Can I believe this?

[aggieamy]

I was having a conversation with someone the other day and they mentioned that their 18 mo knows their ABC's and 123's already. This really surprised me because I have a nephew who just turned two and he's barely speaking. He can say things like Grandpa, Ma, Da, Truck. He also uses baby sign language for some things.

 

Is it unusual for a child that young to know the alphabet and numbers that early? The child is in daycare and was told that they learned them there. My sister is a SAHM so my nephew is with her all day. I know that she hasn't even attempted to teach him anything like that and they spend most of their time playing instead of doing any sort of formal learning.

 

I don't know the 18 month child other than seeing her a few times a year briefly but the few times I have seen her she's been doing normal baby stuff. Something about it is bothering me and I can't put my finger on it. I want to say that I'm having a hard time believing it but it's also been a long time since I've had a kid that young and I don't remember if she was babbling nonsense words at that age or quoting Plato. :001_smile:

[Scarlett]

I was having a conversation with someone the other day and they mentioned that their 18 mo knows their ABC's and 123's already. This really surprised me because I have a nephew who just turned two and he's barely speaking. He can say things like Grandpa, Ma, Da, Truck. He also uses baby sign language for some things.

 

Is it unusual for a child that young to know the alphabet and numbers that early? The child is in daycare and was told that they learned them there. My sister is a SAHM so my nephew is with her all day. I know that she hasn't even attempted to teach him anything like that and they spend most of their time playing instead of doing any sort of formal learning.

 

I don't know the 18 month child other than seeing her a few times a year briefly but the few times I have seen her she's been doing normal baby stuff. Something about it is bothering me and I can't put my finger on it. I want to say that I'm having a hard time believing it but it's also been a long time since I've had a kid that young and I don't remember if she was babbling nonsense words at that age or quoting Plato. :001_smile:

 

Ds could 'recite' his ABCs at 18months. And probably count to 10. He was just a little parrot though...not sure it means too much except that he was/is very verbal.

 

He was reading by 4 with not much teaching from me at all.

[Plucky]

My oldest knew his abcs, could count to 100, knew the sounds of most letters and could identify them all, etc. He was 18 months. I did work with him. He was my first and I had plenty of time to play with him and encourage it. He's still uber smart.

 

I didn't work with my other kids like that. I relaxed more by then.

[Sophia]

I've heard toddlers recite their alphabet perfectly, but if asked "show me a b" they just flash a smile, clueless that the alphabet they just recited actually means something.

Of course it's possible your friend's 18 mo. old understands what he is reciting, because anything's possible *shrug*

[anissa]

I wonder if the mom is confusing 'memorizing' and 'knowing'.

[Lily_Grace]

I don't count anything a small child memorizes as 'learning'. All it is is repeating like a parrot, nothing more than learning a jingle.

 

I did know a 20mo who learned his sounds and by age 2 was reading simple books. He understood numbers, too, and counting. That was amazing to see.

[aggieamy]

Ah. I think I see my problem now. I was thinking that knowing the alphabet meant looking at the letter "B" and knowing that it was "bee" and counting to ten as actually being able to count. I can totally see little kid being able to rattle off the letters and numbers without having much meaning to them. Of course, it's also possible that the baby's very gifted too I suppose.

[hmvaughan4]

My son will be two in November, so a few months older. He hardly speaks words, but uses many signs. During our "preschool time" with my oldest, he can say all of the sounds with the Abeka animal alphabet song. As soon as he sees the letter, he says the sound. We were outside one day and my oldest saw a bee and started screaming, "Bee! Bee!" My youngest responded, "Buh! Buh!" He couldn't point out a specific letter, but if you say, "B says..." He will respond. But in my teaching experience in the schools, many parents equated saying the alphabet and counting with knowing their letters and numbers.

[amy g.]

Miss Bossy will be 2 in December. She can sing the alphabet song, about 5 other songs, including Jingle Bells, which she sang this morning for the first time.

