Gifted Toddler? 3 Steps to Take now

"I've noticed that my child seems to be exceptionally smart, maybe even gifted. What should I do?"

You’re probably right about your child being gifted. All toddlers have gifts and talents. It takes a keen observer to notice what they are and build on them in ways that are fun and educational for both of you.

A recent developmental study of 241 profoundly gifted children between 160 and 237+ IQ (Stanford-Binet Form LM) discovered that:

94% were very alert as infants.

94% had a long attention span as infants or toddlers.

91% showed early language development.

60% showed early motor skill development.

48.9% were ambidextrous at some period of their development.

37% had imaginary playmates.

The mean age at which these children spoke their first word was 9 months.

The mean age at which the children sight-read an easy reader was before 4. (Rogers & Silverman, 1997)

No matter how many, if any of these traits you've noticed, your child is gifted in ways that are hidden to most people. If you want to draw out your child's gifts and talents, listen to them and watch them very, very carefully.

Stay interested in your child, and they will stay interesting and bright. That's because people are born with "mirror neurons" that help us to learn through observation. Here are some simple and fun ways to do that.

one

Play!

Rather than "working" on skills. PLAY! more. Explore! It actually works to increase their intelligence.

That's because our brains are wired to learn through PLAY! Allow them large blocks of time to play freely. It helps with communication. The back-and-forth, right-to-left movements inherent to play enable their brains to form stronger learning connections.

Play works to increase intelligence because it's a multisensory activity. It combines visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and other senses to create a fully immersive learning experience.

That's because multisensory activities help the brain form connections between regions.

The first way to connect with your child through play is called "serve and return". Here's a short 3-minute video from Harvard that shows how "serve and return" helps develop our babies' brains.

To learn and to connect are an infant’s first goals. Smart parents and caregivers capitalize on this knowledge.

two

Read Like This

Laptime is time spent reading or talking about emotions in close physical contact with your child. It's time spent together, looking at books or magazines, reading and speculating how characters, ourselves, or others in the world might feel.

It's also about facial, body, and language expressions that help us understand what others are experiencing beyond ourselves. It's based on this premise that all feelings are OK, all actions (and words) are not.

Laptime is a time for questioning and wondering about human interaction in the presence of a non-judgmental and trusted person.

This process develops strong emotional intelligence. Without it, no amount of cognitive ability can help them navigate life successfully.

three

Scaffolding

There's a well-documented educational strategy, called scaffolding, developed by the renowned theorist Lev Vygotsky.

Scaffolding works. It helps make a good parent or a good teacher into a great one. It's when we take the time to notice where a child is and then give them the least amount of help they need to master the task at hand.

Then when they succeed, we can notice their efforts with a simple. "You did it!" Scaffolding is problem-solving at its best. Here's a true story that illustrates the point well.

A teacher noticed a 3-year-old whining because he couldn't get off a low tire swing. A co-teacher immediately said, "Don't help him, he'll just keep whining and never learn to do it himself."

She was right about the whining, but scaffolding works better than ignoring. It helps the child really learn.

The first teacher walked over to the child and offered to help. Instead of pulling him up and out of the swing, he pointed to his foot. "Once you get your foot over, it's easier to get off.", he said. Then he bumped his foot a little at a time over the tire until he could get it the rest of the way himself. By offering the least amount of help, he was able to encourage a step towards the desired behavior without shaming the child.

Be sure to value their efforts over their abilities. Telling them they're smart won't do half as much good as noticing how much effort they're putting into a project. That's something they actually have control over.

One last thing to think about:

Brilliant children need boundaries as well as attention and love. Here's a summary of how we set rules in a clear, simple, and fun way. We also have limits that can change slightly as the circumstances dictate, but the rules stay the same, no matter what. Rules help children feel secure.

So that's what we have for you today. I hope it helps you see what a great parent/provider you are. Thanks so much for stopping by! You can browse over 200 articles for free here.

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Nanci J Bradley is an early childhood and family educator, author, teacher, family aerobics instructor, and all-around fun-loving person. She believes in the power of sleep, healthy eating, lifelong learning, and most of all, PLAY! She studied early childhood ed at Triton College and received her BS in education in 1986 from NIU. She received her MA in human development from Pacific Oaks College in 2011. She lives and teaches in Madison WI.