Gifted traits in 3-year-old?

[Anonymous]

My "gifted" child (I hate that term, but that's what the school system coined it) was reading by age 3, devouring chapter books by age 5, has an incredible memory, and a huge vocabulary (from reading incessantly, I believe). Also has a ton of anxiety. Not that all gifted kids are anxious, but there's a correlation.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think if 3 year old was a genius, you would know it. I don't believe in gifted as some schools define it.

Well what exactly do you "believe" in?

For what it's worth, OP, we thought our 3 yr old was just an entertaining little character. Super chatty with adults. But we didn't even consider "gifted" until he started having school problems half way through K. His K teacher mentioned that he reminded her so much of a highly gifted kid she had nannied. Turns out we have a profoundly gifted child (who happens to hate math). At 3 we just thought he was profoundly fun.

Which tests did you do?

[Anonymous]

DS was not an early talker at all but his receptive communication was excellent. He wasn't reading at three but loved books. He did have an amazing memory but we didn't think much about it at the time. He is very reserved and socially awkward but always has been. So no, we had no real signs that he was profoundly gifted at three.

[Anonymous]

With my oldest, people were always pointing out how bright she was. She was a quick study and learned phonics, sports, music quickly and easily. She's also very anxious as an older child.
His sibling, who has an even higher IQ and higher scores on tests like MAP, did not get that kind of feedback. He was in constant motion and constant trouble at that age. No interest in learning letters. Then at 5 he taught himself how to read and was reading whole books pretty much immediately. I only learned this because he asked me for the definition of a really odd word--I asked him where he heard it and he told me he read it in one of his father's old books. I was like "you did what?" And made him show me.

So here's the thing--if your kid is reaching "academic" milestones early, they are probably pretty bright. If they aren't, they may also be pretty bright or even profoundly gifted. It's hard to say. Kids' brains and abilities don't develop on a nice straight line.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There aren't any real signs at three. Someone studied this. Took all the people who thought their 3-5 year olds were profoundly gifted. There was almost no difference in how the parents described the kids who turned out to be gifted versus those that didn't. In other words, all of the participating kids were described by their parents as early readers or talkers or kids who seemed really bright compared to their peers. But only half those kids ended up being gifted. And no one has studied the kids who weren't brought in (i.e. The kids with average or low speaking and reading skills) to find out if those kids tested gifted. In other words, no one has any idea what a gifted 3 year old looks like. For every kid who is identified gifted at age seven whose parents would describe them as highly chatty as a toddler, there's another kid identified as gifted who was totally average as a toddler.

Fwiw I was identified as profoundly gifted as a kid, talked at a regular age, read a little early (but not weirdly early). My 5 yo son's brain seems to work in the same ways as mine and others in my family (all of whom are profoundly gifted) so I suspect he will test profoundly gifted as well . Certainly will test "basic gifted". His speech is lousy, he's socially quirky and he could have started reading at four but refuses (scared I won't read to him anymore). But sees the world in a certain way that I recognize.

+1

[Anonymous]

Mt brother was playing the piano at 3.

He was also selectively mute until that age.

[Anonymous]

The vast majority of kids who read before K are coached. The indicator will be how quickly the ones who aren't pick things up.

[Anonymous]

http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/sites/default/files/Characteristics%20of%20Giftedness%20Scale%202014.pdf

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The vast majority of kids who read before K are coached. The indicator will be how quickly the ones who aren't pick things up.

Pp here who has the 2.5 yo who seems to be pretty bright. I didn't explicitly teach her letters and sounds. She has just picked them up. I explicitly taught my older boys these things (and how to read right before kindergarten). But my 2.5 yo just figures this stuff out. Same with everything. Around a year old I said that I was going to tickle her belly and she reached down to her belly to tickle it. So then I started asking her about other body parts and she knew them all (like elbows and knees). She just seems so different from my boys. Maybe because she is the youngest and learns from the older ones. Maybe because she is a girl. I don't know. But I am interested to see how it all shakes out. Fwiw, she was by far my most difficult child and has been since birth. She needs very little sleep and is constantly talking/wanting me to interact with her. My boys were way more relaxed.

[Anonymous]

What is "gifted?" Genius level? Or like, top 2%? My DH and I both have IQs just under 140 but neither of us have any savant-like characteristics (nope, no reading at 3, ha). We both did very well in school with hardly any effort or parental coaching, top colleges and grad schools, etc. Do we fit your bill?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The vast majority of kids who read before K are coached. The indicator will be how quickly the ones who aren't pick things up.

Well this is one indicator: its when they surprise you with what they know because you didn't teach it and they seem way too young to know it.

FWIW, life isn't easy for kids like this after they turn 5.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The vast majority of kids who read before K are coached. The indicator will be how quickly the ones who aren't pick things up.

I don't think you can coach a kid who is not ready. My DD read at 3 with no coaching. She was just very interested in books. She loved the concept of rhyming and that really helped her figure out lots of words. We would find her at night asleep by her little night light on top of a book. DS was 5 at the same time and was not reading at all despite beig taught/coached at school.

[Anonymous]

Wasn't Albert Einstein supposedly a mute until he was 4? Or is that a myth? Supposedly his mother thought he was intellectually challenged.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The vast majority of kids who read before K are coached. The indicator will be how quickly the ones who aren't pick things up.

That old saw again. It's a myth, just as regular kids being coached to pass gifted center exams. To enter highly selective programs or fit certain special criteria, there has to be a particular brain structure from the start. Or course, some parents eagerly build on that, but you can't build on something that's not there to begin with.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think if 3 year old was a genius, you would know it. I don't believe in gifted as some schools define it.

Well what exactly do you "believe" in?

For what it's worth, OP, we thought our 3 yr old was just an entertaining little character. Super chatty with adults. But we didn't even consider "gifted" until he started having school problems half way through K. His K teacher mentioned that he reminded her so much of a highly gifted kid she had nannied. Turns out we have a profoundly gifted child (who happens to hate math). At 3 we just thought he was profoundly fun.

Which tests did you do?

He did SB-5 along with achievement tests (can't recall names of those), and two years later WISC-IV (required for a specific program). Our younger child did WISC-V.