 

She gets so excited when she sees letters or numbers, but she isn't very good at distinguishing them yet. For example when she sees a 3, she calls it an "E /e/"

 

I think it is odd that she can sing so much, because her speaking vocabulary is not very advanced. She says a few word combos, like "Ice in it for me" or 'Vroom vroom Ice cream". Yesterday she pointed to the gate and said, 'No, neighbor's neigh neigh", but we pretended not to understand what she was saying so we would not have to visit the neighbor's horse.

 

I think it is just a matter of aptitude. My oldest could sight read at least 50 words by the time she turned 2. My 4 year old isn't reading that well yet, but she was saying sentences at 7 months.

 

My son didn't talk until he was 2, but he was already figuring out tunes on the piano. His non verbal reasoning is still off the chart.

 

They are all just so different.

[JudoMom]

Ah. I think I see my problem now. I was thinking that knowing the alphabet meant looking at the letter "B" and knowing that it was "bee" and counting to ten as actually being able to count. I can totally see little kid being able to rattle off the letters and numbers without having much meaning to them. Of course, it's also possible that the baby's very gifted too I suppose.

 

When my youngest was 2 or 3, he "knew" Latin conjugation chants, some vocabulary, and some phrases. I say "knew" because he could recite them thanks to lots of exposure because we listened to them in the car, but he had no idea what they meant. I'm guessing the baby's mom was (probably unintentionally) using "know" in the same way.

[Wheres Toto]

My son knew the alphabet and recognized all the letters at 18 months and could count to around 15 by 2 years old. He was obsessed with letters and numbers and barely spoke otherwise. DH used to do a wooden alphabet puzzle with him every night.

[Mynyel]

My ds3 can count to 10. Knows nothing of letters. At 18 months, he wasn't able to talk much.

[mrsrevmeg]

Before age 2 my kids knew their letters and numbers by sight, but not by singing the alphabet song. We had educational toys that they learned from and sometimes we would just point out in books (like Dr. Suess's ABC or a counting book). Other kids could kid sing the alphabet, but not identify the letters. It all just depends on the child. My mother is impressed that my niece(18 months) can "count" in both English and Spanish. She watches Dora. If you hand her objects and ask her to count them, she can't. If you say one... she'll say two. My oldest could recite numbers in several languages up to 10 because of a toy rocket he had. That did not neccessarily mean he understood what he was saying.

[angela in ohio]

Unusual but not impossible. I don't remember anything from my own dc other than when they started reading, but my niece is 19 months, and she can count objects past 10 (not just say the numbers,) knows most of her colors, and can sing the alphabet and recognize most letters. My dc treat her like a circus act, having her count and sort all sorts of things. :D Her dad (my db) is a smarty, and she is home with mom.

[twoforjoy]

I'm pretty sure my DS "knew" the alphabet song around that age. He also knew the names of all the planets.

 

My DD, though, is 16 months and at this point has a handful of words, and that's all. She has way better fine motor skills than my DS did at her age, though.

 

Kids are just different. I don't think it really matters much, either way, in terms of later academic aptitude.

[swellmomma]

All kids are different. DS did not speak until 3. DD3 was speaking in full sentences at 18 months. She could sing her abc's but did not recognize all her letters (though she did recognize and could name A, C, H, I, M and T by 20 months. She could count to 10 due to reciting at 18 months but could only do 5 when actually counting something (fingers, toes, pictures on a page etc).

 

There is children out there that simply can do those things. It is more likely the child in question jsut recites the letters and number and doesn't actually "know" them but it is also possible the child truely knows them.

[twoxcell]

Does she means knows ABC's as in the song or the actual letters? All my kids sang ABC's at that age, and counted. Now recognition was a bit later. My oldest dd new all he letters and sounds at 2. She new all her colors and shapes before 2 also.

[skirch]

My daughter wasn't talking at 18 months but I think she knew numbers and letters. I could ask her to bring me a certain letter (from the fridge magnets) and she would bring me the right ones. If I asked her to bring me say, 2 blocks, she could do that but if I asked her to show me the number 2 in a book she couldn't do that. This same child taught herself to read at 3.

