Can you help us find people to help with a two-year old with the intelligence of a six-year old?

Question

She uses all parts of speech, in complex sentences. She constantly experiments and asks questions, She is able to balance on a balance board, unassisted. I need help!

I'm an educator, so I know the difference between wishful fatherly thinking and actual intellectual progress, so please don't demonstrate your own lack of same. I'm looking for contacts and people who would be interested in helping and studying her for her own and all of our benefit.

Can you help?

We live in the state of Texas, but distance isn't an issue.

Answer 1

Find a Gifted & Talented teacher at your local Elementary School (or better, a GT preschool, if you can find one) and schedule an appointment for them to check out your kid. If she is a genius (which sounds likely), she can probably hook you up with someone to help your kid learn to the best of her abilities.

Answer 2

Please don't.

That is great that she may be gifted. My daughter was reading at aged 3.  Just love her. Forget that you are an educator and just be a parent.  She doesn't need to be studied, she needs to be loved.  

Ponder the idea, that teachers sometimes make the WORST parents.  And then change it.

Answer 3

try sending a letter to a research programe if you really want to use ur daughter that way but if shes just extremely intellectually try to look for a specail school for her

good luck

ps i live in oklahoma lol

Answer 4

wow

Answer 5

take her to the park, zoo,museums, the beach etc., as often as you can so she can be herself and have fun like children always do.  take it easy on the research part.  This is the best time for you to spend time together years from now, she wouldn't remember anything else about the research, scholarly pursuits and how people appreciated her-- except how you were with her through all the really fun times you shared together.  and yeah, teach her to read  just like Roberta shared.  take it one day at a time and Have fun.

Answer 6

She's your baby so if you allow someone to study her PLEASE do not allow her to be their guinea pig.  Enroll her in an excellent preschool in your area and invite a "researcher" to study her through observation in her learning environment.

A Montessori school would be a good place for her because the children are educated individually and can progress at their own pace.  Because the classes are grouped in 3 year spans the teachers are not limited to teaching her only what you would teach a 2yo.

You probably already know this, being an educator, but it is very common for children with intellectual strengths to have other weaknesses i.e. social skills, muscle development, emotional control, etc.  Just a reminder so you can find her weakness and work on strengthening it.

Answer 7

I think Bill meant "contact", but I agree with him.  Have you tried the big colleges in your area?

Best of luck!

--Julia <><

Answer 8

wow, i bet ur proud, keep looking, lots of colleges i bet would like wat ur talking about.

Answer 9

Wow that's great my son was same way, unfortunately divorce and the public education system shut him down quick, don't give up and try a university or write to Oprah she recently had some really smart little kids on show and I'm sure she could point you in good direction.

Answer 10

i'm really sorry, but I don't know. That's amazing that a two year old can be that smart! wow

Answer 11

Be sure not to praise her intellect, but instead emphasize her hard work when she is successful.  That is very very important.  If you praise her brains too often, she will stop trying when she does fail a couple of times because her ego will be invested in being successful.  She will stop daring, and instead will do what is safe so she can continue to be successful.    You will have created a low achiever, and good luck fixing that.

There is also something true about the comment that you could be a 'stage mom', if you know what that is.  You seem all het up about this little kid who talks in complete sentences, etc.  I hate to tell you, but it could all fizzle, she may not maintain her lead.  My advice is to develop her as best you can, with the advice given in the responses, and see what happens.  And also be aware that you may be getting something out of the idea that your daughter is some unusually intelligent person.  Perhaps she is, or perhaps she is just very verbal and coordinated, and won't be as talented in other areas, which is oftentimes what happens.  

But I'm all for developing a child's abilities.  society needs as many talented and well-adjusted citizens as it can get.  Do be sure she is socially well adjusted, because if she is not well adjusted, it won't matter too much what else she has going for her because other people will reject her, and there goes the networking that would have netted her the better jobs.

Have I laid enough on you?  

Best wishes!

Answer 12

http://www.zometool.com/products-kits.ht...

for an awesome 3D toy when she is a bit older so she doesn't try to swallow the pieces.

Find a piano teacher.

