2.5 yr old intelligence-Is this normal???

The parents do not sit around and teach him 24/7.
Unless you consider him asking them how to spell words, or asking them to write numbers on paper. It is all the little boy's request to learn, learn, learn. During free play, he only really plays with numbered blocks, putting them in order, making words from flash cards, or getting books and counting the page numbers in it. Seriously, he does this with novels just to count the pages.

As far as making him play more with the youngest child, I have 3 boys his age (within 2 months), a 4 yr old girl, and his 15 month old sister. He plays with her at home every night exclusively.

The nap deal. He will NOT sleep, at least not every day. maybe once a week he will actually fall asleep. I agree he is extremley young to not nap and his body needs it. but thasts another topic for another day!! LOL

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Originally Posted by KingstonMom

The parents do not sit around and teach him 24/7.
Unless you consider him asking them how to spell words, or asking them to write numbers on paper. It is all the little boy's request to learn, learn, learn. During free play, he only really plays with numbered blocks, putting them in order, making words from flash cards, or getting books and counting the page numbers in it. Seriously, he does this with novels just to count the pages.

As far as making him play more with the youngest child, I have 3 boys his age (within 2 months), a 4 yr old girl, and his 15 month old sister. He plays with her at home every night exclusively.

The nap deal. He will NOT sleep, at least not every day. maybe once a week he will actually fall asleep. I agree he is extremley young to not nap and his body needs it. but thasts another topic for another day!! LOL

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In response to your original post, yes he sounds gifted. With that said I think working on his social development is key, as with all little ones his age. I wouldn't try and overload him with learning but let him lead you. How are his fine motor skills?

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Originally Posted by Skysue

In response to your original post, yes he sounds gifted. With that said I think working on his social development is key, as with all little ones his age. I wouldn't try and overload him with learning but let him lead you. How are his fine motor skills?

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Hi fine motor is excellent, we often string beads and also have small, interlocking games they enjoy playing with.
He enjoys playdoh, beading, painting, gluing, anything artsy.
He does not, however have the ability to print letters or do much more than a circle on paper.
His pictures are very scribbley.

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Originally Posted by KingstonMom

Hi fine motor is excellent, we often string beads and also have small, interlocking games they enjoy playing with.
He enjoys playdoh, beading, painting, gluing, anything artsy.
He does not, however have the ability to print letters or do much more than a circle on paper.
His pictures are very scribbley.

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Okay I get what you are saying. I think his skill set is possibly on the high end of normal but I don't see it as being too extraordinary. He is recognizing and memorizing symbols and sequences. I've seen that before many times.

From what you have said in my home I would focus on him free playing toys such as duplo blocks, lego blocks, primo blocks, cardboard blocks, playmobil, potato head, lincoln logs, cars, trains, doll house, kitchen etc. I wouldn't have him play with things that have numbers or letters on them. I would have him play regular toys and see if he were able to entertain himself without the sorting and symbols. I would stay OUT of that play too. I would mix him with the other three year olds (I'm assuming they are the ones he is not choosing but rather the way older kids) and see how he plays REGULAR toys.

I don't see the crafty stuff being unusual. Most kids his age would dig doing that stuff if they had an adult playing with them.

I would also focus on exercise........ tons of it. Have him go outside every day for a good long walk and have a big lunch meal. I would not do ANY symbols or sequencing with him anywhere near nap time. He may be getting escalated with that activity and you are putting him to bed with a racing mind. Make sure he has "go play toys" with little to no adult for at least an hour or so before lunch. If you are going to "work" with him do it long long long before nap or after nap. Have him exercise, eat good, and free play with his age mates before nap so he gets his mind settled and is open to pure deep sleep. I would not allow him up at all during nap. A couple of hours of sleep in a pitch black dark room every day no exceptions.

If he is gifted these fundamental activities for a two year old will compliment his giftedness far better than crafting or "school". He has a baby body and he has playmates. He needs to have his focus being on good food, good sleep, good play, and good exercise. He seems like he has a ton of adult at home so as little adult as possible at your house and as much age mate, food, sleep, and regular toys will balance him out.

