Signs of genius or extremely bright toddler - NOT a "humble brag" as I am not related to the child!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am only the nanny.

My seventeen-month-old charge truly amazes me. She is speaking in fairly full sentences ("Hold both hands, please"; "Eat out lunch" when she wants to go out to lunch). She knows two is more than one and negotiates with me for more than one. She knows the alphabet song and can count to twenty (except she forgets 13). Also her language correlations are interesting - she knows stands on "tip" toes, for example, and then will ask for something on the "tip fridge". Strangers have commented on her communication. She loves books and knows which book is which by the covers (she has over sixty books). She also likes more complex books like "Corduroy" and "Green Eggs and Ham" and will sit for the entire reading.

I was a daycare teacher prior to becoming a nanny and, although I have a BA, never took any classes on gifted children.

Were all my previous charges slow or is this child exceptionally bright? If she is bright, is there anything I should be doing beyond reading a lot and speaking to her normally?

TIA

PS I swear I am not her parent!

I was reading at 18 months, so I'm not following your logic here.

[Anonymous]

She sounds amazing to me! My kids did nothing along these lines -- I have a 3 year old and a 2 year old.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am only the nanny.

My seventeen-month-old charge truly amazes me. She is speaking in fairly full sentences ("Hold both hands, please"; "Eat out lunch" when she wants to go out to lunch). She knows two is more than one and negotiates with me for more than one. She knows the alphabet song and can count to twenty (except she forgets 13). Also her language correlations are interesting - she knows stands on "tip" toes, for example, and then will ask for something on the "tip fridge". Strangers have commented on her communication. She loves books and knows which book is which by the covers (she has over sixty books). She also likes more complex books like "Corduroy" and "Green Eggs and Ham" and will sit for the entire reading.

I was a daycare teacher prior to becoming a nanny and, although I have a BA, never took any classes on gifted children.

Were all my previous charges slow or is this child exceptionally bright? If she is bright, is there anything I should be doing beyond reading a lot and speaking to her normally?

TIA

PS I swear I am not her parent!

I was reading at 18 months, so I'm not following your logic here.

And I forgot to add that I'm no genius, lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course you are the parent. If you were really a former daycare teacher, you would know that this is not really anything completely off the charts. Lots of very verbal kids do this by 17/ 18 months, as do kids who grow up to love to read and write. But not exactly a sign of "genius."

I'm sure she's very cute, too, mom.

Whatever. Believe as you wish but I will correct you on what daycare teachers know. I have never encountered a child this verbal and communicative in my years teaching daycare and as a daycare teacher, I was one of the very few who actually had a college degree. Most had the taken the 12 credits on line needed for most franchised daycare centers in my state.

Really? Because I taught at a "fancy" preschool in NYC for over a decade and this is a normal, bright kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The "two is more than one" negotiations struck me. My nephew, who is extremely bright in math at at an Ivy now, did that at around the same age (Pointing to his two grandfathers together for the first time and said "Two Papas!". Anyone can memorize numbers in sequence but what your charge and my nephew did make them exceptional. My nephew is not a genius, btw, but he certainly amazing at math.

Keep doing what you are doing, Nanny. She didn't learn in a vacuum so either you or her parents or both are doing something right.

Is it really that exceptional? My now 3 year old was verbally delayed. We had him evaluated by the county at 18 months. As part of the evaluation, they asked him to pick up and give the evaluator 1 play fruit, then 2 play fruits. He did, and no one was that impressed because it should be pretty standard around that age, or so we were told. Babies understand the "more" concept pretty early! I think applying the sequence is more sophisticated. So anyone can recite 1 2 3 4, but when you ask a 2 year old how hold he'll be on his next birthday, and then the next birthday after that, and he answers those questions correctly -- that's a bit more sophisticated. Still doesn't tell you much about overall intelligence though.

But of course any individual example isn't illuminating; you have to look at the kid. There's a girl in my son's day care who is clearly off the charts advanced and has been since she was about 12 months old, when the teachers would take turns amusing themselves seeing how much she understood. Like at 12 months she could crawl over and bring back the red sponge versus the blue sponge upon request, or two sponges instead of one. At 12 months that's pretty insane. Now she is 3.5 and sounds like a 6 or 7 year old when she talks, in terms of her vocabulary and sentence structure and topics/depth of conversation. If she doesn't turn out to be gifted, I'll be astonished.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course you are the parent. If you were really a former daycare teacher, you would know that this is not really anything completely off the charts. Lots of very verbal kids do this by 17/ 18 months, as do kids who grow up to love to read and write. But not exactly a sign of "genius."

