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Is she just bright?

Morag - posted on 02/28/2009 ( 3 moms have responded )

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I have two daughters who are wonderful and I couldn't be happier with them regardless (although the food hording and mess room might be something we could work on ;) )

My eldest from my previous relationship (9) has Poland Syndrome, hearing problems, dyspraxia and dyslexia and while she struggles at school, when she gets the help she does really well. We live in Spain and she speaks both fluent English, Spanish and Valenciano (a local dialect). So she's bright but has her issues that she does amazingly well with.

My youngest is just 1. Her father (not the same as my eldest, is Finnish) and very bright or at least everyone says so. She says words in both English, Spanish and Swedish, uses them with meaning and consistently to get what she wants. She can also string words together Bad Cat, ball bye bye, kuki (boyfriend) baila, love momma. People always comment that shes been here before for example she knows the baby in the mirror is her, she loves making us write down words, pretends to read books (the ones I have to repetitively read over and over and over are the ones she actually gets some words right), and now she has started to dress herself. I feel like I lost my baby before she stopped being a baby :(

I was accepted to Mensa at 12 and my partner is very intelligent too. But my mum says my youngest is much more forward than I was at her age. I would never say I was gifted but I never found school remotely challenging, not until university. So where does that leave my youngest...? Is she just brighter than me or is she gifted and if shes gifted what can I do to help her? How did you know your child was gifted and from what age?

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3 Comments

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Samantha - posted on 03/04/2009

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Hi Morag. It definitely sounds like you have a gifted child on your hands!



Personally I wouldn't worry about labeling her right now. I would just try and challenge her and let her dictate what comes next. Nurture her interests and introduce whatever seems logically to come next. Dont be afraid to introduce advanced concepts and activities, but remember safety first. Sometimes our kids 'seem' so much older than they are but still we need to heed the warnings about choking hazzards, etc. :)



When she gets to school, then its time to start worrying about getting her in the right classes!



Hope that helps.

Morag - posted on 03/03/2009

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I definitely love being around her so much because she copies you all the way that its so funny. She's such a joy. Even when she won't take her medicine because "mummy, its yukky" and She keeps picking up my dirty laundry from the basket and says... "need to wash" in the same muttering tone that I make.

I'll definitely be looking at the threads you suggested too :) I'd not say she was gifted at this time, just very forward. But it would be interesting to see Deborah Ruf's views concerning infancy. Thank you again Deborah. xxx

Deborah - posted on 03/02/2009

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Morag,



First I would suggest you track down the thread Gifted? and read that thread. There is a lot of advice about gifted and levels of gifted and books to consider. Also look at the pinned post for resources on the top of this board. The best thing is to get your hands on a copy of Deborah Ruf's book because she dives into gifted linking it to infancy and dividing it up into 5 levels.



Second ... gifted or not the most important thing anyone can do for their child is follow their lead. If she wants you to read then read read read. It really builds their vocabulary even if they are not verbalizing it all at that point. If she is interested in numbers, ABC, colors, shapes, etc . Then don't hold back: and with books she should be exposed to that. But this early there really is nothing you would do for a gifted child except be the loving parent who takes care of their needs even if they are more inquisitive on the academics side. Play lots of games with her. Peek-a-boo, Itsy bitsy spider etc. Baby games. And talk to her about everything. The difference with gifted kids is not that they were given an advantage but they were given the same baby activities but they played back and used it for foundations for what is to come later.



Bottom line is just enjoy her.

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