My 28 mnth old knows all his abc's: Does this mean he's gifted?

Question

My 28 month old son says and recognizes all his letters. Points and says what they are on the street,at the mall, in books, at the pool, on street signs, newspapers, in script, capital, upper case,lower case etc. He even knows what sound most of the letters make and recognizes his own name. Does this mean he's gifted? Does this mean he will be an early reader? How can I encourage his love of learning/reading, playing with letters etc.

Answer 1

I would think that he's quite gifted.  Hooked on Phonics is really great, it has my son reading books and he hasn't start kindergarten yet.  Also, throw in some math, you'd be surprised at how easy and fun it is for kids.

Answer 2

Quite possibly could be gifted.  He definately is advanced with his pre-reading skills, and is on his way to read early.  I would encourage this by reading books to him every day.

Answer 3

I wouldn't put him in day care. the reason he is learning so well is because you are doing something right. He wouldn't know those things if somebody hadn't taught them to him. My daughter is going to be 3 soon and she is smart as well. She knows some spanish, her colors,shapes, abc's(sounds and identifies), etc. She is an on the go learner and that may be the case with yours as well if you haven't sat down and taught her. I use all chances I get to teach. If we are some where and waiting then we play games. Like I spy with colors, letters, numbers, shapes. We try to make use of all the time we get instead of sitting there bored. At night time we try to encourage her imagination, we tell stories and then she gets to tell us stories. Keep doing what you are doing. You do not need to send your child off during the day for your child to learn. A parent can teach a child much better than a stranger.

Answer 4

if he's not in playschool  already....get him into one. he would definitely benefit from circle time, story time and socialization with other kids at this point. i know most children don't start until around three, but he is definitely ready. they sometimes have nice library programs for children. you could check that out as well if you think a shorter program would be better.

he does sounds extremely bright for a child his age. you must be doing a fantastic job. can you share your secrets?

the only thing i would caution from my professional experience is to resist labeling your child as anything. children are so dynamic and putting a gifted stamp on a child even this young can cause immense pressure on them.

best wishes and congrats!

edit: playschool and daycare are different. daycare is daycare....and daycare can be great, but playschool is ideal for stay at home mums. playschool is a short program (usually an hour or two). parents stay with their children at playschool. they have a qualified educator doing activites to socialize children. should have explained it better. it may be called something different in other countries, in canada we call it playschool.

Answer 5

I know this is probably not the answer you want to hear, but I'll offer my knowledge anyway.

To be completely honest, he sounds like many other 2 year old I know. Most children these days know their colors, letters and numbers. Memorization does not equate to genius, it is what he does with the information that makes a child a genius. Any kid can memorize and parrot back. If you have spent time(even unintentionally-ie-spelling things out, pointing to letters and naming them.) telling him his letters and the sounds than he should be able to know his letters.

There are plenty of children that can be taught to memorize every president from Washington to Bush, but they are not a genius, if they could name every pres and tell you various information about them, then they would be unique.

Here is an except from an article on child genius's:

"Stanford University psychology professor Carol Dweck, who studies child development, says memorization is not a sign of genius."Children come wired to make these associations to learn," Dweck said...

Dweck cautioned though that "it's not what you would call a prodigy. A prodigy is someone who has a deep precocious understanding of something — of numbers, words, music. They think in new ways, invent things."

A true prodigy is someone like Picasso or Mozart who was composing by age 5, or Tiger Woods who shot a 48 on a nine-hole course by the age of 2."

When I worked at a daycare(for three years), we often had kids that could do their ABC's, colors, numbers, etc. It was because their parents taught them, either purposely(by having them name colors), or unknowingly(every time the kid used a crayon, etc the parent would say red, green, etc. or what color is this?). We had a 2 year old that could name the presidents because his mother went over them with him(the same way some parents taught colors and shapes, she taught presidents).

Most parents think their children are gifted or above average It just the way parents are, to be honest where would we be if our mothers didn't think we could do anything. You sound as if you are doing a great job with him, so keep it up. The best way to get a child to read is to read to them. Make learning fun, incorporate games, make it exciting. I think the worse thing a parent can do is pressure their child to be a genius or turn learning into a chore.