Teach her to read.  My daughter's 7th grade English teacher, who taught gifted kids, told me she taught her older daughter to read when the daughter was 2 years old.  Teachermama also did this, and both taught it the same way, by showing the child the word and lots of praise.  I recommend it to you.  Here's the response:

One response:

That book is called "How To Teach Your Baby To Read" by Glenn Doman. It is wonderful, and still available. It worked like a charm with my two-year-old.

You should be aware that kids of illiterate parents are just like other kids. All kids can benefit from this kind of teaching. I have taught many students of illiterate parents, and I have found them to be intelligent and very motivated to help their children learn to read. One way they can do this is if you send home picture books and have the parents tell the story to the child based on what is happening in the pictures. This pre-reading activity is very valuable even if it happens in another language than English. It helps the child develop concepts and vocabulary, and excitement about books.

Another response:

Forget the research. I have taught several little ones to read, two of my own at ages 18 mos. and 2. I got my inspiration almost 30 years ago from a book called, I think, "You Can Teach Your Baby to Read" But it may just be, "Teach Your Baby to Read." The author, I think, was Glenn Dolman. It was a long time ago. And, of course, I wasn't illiterate. But the whole idea was to make it fun. I didn't follow his ideas very strictly, either. I just put words on cards and got my child to read them. In fact, with the first, he "read" his first word at 9 months. His first word was "ball" and he would repeat it for me any time I said, "say ball." So then, I wrote the word on a card, and got him to say ball when I held up the card. Then I went nuts and squealed and said he was a clever baby and so he would say ball every time I held up the card. When he learned to say "Mama" a few days later, I put the word "Mama on a card and held it up. In minutes, he could distinguish between the two, and I would cheer him on. By 18 months, he had a 60-word speaking and reading vocabulary. Everyone thought it was amazing. Then I got pregnant with the next one, was really busy, we moved, etc. I didn't get around to seriously teaching him again until he was 3. And it was easy. Then, the next year, when he was 4 and his sister was 2, I taught her to read. They are 29 and 27 now, and are both avid readers. Get the book. Make it fun. And don't start with boring, words like bat, sat, hat. Do words that grab their attention. I've been a reading teacher for over 30 years. I have discovered something amazing. If you teach a child to read in that window of time before they analyze things, just like language, they learn it easily and figure out the phonics for themselves. I f you wait until the ripe old age of 5 or 6, then they usually need phonics instruction, and methods to make it work. I don't know if this is true in all languages, but in English, where we have over a dozen different spellings for the sound of oo, as in boot, once children are old enough to analyze, and try to figure things out, it is harder to teach, but there is that window of time, when they can put it all together. You could make an amazing difference in these children's lives if you taught them now. I hope you do it.

Be sure she has chores to do, by the way, so she will do her homework.

Answer 13

Try the Texas Association for the Gifted and Talented: http://www.txgifted.org/.

They should be able to provide you with resources for fostering your child's potential.

At this age, the best thing you can do is to answer her questions as truthfully and completely as possible, with answers appropriate for her emotional and social maturity as well as for her intellectual maturity.  Don't lie to her.  If you don't know the answer to her question, take her with you to the encyclopedia and look it up.  If she can read already (if she does not, I am sure she will start to read very soon), make sure she has access to a good dictionary and encyclopedia, and encourage her to use them.  

If she continues to develop at this rate, you are in for a very interesting time.  Be aware, however, that her emotional and social maturity may not be the equal of her mental maturity.  In fact, as she gets older, she may begin to exhibit delayed social skills.  This arises from two factors.  First, since she is able to communicate on a higher level than her peers, she is likely to think of herself as more adult than she really is, and to avoid "childish" activities that would give her a chance to engage with children of her own age.  Second, she is also likely to talk (and play) over the heads of her peers, who will react by teasing or ostracizing her.  Encourage her to play with children close to her own age, and gently help her understand when it is not appropriate to show off her knowledge.  It's a hard thing for many gifted children to learn, and it makes their lives unnecessarily difficult.  You may also find that you yourself tend to think of her as more grown-up than she really is.  She's still a child, and while her level of understanding may be higher than average, you should not assume that she is on an adult emotional level.  She will still experience the emotional storms and traumas of childhood, and in many ways, these may be worse for her, especially if she does not relate well to her peers.