[LittleIzumi]

Ah. I think I see my problem now. I was thinking that knowing the alphabet meant looking at the letter "B" and knowing that it was "bee" and counting to ten as actually being able to count. I can totally see little kid being able to rattle off the letters and numbers without having much meaning to them. Of course, it's also possible that the baby's very gifted too I suppose.

 

Mine could. At least with the alphabet. I don't remember when she started counting, though.

[melmichigan]

Statistically not as likely, but possible. My oldest Aspie was reading independently by age 3 and started K at 4 reading chapter books. My other kids may have sung the songs but only one of the other four could understood and apply it at that age, for the rest of them it was more around age 3 (and one of those didn't go on to read until she was 7). They all develop differently so I don't give it much weight.

[LisaKinVA]

Normal children develop skills at different rates. Even gifted children in the same family don't develop like one another.

 

So, yes. I fully believe an 18mo. old capable of these things -- including understanding and identifying. My oldest had a HUGE vocabulary at 18months (I wrote the words down at one point.... well over 100 words). He could identify every letter, recite his ABC's and 123's, sort by color, count to 100, understood addition and subtraction concepts with ease. There were no flash cards or "formal work" done with this child... apart from an alphabet puzzle, which he had for roughly 5 minutes before I discovered he knew all of this.

 

Is this true for *every* child? NO. Is a child "behind" if they don't know these things? NO. Does this mean the child is gifted? NO. But, I'd say there is a strong liklihood. Conversely, if a child doesn't know those things at 18 months it doesn't mean they aren't gifted, either.

 

Rates of development just vary.

 

My parents have 24 grandchildren, all homeschooled. They have seen pretty much this play out in our extended family. Each one is so very different.

[Calm37]

Hi Amy,

 

My youngest did KNOW her letters and numbers by that age, she could also do puzzles. I didn't do anything special with her, she just went after that information. She sat by me at age 3 while I taught her 5yo sister to read and she learned it! I was a little sad at that as I didn't know I was teaching my "last one" to read! I thought I would get to enjoy that one more time.

 

She is, at 13, the most creative of my four. She is also BY FAR the messiest! I wouldn't call her gifted, though.

 

Blessings,

[SweetBean]

Yes, indeed, all kids are different, and I have no difficultly believing that an 18mos. old could not only recite his alphabet, but maybe even identify the letters by name. Both of my sons, one by birth, and one adopted, developed early obsessions with letters. DS1 who is my second child, surprised the heck out of me one day when he pointed to the tag on a stuffed animal, at age 12 mos., during a diaper change, and said "P". There was in fact a "P" in a circle on that tag. I thought perhaps it was a fluke, but he was accurately identifying all of his letters, upper and lower case, as well as their respective sounds by 14 mos. He started talking, at 7 mos, used sentences by 12 mos, and was also completely conversational by 14 mos. This was very similar to my DD, and oldest child, but I hadn't even thought of introducing letters to her until she was almost 3, and, as it turns out her little brother was taking notice.

 

I thought it was just genetics, and that may well pay a role in this, but our third child, DS2, who came to us by adoption did the same thing. His speech took a little longer to progress, he had some issues forming sounds as well as with chewing. I used a book called, Abadaba ABC to help him work on forming sounds. I would say the sound, and make DS2 look at my mouth and imitate it. It worked wonderfully, his speech came along, and he surprised me by learning all of his letter sounds. He could count to 100 by age 18 mos, as well as identify all of his letters, numbers, and colors. Now, at just shy of age 3 he is reading at about a 2nd grade level, and continues to be obsessed with letters and phonics. We also were placed with DS2's baby birth sister, who is now 3 mos., and I haven't had much time to work with DS2, but he continues to push forward. His favorite thing to do is to take the letters from his lower case Lauri puzzle and write words. I am constantly amazed by how well he reads and spells. He wrote the word "elephant" this morning, by borrowing another "e" from his wooden puzzle. He pointed out to me that the word has a "ff" sound in the middle, the "ph".

 

Yes, kids can learn these things at a very early age. If it is of interest to them. I also have a nephew who didn't speak an intelligent word until the age of 3. He is 14 now, and is brilliant in mathematics. I think each child is wired differently, and I wouldn't worry one bit about a child who isn't talking or tackling academics at an early age. I also wouldn't push a child who isn't interested.

