The “your kid isn’t special” comments are so old. Yes, some kids are advanced. OP is neither bragging nor making a federal case out of it, she’s just asking a question.

17 month old? MY kid began to recognize all letters and sounds at 17 DAYS old!! 17 months is a bit long don't you think?

Anonymous wrote:One would think that by the third child no one is overly impressed by little things… no it wasn’t the case with my kid but every time I thought he was unusually good at something it turned out to be pretty insignificant in the overall scheme of things.
By now I think what matters is high self esteem, ambition, and ability to work hard.

It’s funny because we were “flash card parents” with our oldest and he learned to read at 6 with everyone else despite us doing worksheets with him at 3, 4 & 5. He ended up resenting it all and we had pushback but thankfully he’s a good student now at 13 and so is our 11 year old.

Our youngest is an “oops” and I hate to admit it but for the most part she’s just along for the ride. Super easy going and we are so much more relaxed. I find ir so ironic she’s the one who is picking up things I worked so hard in with my older two.

Maybe the daycare teacher is just better at it?

My son was consistently recognizing all letters and numbers at 12-15 months. However, he also had other behaviors that led us to an ASD diagnosis.

He's now 4.5yo, can read (with lagging comprehension) and do double digit multiplication/division/fractions. Very bright but an oddball amongst his peers.

Anonymous wrote:For the past two weeks DD will recognize every letter in alphabet and can make the sounds of twenty consistently. She recently showed she can pick out letters from individual words as well. We read at home but definitely don’t work on letter recognition. Apparently they do letter of the week at daycare so I’m assuming she picked it up there? Her teacher said she’s the only one in the class who can do this. I’m impressed. My two oldest didn’t do this until maybe 3 or 4 when it was directly taught in preschool. Is this a sign of hyperlexia or am I overthinking it? She’s memorized a few easy books too but I don’t think she’s recognizing words but just has memorized the words by page.

I know in the long run it doesn’t matter if she’s reading at 2 or 7 but I’m curious if others have experienced this with their toddlers? Where are they now academically? Were they early readers?

Kewl

I learned to read at two, two of my kids were reading at 3. Both are voracious readers with no issues otherwise.

I have another kid (the middle child) who learned to read around 5 and wasn’t too keen on reading all the way through high school. Guess who is a history major who is basically walking around with her head in a book? She is a slower reader than the other two, but it doesn’t impact the quality of reading or her love for it.

Mine walked at 10 months, talked at 11 months, read at 4. There are a million factors between now and high school and college. She is very bright at a Top school but she is not Mensa or the next Bill Gates.

One would think that by the third child no one is overly impressed by little things… no it wasn’t the case with my kid but every time I thought he was unusually good at something it turned out to be pretty insignificant in the overall scheme of things.
By now I think what matters is high self esteem, ambition, and ability to work hard.

My kids wee “advanced for their age”, now they are use normal. Don’t get excited.

Anonymous wrote:My son learned the alphabet and sounds really early on and my daughter’s speech therapist said it was a bad thing and suggested autism (which I do think he has). He’s 6 now and still crazy smart though.

You mean a professional suggested and you suspect it but you haven’t done an eval yet?

Both my kids knew all their letters that early. One was reading words in preschool, the other full on books. Neither is autistic, and both are in our district gifted magnet program. I’m not surprised they were reading on the early side because both parents were early readers.

Yes, my firstborn knew all the letters around that age and could read easy three letter words when he was 2, and could read fluently when he was 3.5 or so. For reference, I have a video of him reading a Mercy Watson book out loud to himself a month or so before he turned 4.

He continues to be a voracious reader but honestly prefers graphic novels and things like diary of a wimpy kid these days. He is 8. He will occasionally pick up an adult nonfiction book though and read all 300ish pages. But he prefers typical third grade boy “literature” these days.

He has ADHD (not severe enough to need meds) and that’s probably why he read so early. He has a tendency to hyper focus on things that interest him and as a toddler, reading interested him the most. All he ever wanted was books and more books!

He is smart but not off the charts- like, scores 95-99% in the MAP/ cogat stuff but he isn’t the brightest in his grade.

Hope this helps give some perspective! And take videos because it’s adorable to see a toddler reading aloud. You’ll look back on them later!

Hyperplexia. I was trying to remember that word yesterday. It is a thing and not always viewed positively. I had two kids that were fully reading by 2. No one thought to mention their uncle (NT) was the same. They are strong in academics (ES), but as PP said, doesn't matter if it's 2 or 7.

I started reading at 18 months as well - went to the eye doctor with my mom and when he asked her to read the eye chart I just read all the letters and she had no idea I knew any. I had learned just purely from watching sesame street with my older sister.

I didn’t learn to read super super early, but like age 4, so a little early. they And I did always read several grade levels ahead and very quickly - like a chapter book per day or two. I was also in competitive spelling bees (like on tv). I had perfect verbal SATs.

I am 40 now with a good job and normal life and somewhere in a box I have a certificate for being voted most likely to succeed in my elementary school. But that’s about all I have to show for my early genius years. Lol.

My kid taught themselves to read around age 3 too. Some kids are good at decoding. Not always ASd, just sometimes how their brains work.