How to tell if a toddler is a genius?

Question

She is my niece and she is 26 months. She can speak two languages and you would conclude she is around four/five if you heard her speak. She stays with my mom who owns a day care centre and my niece has been a learner there since she was just a month old. At five months, she was crawling and she took part in everything that she older kids did, from singing, to rhymes to drama etc. Her mom was an average student but her father jumped a few grades a school andh e has always been best in his class and he is a Chartered Accountant. There are around twelve other kids around my nieces age and started attending the day centre from just a few weeks old for 3 months...what puzzles me is that they can't speak, they are having serious problems with potty training, and they don't know their own names..my niece knows all their names and surnames. I wanna know if she might be gifted and if she is, how do we as family develop that gift? thanks.

The things she does are just amazing...sometime last month, during outside playtime she approached one of the educators and complained of a headache (she requested that her temp be checked as her head was painful) the teacher ignored her. She approached my mom, complained of the teacher (I know, she is aware that her granny is the head)and then requested that my mom check her temperature as her head was painful. My mom checked it to find that she indeed had a fever and that her eyes were watery. Because she had highlighted the situation, my mom was able to take care of her immediately.

well, I was a gifted child myself finishing high school at 16 and my first degree at 21 in a foreign country. I was a given awarded three scholarships for abroad studies after high school and I chose a five year scholarship to Malaysia. I am currently 24, have two Hons degrees, currently studying for two master's equivalent specialist programmes (married,7 weeks pregnant with my first) ,already a high level specialist for a leading telecom's company in South Africa and I have always loved being younger than my classmates. At the moment, I am the only female (black female for that matter) in a team of 14 white males all over the age of 40 and all of this in a country that is still re-educating its people about the good of practicing equality. So Jarellsmom I appreciate you response and I just felt I should share with you how I learnt to embrace the opportunity instead of seeing it as a way of losing out on my childhood. My mom always it possible to feel that I was a kid. I had fun.

Answer 1

just try and enjoy the child's obvious capabilities without worrying re the development. School examinations and work will tap into her potential. She is a lucky child as learning and promotions will be a lot easier but for the present just enjoy her childhood as she will probably grow up too quickly and try not to emphasize her difference. She will be a lot happier than if she is singled out

Answer 2

Sounds gifted to me!

I was determined to be "gifted" when I was 6 yrs old. My mom didn't want me to be different and to have a normal life and I didn't get the stimulation I craved and did poorly at school. So, if I could rewind and make her do it right this is what I would do;

Take her to anything stimulating, an art museum, the grocery store, live theater, the library, anywhere where she can see and hear different people, languages, colors, shapes etc. Even a trip to the gas station can be stimulating if you use your time wisely.

Please do not let her stay in the public school system. They have no idea what to do with real intelligence. I know it may be financially difficult to pay for private schooling, but it's worth it in the end. Besides, she will most likely get a scholarship to help defray the education costs.

Encourage her to think for herself and not to worry about being smarter than anyone her own age. Encourage her to be a leader, to think for herself and to dream big. When she asks a question, don't give her an answer, show her how to find the answer herself, even if you know the answer. Take her to the library, sit her in your lap, and read a book on why the sky is blue, or how cheese is made. Exploration, and the love of learning, can make even an average person gifted.

Keep in mind, your IQ can grow and atrophy just like any other muscle. A gifted child today, with the proper encouragement, may grow into genius in a few years. Or, could atrophy into average intelligence with disuse.

Answer 3

Gifted doesn't mean genius. And she very well could outgrown her development. The fact that a child can speak two langauges is not all that amazing. Two of my cousins spoke two languages as toddlers because they were exposed to them, Greek and English. That didn't make either one of them geniuses. My daughter was speaking full understandable sentences before her 2nd birthday. Doesn't mean she was a genius. She also had a formidable Sign Language vocabulary. My daughter was potty trained before her 2nd birthday and walking on her own by 10 months. I wouldn't lable her a genius. My daughter was reading at the age of 3 and by the age of 7 was reading the works of Edgar Allan Poe as well as Charles Dickens. At 10 she began to tackle William Shakespeare. She now reads not only beyond college level but in two different languages as well, being fluent in French she read Victor Hugo's Les Miserables in it's original French when she was 16. Does this make her a genius...I don't know. I didn't "train" her to do any of it, I let her progress on her own.

Answer 4

umm. my son is almost 18months, he speaks three languages and says about 80 words in each language including sentences, he was walking at 7months and is in the over 2's group at his daycare.. he's already potty trained has been since 13months, he reads books constantly pointing to words and pictures and comes up with new words and phrases in all three languages daily.. also understands a whole lot more than he can speak.. i don't however think he's a genius.. just a bit forward for his age.. he does however seem to be up to speed with most 2yr olds and alot of 3 year olds but it doesn't worry me because he is still a BABY and i want him to stay that way for as long as possible, i think that as long as you keep their mind occupied it's fine as i don't want to overload him with things simply because people think he is 'advanced'. i myself finished high school at 16 (completed it) and i think it was the wrost thing my parents could have let me do was skip the two years.. i lost most of my friends and couldn't relate to the ones in my class.. i hated it.. and i don't want to do that to my son.. you might hate my answer but its my opinion for my own family not for yours.

Answer 5

Wow, she sounds amazing! Yes, she sounds very advanced and gifted and I would definitely keep enriching her with art lessons, musical lessons, anything that seems to stimulate her. The other kids in the class seem like "normal" children at 2, so don't hold it against them! :)

Answer 6

well, sounds to me that you dont need to tell. to me she allready sounds very very gifted. not neccessarily a genius. but if you want to find out, ask her some complicated questions.

Answer 7

http://www3.bc.sympatico.ca/giftedcanada/ynggift.html#birth

You can also find some stuff on this websit: http://www.schoolmall.ca/default.aspx