Edited July 28, 2011 by SweetBean

[Mommy22alyns]

I honestly don't remember when the girls knew their ABC's and 123's, but both of them were talking so much and so clearly by 18 months that we gave up counting their words! Both of them were also self-taught fluent readers at 4.

[Chava_Raizel]

When my oldest was that age, she could sing some of the alphabet song, and count to 3, but she didn't now the letters in isolation. One of my twins was the same. The other twin is likely gifted. He was obsessed with letters at that age. He'd point to them everywhere and make me tell him what they were. I couldn't even read him a story--he wanted me to spell everything out all the time. He not only could sing the alphabet song, he recognized nearly all of the letters (capital and lowercase) and could tell you what they were. My current toddler is 28 months old and still not talking at all, but she can point out a few of the letters and numbers (she likes to play with those wooden letter/number magnets) accurately if you ask her to.

 

Is it possible that an 18 month old can know the alphabet? Definitely.

[NicAnn]

My Dd could recite the alphabet at that age and was recognizing most letters soon after. Counting took a bit longer, but she was counting to 10 by 2.

[MelanieM]

My daughter knew the alphabet (to recite, and by sight), shapes, colours, and could count to 20 or so by 18 mos. She also had a spoken vocabulary of over 300 words (my first kid... I used to write down every new word she said until I counted 300 words at 15 mos and thought enough already!), spoke in complete sentences that were understandable to strangers, knew maybe about 100 ASL signs, and could 'read' signs that she saw on the road (i.e. 'stop'). Part of this was her personality and temperment, and part was mine. She loved to sit for *hours* while we looked at books, did puzzles, drew together, etc. I had all the time in the world for her, and we were both inclined toward that type of play.

 

Now, this has not been the case with either of my boys, and I can now see how atypical that behaviour is of toddlers! But yeah... totally possible based on my experience.

[Mergath]

Heck, guess I'll join the bragfest, too. :D

 

My dd could identify all uppercase letters shortly after she turned two, and most lowercase and all numerals by two and a half. Also, by two and a half, she could find forty different countries on a world map, and identify all of the planets, as well as identify the space station and several different nebulas. And this was from working with her sporadically, maybe once or twice a week.

 

And they tell me she's always going to be delayed- probable learning disabilities or mild mental retardation due to her genetic disorder- so if she could do that, I'd think it very likely an 18 month old could learn his letters.

[2_girls_mommy]

I haven't read all of the responses, but I don't know why you wouldn't believe her.

 

I will tell you about my own child. She knew her ABCs (could sing and spell words that I taught her by 18 mos.) I can't remember if she could actually point out letters and know them individually yet. Probably not.

 

But my dd could count to 10 WITH one to one recognition before she was 2. I specifically remember that, because I knew she could do it, but didn't know it was a big deal. Then my mother (a P.S. teacher) and my sister, a preschool teacher at the time, now a high school teacher, saw her do it and were floored. They made such a big deal that was a preschool skill that they were working on with 3-5 yr olds.

 

Also, my dd knew at least 60 ASL signs by 18 mos. She used signing regularly from 12 mos on. She actually did a few by 7 mos, but regularly comunicated more than food after that. By 18 mos she could speak complete sentences and only used signs when she couldn't think of the word. So she used a little mix for awhile.

 

 

Yes, she is gifted.

 

My other child didn't do all of this at such young ages, even though she is bright as well.

Edited July 28, 2011 by 2_girls_mommy

[....]

Ds could 'recite' his ABCs at 18months. And probably count to 10. He was just a little parrot though...not sure it means too much except that he was/is very verbal.

 

Yeah, this was my oldest daughter, also. It was like a parrot. Lol.

[Aubrey]

My 2yo has known his alphabet--recite it, identify the letters & sounds--for about a year. I'm not sure if he can count to 10, but I know it's close. That's w/out working w/ him & w/out him showing any kind of exceptional interest or anything.

 

My oldest was walking/talking (only a couple of words) by 8-9mos old. I don't think he knew his alphabet by 2, but I'd say the difference there was resources: the Leap Frog videos are amazing, lol.