I'm sure she's very cute, too, mom.

Whatever. Believe as you wish but I will correct you on what daycare teachers know. I have never encountered a child this verbal and communicative in my years teaching daycare and as a daycare teacher, I was one of the very few who actually had a college degree. Most had the taken the 12 credits on line needed for most franchised daycare centers in my state.

Really? Because I taught at a "fancy" preschool in NYC for over a decade and this is a normal, bright kid.

OP clearly stated she worked in a daycare and not a preschool. She is asking if her charge is exceptionally bright because she has never encountered a child this verbal or bright before.


So many bitter and/or obtuse women on this forum.

[Anonymous]

Sounds normal bright with a caregiver who is engaged

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am only the nanny.

My seventeen-month-old charge truly amazes me. She is speaking in fairly full sentences ("Hold both hands, please"; "Eat out lunch" when she wants to go out to lunch). She knows two is more than one and negotiates with me for more than one. She knows the alphabet song and can count to twenty (except she forgets 13). Also her language correlations are interesting - she knows stands on "tip" toes, for example, and then will ask for something on the "tip fridge". Strangers have commented on her communication. She loves books and knows which book is which by the covers (she has over sixty books). She also likes more complex books like "Corduroy" and "Green Eggs and Ham" and will sit for the entire reading.

I was a daycare teacher prior to becoming a nanny and, although I have a BA, never took any classes on gifted children.

Were all my previous charges slow or is this child exceptionally bright? If she is bright, is there anything I should be doing beyond reading a lot and speaking to her normally?

TIA

PS I swear I am not her parent!

I was reading at 18 months, so I'm not following your logic here.

OP is asking if the little girl she cares for is bright or a genius. How could you possibly not follow that?

[Anonymous]

Can't find the article right now, but you would know if she was a true genius. These kids teach themselves to read at 5 months, take physics in kindergarten, etc. No way the child in the OP is a genius.

[Anonymous]

This might be THE MOST DCUM thread I've ever read. Not indicting you, OP--it's most of the PPs.

"Eh, sounds typical to me." (Not really.)

"140 IQ means reading at age 2 and sentences at 12 months." (This is such BS I don't even know where to start.)

"I could read at 18 months." (Yes, and my 6-month-old can walk and speak three languages fluently. I'm just an anonymous internet person, so you can't prove he can't!)

[Anonymous]

Are you kidding me?!

True genius kids do things like teach themselves to read at 5 months and study physics in kindergarten. For example:

A 12 year old majoring in Electrical Engineering at UVA:

http://uvamagazine.org/articles/ordinary_genius

A 10 year old starting college at Randolph Macon:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/daily/sept99/greg7.htm

Get a grip OP!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds normal bright with a caregiver who is engaged

Agree!!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Reading at age two is iq 140. Full sentences at age 12 mons. I see a truck it brings the mail. For example. People never believe that.

My IQ is a little over 150 and I did not hit those milestones as a toddler.

+1. Also, although I did pretty well as far as schooling, professional life, etc. I do not consider myself a genius.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Reading at age two is iq 140. Full sentences at age 12 mons. I see a truck it brings the mail. For example. People never believe that.

Where is this stat from?? I was reading at age 2 according to my mother, father and doting aunt, yet I do not have a 140 iq! (I am smart but "average smart")

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course you are the parent. If you were really a former daycare teacher, you would know that this is not really anything completely off the charts. Lots of very verbal kids do this by 17/ 18 months, as do kids who grow up to love to read and write. But not exactly a sign of "genius."

I'm sure she's very cute, too, mom.

Whatever. Believe as you wish but I will correct you on what daycare teachers know. I have never encountered a child this verbal and communicative in my years teaching daycare and as a daycare teacher, I was one of the very few who actually had a college degree. Most had the taken the 12 credits on line needed for most franchised daycare centers in my state.

Then why did you pretend to ask if the other kids were just slow? Obviously you know the answer right?

I don't get the point of this post.

I am wondering if my current charge is a genius and if I should be doing something more. I was kidding about my past charges and students. Sorry I confused you.

Were all my previous charges slow or is this child exceptionally bright? If she is bright, is there anything I should be doing beyond reading a lot and speaking to her normally?

Sorry, but I'm with PP here. You asked if the kid was bright, not a genius. "If she is bright..." Really? You're a college educated day care teacher who has been teaching for years, and you're asking an online anonymous forum if you're kid is bright.