One of my truly gifted kiddos was with me for five years from birth to kindy. She just won second place in a math basic skills testing for our entire district. We are a town of a half million people so our school district is big. She was able to do all these things at that age and began handwriting around then...... but she was an amazing toy player and played with ease going from any age group. She pplayed as well with the one year olds as she did with the kids older than her. She ate great, exercised, and took long naps every day. She's nine now and still takes a nap on the weekends. What makes her so phenomenal is that she excelles in every single subject, health, wellness, friendship etc because she has had a group of adults who want her to be balanced. She would have never been allowed to go in one way only..... all aspects of her life including sleep, eating, exercise are just as important as her academic prowess. Her ability to adapt and be flexible has served her so well.

I have another example for you but I have to be careful about the information because it's a child in my daycare but he's kind of similar to your case. The child has fantastic memory and verbal skills and speaks clearly and this all started right after about the age of 1. I was super impressed, but nothing else is coming along, no comprehenson, no participating with the others, slow learning at crafting and anything with simple instructions and he has no empathy or respect for the other children.

He isn't violent or anything, he just always concentrates on what he is doing and doesn't listen to others or respect their space. I'm really exhausted by the end of the day because of this one child and I've been working really hard with him and hoping for progress but not seeing much. I wondered about autism or something here too. But I haven't had any experience with that so I don't know what to think.

It's really great that you are trying to figure out how to help the child but it's really the parent's responsibility.

It is really amazing to be around kids who have extraordinary minds. The three I have had in my 34 years have been a phenomenal experience and I thank the heavens that I got to SEE that in my career. With only running a max of eight kids I could have easily gone my twenty years in home child care and never seen it once.

The first gifted kid I had is now an adult and a graduate of Harvard. He is working on his masters now. He was an amazing baby and could talk completely by about fourteen months. I was young when I cared for him but I knew even then that he was unique. He was fortunate enough to be raised true wealth and has had the opportunities to match his incredible mind.

I have had many many kids who's parents believed they were gifted. That's very common. I've had a pretty good number of kids who did the things you are describing and they turned out to not be gifted but had a ton of adult from birth on and had a ton of exposure to the things the average parent uses as indicator of intelligence like letter recognition, number recognition, sequencing, and verbal skills. I've also had a handfull of kids who fixated on numbers, letters, and sequencing. My son at age four could completely read AND read upside down. It didn't matter which way he held the book..... rightside up or upside down...... he could read up to the level of Dr Seuss books at age four. He just memorized the words and could do the sequencing regardless of positioning. He could put on quite a dog and pony show when he was little with his mad upside down reading skilz.

From the perspective of being a provider, this child's skill set would not be too impressive to me because the things I really want... that are super high priority.. he's not doing all of them. I would work on the these things first, especially nap, playing with the younger kids, and playing toys without getting his sort and sequence on. I would rather he do his numbers, letters, counting, etc. at home on his own dime. At my house I would want "go play toys", be a great friend, be sweet with the little ones, eat good food, and take a good long nap every day. I know from all my years of experience that these things make for great balanced students. He's still very very young and has his whole life to count pages, sort, and sequence. He only gets to be a toddler for a short time so his body, his interpersonal skills, and his ability to truly PLAY is what will give him the best foot forward in life.

It's cool to see a little kid be able to do what he does for sure but the newness of that would wear off in about an hour to me and I definitely wouldn't feed it nor would I spend any time with the parents discussing it unless it interfered with nap, true play, his relationship with the kids, eating, and exercising.

It would be a great idea to broaden his interests to other things such as a hobby or sport - something besides just academics he can develop a passion for. School can accommodate giftedness only so far and often it is the outside interests - chess clubs, scrabble clubs, strategy games, that actually help them cope. Social skills with peers often needs to be encouraged vice solitary play or engaging only with adults so something to watch for. He for sure sounds like he has skills. It is also possible that he is gifted in only certain areas like spatial awareness or logic and looking at some of the other dimensions of education and fostering those would be good too.