is this normal for a 2 and a half year old ???

Jack - posted on 10/12/2012

Everyone says that your son is very advanced but then says their kids could do all that at 2 or earlier. So everyone on this site must have very advanced little kids.



The truth is it really does not matter. If your child learns to walk at 10 months or 19 months, it really has no impact on whether they are going to become an Olympic athlete or not. The same with reading or writing. If it is 18 months, 3 or 5 it really does not matter - in fact there are far more important skills that children should be learning at this age.



If you give them an empty cardboard box and they can turn this into a spaceship in which they travel to the stars in their beautiful,creative and imaginative minds, that is infinitely better and more useful then being able to recite the alphabet in 5 different languages! Though of course it doesn't sound quite as impressive on an internet forum.

Toni - posted on 10/08/2012

like everyone else said - your son seems to be advanced and every kid is different. It also depends on where each kid is gifted, my 2 year old can do all of that but we found out through chance that she is visually gifted, so she can pick things up really easily by looking at them, but she can't sing the abc song at all - not even close. We have been using starfall.com to give her the stimulation she needs - it's great because at 2 she is too little to sit there by herself and click the mouse unlike a dvd so it forces us to get involved and see what level she is at and whether she is enjoying it or not

Uma - posted on 10/05/2012

how to teach the alphabets

Yelena - posted on 04/08/2009

Hi I just wanted to say that your child seems very capable.. My son learned his alphabet at a year and a half of age.  I think the best step for you to take is to teach him the sounds that each letter makes.  If you would like there are great D.V.D's by leapfrog that focus on the phonetics of letters, math, as well as reading.  I introduced these D.V.D's to my son and by 2 he was able to say the letter and the sounds.  Once your son masters this aspect you can go more into detail with books.  My son read his first book before he turned three!  Hope this helped good luck!

Jessie - posted on 04/06/2009

Not all kids that age can do that, no. my 2 year old knows the alphabet, can count to 20, knows all her shapes and colors ( has since she was 1). My 6 year old can read at a 3rd grade level and count to 1000 ( or higher, but at 1000 I tell her I get the point! lol). Her teacher says she has a photographic memory. But I have a 5 year old that still has trouble with her letters. Every child is different. Your son seems like a smart little boy.

Nicole - posted on 04/04/2009

No...lol keep working with him...he is clearly a very sharp little boy!!

Shirley - posted on 04/04/2009

My son is now 10, but at the age of 3 he taught himself to read,just by constantly looking at books and having stories read to him! The teachers at his playgroup couldn't believe it.He's never had to practice spellings for school, coz he always knws them!

Cassie - posted on 04/03/2009

My daughter learned the alphabet and counting before age 2. She is now 3 and can count to 30, she can also count and speak a few words in Spanish, knows her shapes and can draw them. She can tell you the city, state and country she lives in. All kids are different, while one fine tunes in mobility, another may be fine tuning in language skills, at early stages of development. Ones on uniqueness is a blessing!

Jayme - posted on 04/02/2009

he starts singing the song but he more identifies the letter by looking at it because thats how i started teaching him lol but he is very good he has about 5 lots of flash cards in his room which he loves he could sit and do them all day his great hehe his been doing the flash cards since he was 1 and we read through them then askd him wheres the apple etc....... im very proud his also started drawing circles :D

Melissa - posted on 04/02/2009

Does he know the alphabet song, or can he identify written letters? I'd say learning the song in 3 days is a tad above average depending on how much you've been working with him on it. I'm a music therapist, and I have a lot of kids who start learning the words to songs after I've sung them a few times. If you can put down an alphabet block in front of him, ask "what letter is that" and he can correctly tell you 3 or 4 out of 5 times with most of the letters, then you've got a very bright boy on your hands! Keep challenging him! :)

Rebekah - posted on 04/02/2009

I think you'll find there is a pretty extreme variation on when kids learn these sorts of things. My son learned them at about 18 months, but his cousin didn't learn his entire alphabet (to recognize or write letters; he knew the abc song) until 6 yo in kindergarten. I would guess that the average is closer to 4 years? Your son learning these things early and without much repetition are indicators that he has a great capacity to learn.