what can i do for a gifted toddler?

Question

my daughter is 16 months and has already started counting to 10 and has a large vocabulary. while she still enjoys games like patty cake and itsy bitsy spider i just feel like there are games i could use to teach her more. any suggestions?

Answer 1

basically, keep her challenged. Reward her for developing her gift, and then give her things that are SLIGHTLY harder than she knows how to do. Puzzles designed for ages a little higher than hers, etc. Maybe get her started on a musical instrument. The two main things to focus on are, keep her challenged, and never force her. Keep it fun for her and let her work at her own pace.

Things that require creativity are great. Lincoln logs and even legos, try to get her to use them to complete objectives. Video games, believe it or not, are also excellent introductions to problem solving. Good luck!

Answer 2

My daughter is the same way and is now 4. At a year old she could hold a conversation with a person and understand everything the person was telling her and vice versa. People were amazed. And counting, she could count objects at 19 months to 20. So I know what you are going through. I have never had her tested for being gifted and doubt I ever will. It's hard in play groups too. I was with a lady that was bragging about her 4 year old knowing his alphabet by sight. I didn't want to tell her that my daughter, then 2 years old, knew it by sight and sound for a few months already. And now at 4, she is reading very difficult words. It's like she skipped the cat, hat, fat faze and went right to delectable and more words like that. I have to tell you it's been a hard road keeping her challenged. We are going to home school with tutors because she is just so ahead. Don't listen to the others that say it's not possible. Every mother thinks their kid is smart, but you can tell when your kid is special and is smarter than the average bear. My 1 yr. old son, he's just an average 1 year old. Sometimes I think there's something wrong because he only says 7 words but that's how 1 year olds talk. I keep comparing him to my daughter. Which is wrong but, I've never had an average kid before. What you have to do is count everything. Even when she goes to get her diaper. Tell her you want 1 diaper. Or give me 3 crayons. And read to her....a lot. Tell her to go in her room and bring you something that starts with the B sound. If you need more specific answers to anything else, you can contact me.

Answer 3

Don't believe everyone who is saying it is not possible. My son was making 3-4 word sentences when he was a little over a year. He was counting to 10 (and even a little higher but not without getting the numbers confused) and could sing all of his ABC's and a couple other songs by the time he was 18 months. We just always try to continue learning every day. We sing new songs and count. He knows all his basic colors and shapes. We've gotten a memory card game that has different animals on it and he likes to play that. He's even moved up to the preschool room at his daycare because he knows just as much as those kids do if not more at his age of just under 2 and a half. It's almost like he has a photographic memory and sounds like your daughter does too!

Answer 4

Hello! Don't listen to all those nay-sayers about "that's not possible". Some people can't help but be a little envious of someone else's gifted child. That one lady said her gifted child didn't start counting till four? My 18 mth old counts to 5. I think that is average, not gifted. However, counting to ten is quite a feat! Be proud of your little one. I think that you should just keep at all the fun learing games. There are so many wonderful educational toys out now that will promote her learning abilities. Maybe if she starts to really shine in a certain area, you could start with a teacher (not for awhile though, because she is still kind of young). Anyways, it sounds like you are doing a great job! Good for you!

Answer 5

Turn anything you can into a learning game. Any time you pay for something, teach her how to count money. Play "I Spy" and as her skills develop tell her that she has to spell the word, so if you spy a bus she has to say "Is it a B-U-S?" When you go grocery shopping, teach her what you're putting in the cart (this is a good way to teach her colors), and when she figures it out have her help you do the shopping by telling you when she sees something you need. You can turn virtually ANYTHING into a learning game, and the more imaginative and creative the games are the more interesting it'll be for your daughter.

Answer 6

I myself learned to count--as high as I wanted--before I turned three. It's very possible. And yes, I do remember learning to count. It was my grandpa who taught me, and I remember the moment when it dawned on me what he was trying to get across to me. That's my first clear memory, and it's a good one.

Keep your child challenged. Not just as a toddler. Throughout school. Teach her to challenge herself, so she will maintain an interest in things. It is very boring to sit in a math class, for instance, as everyone else is struggling to learn something that you already know. I myself dealt with this by helping others to learn whatever subject I was in, if they were having trouble. I don't feel that students should skip grades--I've already nixed that for one of my daughters. I think it is very important for children to be with others their own age.

