Is my 16 months old gifted? If yes, what do I need to do?

- Ability to sit still and watch his favorite video by 3 months
- Able to read and pick words when ask on flash card by 6 months
- Sign more, eat, milk, daddy, water and follows directions like don’t touch and please come back by 9 months
- Reading simple words out loud ( car, cat, up, wave, eat, more, head, dog, etc.. By 10 months.
- Read over 60 words out loud, sign over 30 words and count 1-13 by 11 months
- Read over 150 words, know the color black, white, purple, red, yellow, green, orange, and blue, can count from 1-29, counts by 10’s to 100, count from 1-10 in French and can find Africa, New Zealand, Australia, South America, and Canada on a map by 15 months.
- Interest in dinosaurs, computer, cars, trucks and puzzle, shows sign of leadership, prefer to play with older children age 3 and up, ask for specific needs, drink milk, water, sleep, hungry or outside by 16 months.

Tammie J.

Hi, tamie28!

Your toddler would appear to be exhibiting traits that are above average for his age.

Have you had him professionally tested and is there a particular reason why you want to find out if he's gifted, please?

Thanks!

Signs of your child being "gifted" usually balance out eventually. A lot of people who think that their children are gifted send their children to schools for "gifted children." this isn't always the best idea because it presures children into being above others and when they don't do the best in eveything, it makes them upset.

Also learning how to read at a young age doesn't always mean that your child will will be a great reader later on. When I started school their were some kids in my class that could already read, but their reading skills developed the same way as others' later on.

The best thing to do is to let your child grow up normaly like other children. Send him to a normal school with children his age. You can still help him read and help him get into the habit of reading a lot as he gets older. Your child isn't necissarily gifted. He is just learning at a very quick rate for a 1 year old. I have a sister who was the same way when she was a baby and she grew up to be an ordinary person.

Yes, your child is very gifted. Homeschool your child, if you are able (depending on your country and state, and your profession). This is the ultimate gifted child classroom. (Again, if you are able.) A classical education would give him the greatest advantage, as soon as he is ready. You may want to use the materials from Memoria Press - starting with the phonics program and Lingua Latin as soon as phonics is mastered, not waiting for advised ages - go as fast as the child can go - watch for and avoid eyestrain. You may want to use Math-U-See. Continuing his development and not trying to integrate him is important. This is my opinion from years of research and experience in this particular area and gifted children I have worked with personally. Gifted children do not even out. Your child is gifted. He will find endless frustration if he is normalized, integrated or convinced that he is not gifted. Do not teach him limitations. Continue to encourage development.

A young man that attended an ivy league college at age twelve told me that he would have given anything to have only been developed comfortably, continually, from birth using these courses from home. And of course, just in case it is a concern, gifted children, especially encouraged and properly helped/developed ones, do not have cultural or social problems.