A small warning:  Gifted children do not cause the same types of trouble as do other children.  They often come up with Bright Ideas.  Some of these can be exceedingly dangerous.  Don't be overprotective--try to give her room to experiment, but DO check in from time to time, unless you want your house burned down or your car engine rewired.  While you should allow her to read as much as she can, you will want to keep an eye on her library books and her ventures onto the Web.  Just because she is capable of reading it does not necessarily mean she SHOULD read it.

Another problem you may encounter is sub-par academic performance-- NOT because she is having trouble with her subjects, but because she finds them insultingly dull and therefore refuses to participate.  If you are lucky enough to have a small school, you will find that some teachers are willing to craft a more engaging curriculum to help meet her needs.  In a large public school, however, she may simply be labeled as a problem student and left to stagnate.  If you have a Montessori school or a Friends school in your area, you should strongly consider enrolling her there.  These schools will support different paces of learning and will allow her to pursue work that is appropriate for her higher level of intelligence.  It is important for her to be academically challenged.  If she is able to simply skate through her classes, she will not learn the discipline necessary for effective studying, writing, and research.

Whatever you do, do not fall prey to two common temptations of parents of gifted children.  First, do not constantly tell your child or others how gifted your child is.  This is not at all good for the child, as it can lead either to overinflated self-esteem, or to low self-esteem (since she will feel pressured to continue to prove herself to be exceptional).  Second, do NOT succumb to the trend of signing your child up for every single activity, sport and club that is available.  She is likely to have many interests, and while she should be encouraged to pursue activities that she truly enjoys and has a talent for, she should be allowed plenty of free time to pursue other avenues of intellectual development-- and to just play, and do chores, and fool around.  There's plenty of time for the college-prep treadmill later.  Let her be a kid while she can.

Good luck!

Answer 14

You really do need to get her tested, if for no other reason than that she won't be bored in ordinary classroom settings. Check with your doctor and your school system to find out where to start. Some of these extraordinary children need lots of special attention. She really sounds like a very gifted child.

Answer 15

Regardless of how old she is, this is the rest of her life we're talking about. Make sure she understands, and then ask the local college.

Answer 16

sorry

Answer 17

Contact the educational service center in your county.  They can help connect you with gifted services in your area.

Answer 18

Go to your university in early child hood development and talk with them. There shoudl be groups for children with outstanding gifts. There shoudl also be facilities where they would be intersted in helping your daughter if she is intellectually advanced for her age.

Answer 19

Try contacting Johns Hopkins University.  I know they tracked my nephew when he was younger.

The site is:

http://cty.jhu.edu/

I hope it helps!

Answer 20

Connect your state university.

Answer 21

Your an "educator" huh....wow

I smell a stage mom.

Answer 22

wow, u got a really lucky girl!

ummm contaqct the UT austin and ask there.....

sorry not much help, am i?

but wow, ur lucky!

HAAHA

Answer 23

Read up on Charlotte Mason (www.amblesideonline.org) nature study.  That website is for homeschoolers, but at this age, her parent is her overall teacher.  The website has wonderful ideas, but in particular, you'll love her approach to nature study. At her age it would basically mean taking walks with her and letting her do all the absorbing and learning. Comment only on her efforts (no right or wrong), sweetness, manners, etc.  

My doctor once said that he could tell the difference between children who are given time and attention versus children who are given the t.v. as a babysitter.  He also said that kids hit their milestones at different speeds, and while she might be miles ahead verbally right now, it could slow down later.  That means it is very important that she learns how to be a child - obedient, mannerly, have fun, etc. and that she be set up to succeed.  No pressure.  

  

I'm sending you a link for Texas help for gifted children, but I truly hope you'll consider, for now, being her main teacher.  You will love her and guide her like no one else can. Then, when she hits school age, get an I.E.P. for gifted students, so they can provide the needed challenge, if need be.  Good luck!

Answer 24

sound like you only want to know for your own benefit.  Make sure to take care of your baby she is just a baby after all.

Answer 25

conntact the university of harvard