Our education system is as much about learning to socialize as it is about learning specific subjects. If your daughter continues at this level, you will be able to keep her knowledge at a higher level than the rest of her class (with the possible exception of a few others like her). Or rather, you will be able to teach her to keep herself near the head of the class. My advice is to emphasize that it is learning that is important. Comparing oneself to others using grades or ranking in class doesn't really matter, in the grand scheme of things.

As far as specifics, I don't know. Don't give her answers. Let her find things out on her own.

There are programs that will give you advice because they deal with this a lot. Gifted and Talented Education is what it was called years ago. I don't know what programs they have today.

Above all, keep playing patty cake and itsy bitsy spider and let her be a healthy, normal, beautiful little person! ;)

Answer 7

To all of those who are telling you it isn't possible...they're wrong. Most people have a hard time believing what they haven't seen in their own children is possible for others. It is entirely possible and my daughter was doing the same. Now at 2 and a half years old she has a more expansive vocabulary than most pre-schoolers and is able to identify all of her letters and numbers by sight and has started to add numbers together. By 18 months she knew all of her colors (not just basic rainbow hues, but colors like turquoise, magenta, and peuce too), and she was doing puzzles marked 3+. I haven't had her tested because, quite frankly, I don't feel it is important...we just like to play and keep her interested in fun but also educational things.

To keep your daughter stimulated and progressing, play with her. I bought several puzzles and toys that were intended for 3-4 year olds and I worked through them with her (just be careful of choking hazards in some toys). We also read to her constantly (while moving our finger across the page and pointing to the words so that she gets the idea of words moving from left to right). She now has started to "read" many of her favorite books aloud on her own (really just from memory of course, though she does turn the page at the appropriate time!). Another favorite is the "Baby Einstein" flashcards. They have great questions on the back of each card for when you need more challenge than just saying what each card is. These cards are expensive, but worth it--my daughter LOVES them!

You might also consider a ban on TV. Firstly because studies have shown that any "screen time" before the age of 2 can be detrimental to learning processes and may encourage ADD/ADHD, but also because more gifted children need their minds to be active to be happy--TV just numbs them. We allow our daughter to watch an occasional DVD (from our family -friendly collection), but we don't let her just zone out on Sesame Street for hours. All around she seems better because of that decision.

Good luck to you and your daughter! Just remember that YOU are her best toy and playmate and interacting with you is what will help her mind develop the best :)

Answer 8

"There will always be a period when you have to toil to make it to the next stage, no matter how much natural ability you have," says Carolyn Callahan, director of the National Research Center for Gifted and Talented at the University of Virginia. "Kids who work through this are more likely to maximize their talents." So how can you keep your child psyched about his newfound interest?

Find the right teacher. Kids are more likely to make it through plateaus if they're learning from someone they like, notes Callahan. Plus, when taught properly, kids develop patience, self-discipline, and self-reliance. Seek a teacher who's worked with kids before, and have him provide other parents as references. Ask those parents if the teacher's students performed well in competition — without suffering undue stress. More important, ask if the kids "loved the work."

Set some ground rules. Avoid conflicts by agreeing in advance on the amount of time your child will have to devote to his hobby. For instance, you might say, "If we sign up for soccer and buy those new sneakers, you'll have to go to every practice." And hold him to it. "That's not applying pressure, it's fostering a sense of responsibility," says Joan Franklin Smutny, coauthor of Your Gifted Child. And it helps kids get through the natural dips in their interest level. But be willing to renegotiate this arrangement after a few months if your child's interest continues to wane.
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Answer 9

well shes needs to be taught more grown up things. i waz singing happy birthday and church songs at the 9 months!! i couldnt belive it wen my mum told me i used ti sing in church at 2 and do my own solos in front of evetyone on my own while my mum played the piano i new my name and how to spell it at 2 i new my whole adress and telephone number at 4 and i could play animal hospital and other tv programmes at 7 i waz really talented and at six i waz changing nappies and making milks for my twin cousins so try teaching her some of this stuff as he gets older

Answer 10

Counting past 10 with m&ms, play twister, board games, uno, leap frog will teach her more.