 

As far as daycare vs sahm--kids in daycare sometimes do start to talk earlier because they're around more conversation. Esp if dc is the only child so far, he may not get as much verbal interaction as his daycare counterpart. Not necessarily a big deal in the long run, but it could account for these kinds of differences, depending on the daycare.

 

My oldest was in daycare for maybe a year when he was 1 or so, but it was treated more like a preschool: they taught him baby sign language, read to him (one-on-one), etc. I've never been able to find a place like it. So "daycare" doesn't always mean the same thing, either, I think.

[Hoggirl]

My ds KNEW his letters and letter sounds by 20 months. He could also recite the alphabet, but he could recognize the letters by shape. We had a wooden puzzle with the alphabet (both capital and lower case letters). I could ask him, "Which letter says 'puh'" and he would pick up a "p." So he could definitely do more than just recite them. But we did work on it a lot. He is my only. We had a similar puzzle with numbers - I think it went to 20 or so??? He could recognize numbers as well. So, I certainly don't think it's beyond the realm of possibility.

[Terabith]

Both my kids could identify both upper and lowercase letters by sight and say the sound they make at 18 months. They were a bit shakier on numbers, but they could rote count and recognize some numbers. They weren't geniuses or anything, but I did make it a point to read them an alphabet book every day and to point out letters (bath tub, puzzles, magnets on fridge) and say, "Look! A! "/A/"

I wasn't drilling or anything, but we spent a lot of time reading and I just pointed them out a lot. It wasn't any different, or to my mind, more amazing than their ability to name animals and say their sounds.

[Mommy22alyns]

 

My oldest was walking/talking (only a couple of words) by 8-9mos old. I don't think he knew his alphabet by 2, but I'd say the difference there was resources: the Leap Frog videos are amazing, lol.

 

 

LOL, just what I was thinking! Sylvia got the benefit of those.

[Jean in Newcastle]

The proper response to being told about what any child can do, advanced or not, is "Great!" Otherwise I don't think it really matters (other than to the child's family) where the child is in comparison to other kids.

[Dobela]

I was reading books like Dick and Jane by the time I was 2.5 according to my parents. My cousin's child is just 2 and can recite her ABCs and count to 20. She is also recognizing some sight words. Of course her dad scored a 34 on the ACT and is incredibly smart as well.

 

Is this typical? No. But it does happen from time to time.

[AuntieM]

Believe that the kid has a great memory! At 18 months, one of mine could recite all the letters, match written letters with their names and, for a few, match them by sound.

 

At 18 months, she could recite numbers up to 60 (talk about a neat party trick :001_smile:). However, beyond two or three, she had no concept of the value of those numbers. It was simply her good memory in action.

 

(ETA, this same child was, as an early 3yo, reading at a second grade level, so, not typical. But kids like this *do* exist.)

 

I think of it like memorizing Bible verses. Young kids can store a lot on that fresh brain matter! But it is often years, years down the road before they can truly grasp the meaning behind those words.

Edited July 28, 2011 by AuntieM

[myfunnybunch]

My dd knew her alphabet, numbers to 20 (with the minor exception of "twev, firteen, firteen, fiteen" and could sing several nursery rhymes at 18 months. Different kids develop differently. :)

 

Cat

[MamaSheep]

Ds was an early talker, could sing the alphabet song by his first birthday, definitely could identify all the letters and the sounds they made by his second birthday, and was reading fluently at three. Numbers followed a similar progression, and he knew all his addition and subtraction facts and a little multiplication by the time he started kindergarten at 5. Also, I remember that at that time he had a fascination with the concepts of negative numbers and infinity and at four posited that negative one was the highest number because anything that goes on forever has to loop back to the beginning at some point, and negative one comes just before you get back to zero. He was home with me, not in preschool.

 

In his case I now think it was a compensation for nonverbal communication deficits, kind of like blind people can hear unusually well. I don't think it's typical of most kids that age. And *IF* it's legitimate, I don't think it's a difference between staying home with Mom and going to preschool, but more of a function of the individual child's personal make-up.

