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New with 12 mo old seeking advice


Guest mamatwothree
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Guest mamatwothree

Hello friends,

 

I was sent to this forum by a friend. I've read through quite a few posts and I'm not sure my infant is EG but on a few charts I've found DD is possibly gifted. She turns 1 on the 28th and has a 2.5 year old brother, and a 4.5 year old sister. I'm here seeking advice because I need ideas. I've looked for resources online and not found much. She is tracking developmentally at the 2 year old level give or take. She cannot reach some milestones I.e. riding a bike because she is too short to reach the pedals, but she sure tries. I've just need fresh ideas. I saw a lot of people on here mention foreign language, and I haven't introduced one. Tia!

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At one years old, I think she'll be fine tagging along with older brother.  I read or tried to read a lot to my kids.  We went to a lot of museums, zoos and the park. I taught my kids their alphabets by pointing out letters on signs or on my shirts or had a book(s) about letters.  I teach phonics at the same time using the tune to that famous leap frog dvd.  It's catchy.  I sing the alphabet song whenever I changed their diapers. 

 

I didn't know this until my oldest was about 2 1/2, but there's storytime for babies as well.  Also, family storytime if you have to bring all 3.  We did a lot of storytime at one point in time. 

 

I don't know if they have this for one year old, but I wish I had introduced audiobooks.

 

Really at one, I just point things out and tell them what it is.  Oh, and chase them around.  lol  You think I'd lose weight, but sadly no.  ;) 

 

Have fun on your journey!

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Regarding story time, our library has always allowed DD to attend whatever story time was at her level. So even as a 1 yr old, we took her to preschool story time. She stayed silent during the stories, and enjoyed it much more than the board book/short stories at the baby story time.  So as long as she doesn't distract the other kids, you may want to see if your library will allow your DD to go to an older story time, particularly since you have older children to take along as well. 

 

Also, in the summer, many places have free outdoor concerts. I found these were great experiences for littles.  Plenty to talk about, learn and explore. 

 

 

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Just remember that being gifted is intrinsic to the individual, and won't grow or diminish with any effort on your part. You can only give them opportunity and space to spread their wings. your child will be gifted (and have great capacity for learning) even if you do *nothing* now (well, I suppose there can be situations of abuse and neglect which retard growth and development, but obviously that's not what we are dealing with here). So my first piece of advice is relax, and let her be a child. Let her tag along with siblings, and talk, read, play, question, and get out of her way at times, but don't rush into anything.

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Let her grow at her own pace and be a little one as long as possible.  Reading to her is probably the number one "academic" activity you could do.  Also, kids that appear extremely advanced in the preschool years can often even out later.  My oldest, while still a bright young woman, isn't nearly as gifted as I might have thought when she was talking and walking at 9 months, and holding conversations by 1 year.  She just got an early jump on things.  

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About the only things that have altered how one of my children progressed academically vs. another was personality.  They all had the same opporutnities, enrichment -- even early achievements, though different, were all in the HG range.  But, their personality and how they were personally driven to learn (not including areas of LD) has them all looking different (they are all still ahead academically...with the exception of Boo, but she's been held back a bit due to a significant speech delay), but the difference is in how far ahead, say PonyGirll is, compared to LegoManiac at her age, or PokeMan at his.

 

A lanugage-rich environment -- read alouds, audio-books, even learning songs -- but in a non-academic way. Time to explore their world, with mom/dad/siblings answering questions is plenty.  Now, when you have that driven child you'll have no choice but to offer more -- but for now learning through play and daily experiences are plenty.

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Guest mamatwothree

Thank you all for your responses. Often her level of advancement surprises me and I feel like I need to be doing something. Your encouragement has been so helpful.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just show her the world.  Read to her, do shape puzzles, story times.  Describe what you see, hear, etc on a nature walk.  I don't think it is important to DO anything special, just make a point to really explain all the things around her.  I feel like my youngest is the most 'neglected' on the one on one 'academic' time, but just being involved with older brothers' activities, hearing us talk about what we are doing during school time, etc, she picks SO much up.  Just exposing her to the world around her is really enough at this age

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If you're looking for books with things to do, Abeka has a cute book for "Nursery" level:

http://www.abeka.com/ABekaOnline/BookDescription.aspx?sbn=169498

 

and I loved Where is Thumbkin? for fun educational activities for my little one:

http://www.amazon.com/Where-Thumbkin-Activities-Songs-Already/dp/0876591640/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1431210691&sr=8-1&keywords=where+is+thumbkin

 

and Critical Thinking Company has some neat resources, like this one:

http://www.criticalthinking.com/mathematical-reasoning-beginning-1.html

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Trust me, you will be amazed at what your little one learns tagging along with older siblings. My youngest has known his letters, letter sounds, his numbers (and fabulous number sense) since before age 2 - and I did nothing intentional; he is just EXPOSED because of his older siblings.

 

Also, we keep a well stocked home library, nice toys, and we load up on the cuddles.

 

We ARE adding in academics this year (he'll be 3 in June), but only because he needs something not-so-destructive to occupy his time. 

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  • 2 weeks later...

Just remember that being gifted is intrinsic to the individual, and won't grow or diminish with any effort on your part. You can only give them opportunity and space to spread their wings. your child will be gifted (and have great capacity for learning) even if you do *nothing* now (well, I suppose there can be situations of abuse and neglect which retard growth and development, but obviously that's not what we are dealing with here). So my first piece of advice is relax, and let her be a child. Let her tag along with siblings, and talk, read, play, question, and get out of her way at times, but don't rush into anything.

 

This is the best advice you could receive.  

 

But just to add...follow her lead.  I knew deep down my son (now 10) was gifted when he was 9 months old, but I didn't really realize how gifted until the beginning of 1st grade.  Now, he's the stereotypical "gifted" child, excellent student, highly motivated, learning just comes naturally to him.

 

Now my daughter (almost 5) is probably even more gifted than my son.  However, they are total opposites.  She could care less and pretends to not know, or be able to do things.  I swear, she knows how to read and pretends that she can't.  So I don't push.  She will all in good time.  She will only be little once, just because she is capable of learning something, doesn't mean that she wants to.  I want her to love learning, when she is ready.

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