

LOL Possibly. We certainly have enough "water" up here.

[Unregistered]

Great thing is at his age you just need to love him up and provide him with an environment he can explore in. Observe his play. Record his milestones for the next while. It helps when answering questions later if you have things documented. Do some reading on raising a gifted child. They can have some unique quirks Keep him well rounded. Sometimes they need extra help with their social and emotional growth.

Have fun and enjoy him. It is certainly never boring raising a gifted child. Also find someone you are able to talk with about him. It can be a bit isolating at times, as you learn other parents around you may interpret your talk about him as bragging.

[EntropyControlSpecialist]

What a smart little guy!