[Truscifi]

Ds could also do that at 18 mo. He started trying to write the letters at about the same time. DH got tired of trading scribbles with him while they were playing one day and decided to show him the alphabet instead, and he dove right in. He got a bit obsessed, actually. He was an early talker too, and taught himself to read when he was 3. OTOH, his gross motor skills have always been a bit behind age level. Definitely not a natural athlete. Every kid is different, as pps have said. :)

[Truscifi]

Ds was an early talker, could sing the alphabet song by his first birthday, definitely could identify all the letters and the sounds they made by his second birthday, and was reading fluently at three. Numbers followed a similar progression, and he knew all his addition and subtraction facts and a little multiplication by the time he started kindergarten at 5. Also, I remember that at that time he had a fascination with the concepts of negative numbers and infinity and at four posited that negative one was the highest number because anything that goes on forever has to loop back to the beginning at some point, and negative one comes just before you get back to zero. He was home with me, not in preschool.

 

In his case I now think it was a compensation for nonverbal communication deficits, kind of like blind people can hear unusually well. I don't think it's typical of most kids that age. And *IF* it's legitimate, I don't think it's a difference between staying home with Mom and going to preschool, but more of a function of the individual child's personal make-up.

 

:iagree:

[dirty ethel rackham]

My oldest knew his ABCs and how to count to 10 (but without the one-to-one correspondence.) Not only could he say his ABCs, but he identify any letter we asked him to find - such as taking magnetic letters off the fridge. "Hey M----, get me a "W." Stupid human tricks, we called it. We just read a lot of Dr. Seuss and played games. I didn't set to teach him. I was passionate about creating a learning rich environment in our home.

[sbgrace]

Neither of mine went to preschool and I intentionally didn't do anything academic with them until they were much, much older. I am like your SIL in that I believe kids that age should be playing. We did do a lot of reading and we had those refrigerator magnet sets my mom got from a yard sale. One of mine knew his alphabet (as in could tell you the letter if you pointed to it, not just singing ABC's) before 18 months. He just loved letters and taught himself. FWIW, his twin not only didn't know his letters he didn't even ID colors at that age! Neither is more intelligent and both were parented the same. They are just wired differently.

 

It's entirely possible the child in question simply has a good memory and the interest to remember those things.

Edited July 28, 2011 by sbgrace

[happypamama]

My kids have all been different. My oldest could identify several letters well before her second birthday -- I remember walking into WalMart one day, and she was going, "Look, there's 'L' for my name, and 'M' for Mommy." I think she could count at least a couple of items around then too. She was speaking in completely full and correct sentences well before her second birthday and reading chapter books before her fifth birthday. She knew all of her states and half of their capitals at 2 1/2 (she was really interested in them then, but I think she did forget a lot of them in the past few years). My second child could count a couple of things before his second birthday but wasn't really interested in letters or reading for a while (he's 6.5 and really just now ready to read, but I see signs that his brain is more wired for math-type stuff). My third child signed a ton (DD did a bit, DS1 not much) but is only starting to count a little bit now and has no concept of letters (he's 2y9m); he also didn't talk much for a long time, and while he does speak in sentences now, they aren't always grammatically correct (lots of stuff like "me do it," whereas by this stage, DD was well beyond that). Otoh, his fine motor skills developed very early; I remember being amazed at his pincer grasp when he was really young. So I think kids can be all over the place with skills. (And fwiw, none of mine have been able to recite the ABCs at 18 months, even the one who could recognize letters.)

[lovinmyboys]

My oldest definately recognized letters and could count and do a million other things at 18mos. I also played with him all day long. It wasn't until baby #2 came and DH deployed that I realized it was ok to do dishes while children were awake.

 

My current 18mos old says moo when he sees a cow and we just think he is brilliant. He is much more likely to be on top of the fridge than playing with letter magnets on it.

[HeidiKC]

I don't think it is that unusual for an extremely verbal 18-month-old child to be able to recite ABCs and numbers to 10. I think it is less common that a child will also be able to identify the letters and actually understand the counting concept. But not extremely rare, either!

