[kuggle]

This. DD isn't yet 2. We are currently focusing on language acquisition as she suffers from a speech delay.
I am amazed and impressed at how clever all your children are. I guess it just means I need to try harder in helping DD catch up.

I suspect they all catch up eventually. DD was late talker and I know lots of2 year old who have clearer pronunciation than her.

[Nut]

They all supposedly end up at the same level by the age of 5.

DS is also considered quite advanced in that regard, but his language skills are not as good as others. Each child has their strenghts!

[mum850]

They all supposedly end up at the same level by the age of 5.

DS is also considered quite advanced in that regard, but his language skills are not as good as others. Each child has their strenghts!

Oh I am sorry Nut I have to disagree. Have you done any parent helping in first year of school, cos I have! One child is reading Harry Potter at 5, another does not know any letters.
One adult ends up as a supreme court judge, while another is a labourer. The first sentence and the second are not causatively linked, but they are associated.

I don't understand why everyone has to be the same.

Also they usually say "they all end up the same by grade three"

[mpjp]

Oh My Gosh! Are you talking 2 year old as in 2 years 1 month, or as in 2 year 11 months? My 2 yo (26 months) can do NONE of any of that and neither can any of the kids in our mothers group - 12 of them, all 22 - 28 months!

[BeezMum]

I think there is very little that we can do to 'make them' learn or not learn these skills (apart from hot-housing or withholding any letters/numbers altogether). I have found my DS learns sometimes DESPITE my attempts to engage him in more 'toddler' activities. DH was an early reader (could read prep readers by age 3) and suffered terribly from both boredom and bullying during primary school.

DS is almost 2 and knows all his colours although he gets confused between gold and silver. He knows all his shapes although he confuses pentagon/hexagon/octagon. He was 20 months when he pulled out a 50c coin and said 'octagon' (it's not, but I don't even know what that shape is called myself ) He recognises all the uppercase alphabet and numbers 1-10, counts to 20 but gets a bit muddled at 12-14. He CONSTANTLY asks 'What that mum?', reads all digits of street numbers that we walk past (we walk real slow these days) and is starting to spell out signs in random order e.g. "Z-I-P-A. Two Zs. What that mum?" (PIZZA).

He is a sensitive little boy. Sometimes when he picks up a new skill (like when he first said 'triangle' at 15 months) I want to pull him back with both hands. I don't want him to go through the same experience of being a 'freak' at school, but I realise there is little I can do. Early literacy is not necessarily a good thing.

[robhat]

Right. To anyone reading this, if your 2 year old can't read a single letter and only counts to about 3... They're NORMAL... All the rest mentioned here are NOT. I studied child development at uni, so I do kind of know... I just don't want any parents panicing if their child can't do any of these things!

And no, they don't all catch up at 5... Sometimes it does even out, but a child who is very advanced at 2 will probably be well ahead of their peers at 5... It only evens out if the differences are slight...

As for my child... Well she was reading numerals up to 10, could recognise half a dozen letters and her name and knew all her colours before her 2nd birthday... She's now 3 years 4 months and she long ago mastered letter recognition of all letters plus knows the phonetic sound they all make, even knows some blended sounds (like ch), can read numerals up to about 1000 I think and rote counts to 100 if I have the time to listen and I've given up testing to see how far she can actually count things... She hasn't yet cracked the code to sounding words out but she sight reads quite a few and guesses at others but using the first letter and context as clues... She's started doing basic adding and subtracting and her uncle (smart a*se that he is) has taught her the sign for Pi although she doesn't have a clue what it means... She does puzzles up to 60 pieces on her own, I haven't yet tried giving her bigger ones, she's starting to try to draw things and write letters and if your memory isn't too good, don't take her on in a game of memory... She will beat you. I have a very good memory and I can't go easy on her or I'd lose!

So what did I do about all this? Bugger all really. She taught herself most of it. But I do have a lot of books available to her and she is read to a lot. She loves her magnetic fridge letters and numbers. She also likes the letter beads I bought her for her 3rd birthday... She's got really good fine motor contol... She's also turned into a game freak... Various board games and the usual stuff like dominoes, snap and snakes and ladders... Unfortunately I have to play them with her! She still loves her stacking blocks that are numbered 1-10 and is mad about the hopscotch at the local playground... I used to take her to the library a lot. Our library has a toy library too so she'd get 2 toys and 2 books for 3 weeks and the toys were always puzzles and educational things... Haven't been for a while though as we've all been sick or busy... And she still loves puzzles... She has some at the moment with basic maths sums on them and she is driving me mad by constantly trying to prove to me that 1+1=2... Other than that, she loves to go shopping with me and count the apples as we put them in the bag etc... She always insists on reading the receipt out to me though! Oh and she's learning a 2nd language from her father...

I actually don't focus on it too much at this point... I'm more keen on her practicing social skills and various life skills and she's not too good with the gross motor stuff, so I'm keen on getting her out to parks etc where she can try to hone her skills a bit more... And also just doing stuff to let her creativity develop... But I definitely don't discourage or ignore her literacy and numeracy skills... I just let them flow in with the rest of life...

[mum850]

Yes. It's like the threads that ask, "Can your prep child read?" and everyone whose prep child can read on entry writes in, whereas in fact it's quite rare.
I agree, it's cool if your little kid can read but it's a mixed blessing as it's hard to fit into the school system.

[kadoodle]

I agree with you wholeheartedly Beezmum. I was a very advanced kid - reciting text by 12 months, reading and counting into the hundreds by 2 and a half - and it preceded a childhood of boredom and bullying at school.

DD1 and DS are were late talkers and late readers. DD1 has now caught up with her reading (grade 3!) and is in the advanced stream for maths. DS is very behind in that he's barely able to read at all, still hasn't decided on a hand preference (although he could end up ambidexerous like his dad).

DD2 is 28 months, can sight read some words and count to 20. It's a worry.

[kuggle]

He was 20 months when he pulled out a 50c coin and said 'octagon' (it's not, but I don't even know what that shape is called myself )

It's a dodecagon I think.

Gee there are some smarty kids out there.

[baddmammajamma]

I think mum850 hit the nail on the head. These types of threads always attract a large number of responses from parents whose kids have mastered certain skills early or who have certain inherent strengths. People need to take that into account when reading these threads, lest they feel that their own child is lagging!

Gee there are some smarty kids out there.

Yeah, there are! But the cool thing is, no matter how smart my kid might be, I know that there are kids out there who are even smarter. I enjoy reading about what other kids are doing (not just "academically" but also socially, athletically, etc.) because it is a reminder that my child -- as lovely as she is -- is not the absolute best/brightest/most gorgeous in the whole universe.

Even if her grandparents feel otherwise!