 

Also, I think that some kids that aren't as verbal might be able to understand and identify things without saying it. When my son was 17 months old he loved a shape puzzle we had. He couldn't speak well, and one day I realized he was trying to say "triangle". Then I got some other shapes out (not the puzzle), asked him to point to the rectangle, circle, etc. and he did, even though he couldn't really say the words very well.

 

When my son was 19 months old I thought I heard him say "pink" about a pink tube I was holding. I thought, surely not. I took him in the playroom and put a pile of toys out and asked him where the pink one was. I about fell over when he picked it up. I tried red, black, orange, purple, green, blue, etc. and he knew about 10 colors. I couldn't believe it because I had never imagined at such a young age he would know them and he wasn't speaking all that well that I would have noticed him talking about colors. And when I picked something up and asked him the color, he could tell me (although his speech wasn't too intelligible, I could tell what color he was trying to say). It really freaked me out!

 

And when you read what exceptionally gifted children do at young ages, it is pretty crazy! Those kids are rare, but they do exist!

[Pamela H in Texas]

Children are individuals.

 

My last foster son left here at almost 19months old. He would bring me a magnadoodle and I would write a letter and he would tell me the letter sound. He didn't know most letter NAMES but he knew almost every letter sound. He would drive me batty bringing me that magnadoodle. He could only count to 3 though.

 

I've worked childcare and I did all sorts of things with the toddlers and twos. They often knew signs, words in Spanish, facts about animals or places, letters, numbers, etc. Of course, they also had some interesting gaps. My favorite time was sitting with a group of about eight two yr olds. I had four blocks on the floor. I asked how many blocks and we counted together. Every one of them counted: 1, 2, 3, 4! And every single time I asked "how many blocks?" they'd say, "TWO!!!!!!!!!!!" And we'd count again and then I'd ask again and the answer remained the same. That, btw, is developmentally appropriate.

 

My daughter was extremely advanced. She knew her letters and sounds very early. And she was reading chapter books soon after her 3rd bday. She was "skating" at 11months and we took her training wheels off on her 3rd birthday. She figured out multiplication because of legos and toilet paper squares.

 

My son wasn't advanced as a young child or even later on; but he's just as bright, if not more so. Different kids, different gifts.

 

So some kids just do pick things up earlier. Sometimes it makes a long term difference. Sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes it's a sign of giftedness. Sometimes it is just exposure.

 

And it is important that kids get what they should developmentally be getting regardless of level. Now, for some, they may be developmentally at a different level. For others, they may need encouragement to do developmentally appropriate things, to not neglect them for the advanced things. But lots of daycares have an educational program and will tweak it for kids who can pick it up more quickly.

Edited July 28, 2011 by 2J5M9K

[Ellyndria]

I think it's possible.

 

At 18 months, DS could identify the letter E and the number 3 and knew the difference between them.

 

By 19 months he was reciting and identifying numbers up to 10 by himself, and up to 20 with a little help. He did not count objects yet though.

 

At 20 months, he could identify every uppercase letter of the alphabet, due to a wooden letter puzzle.

 

He did not recite the alphabet or sing the alphabet song until he was 2.

 

He could identify lowercase letters by about 2 years, 2 months.

 

 

 

I did not work on these things with him intentionally. He would just bring me the magnadoodle, and because I can't draw, I would just write numbers and letters on it, and draw shapes. This was easier than trying to draw a picture. :tongue_smilie: I would also count out loud a lot when I was feeding him, trying to get him to eat solids, because 1) he seemed fascinated by the counting and would eat more and 2) because it would calm me down to count. I also sang songs and recited the alphabet during feeding sessions, whatever popped into my mind at the time that might amuse him.

 

 

(Hope the bold isn't too annoying.)

[zaichiki]

The proper response to being told about what any child can do, advanced or not, is "Great!" Otherwise I don't think it really matters (other than to the child's family) where the child is in comparison to other kids.

 

:iagree:

[spaceman]

My youngest knew her letter sounds by 18 months. (not the song, which letter makes which sound)

 

If a young kid can point out a "cat", a "dog", a "truck", etc., I don't see why they couldn't do that with letters or numbers.