About Carol Bainbridge Expertise I can answer most questions on parenting gifted children, from infants on. Questions can be about parenting, advocacy, and support and I can provide suggestions for toys and books gifted children love. I can even help you determine whether your child is gifted or bright, and I can point you to more information you might need. I can answer some questions about programs for gifted children, but can`t help much with information on colleges. Visitors wanting to know if their children are gifted might want to read the article "Is My Child Gifted?" before asking a question.
Experience I am the parent of a gifted child and have been working with other parents of gifted children for 13 years, helping them find support and providing them with information. I founded a local gifted organization and helped organize a parent day for a national gifted conference. I have been an active member of my state's gifted association since 1999 and created and maintain their Web site. In addition, I have created a website for parents of gifted children who are looking for toys and books for their children: www.giftsforlearning.com.
I am also the Guide About.com Gifted Children Site.
Education/Credentials I have a bachelor's degree in psychology, an MA in English, and completing a PhD in linguistics with a focus on verbally gifted children. I have been helping parents of gifted children for nearly 20 years and am currently the guide to gifted children on About.com
Gifted Children - How do assess a 17 months toddler as gifted?
Expert: Carol Bainbridge - 6/12/2006
Question My son is 17 months old and he appears to be very bright. He catches on very fast on many things. I started teaching him sign language around 7 months and he signed back around 9-10 months such as "milk”, “more” & etc. When my husband first held him up to practice walking at 10 months, he started to sign "more" while walking. After that, he could pick up signs within few tries. I slowed down on teaching him sign language a bit because he learned to speak very fast and I now only teach him to sign words that he could not speak yet. He has about 50-60 words in his vocabulary ranging from broccoli, doggie, baby to plane plus about 15 sign words ranging from elephant, water etc. He loves to look at picture books and can identify most of the images. He also uses some verbs. He loves to watch plane in the sky, so I taught him the word "fly" in Chinese along with the word "plane" which he already learned. Yesterday, he let go of his balloon and the balloon fly up to the ceiling and he said " fly". How can I assess whether he is just smart or gifted. Is there any standard test I can take with him? If he is gifted, what can I do with a 17 months to maximize his potential?
Answer It sounds to me as though your son is gifted. He's really too young for any kind of standardized testing. Some schools designed for gifted preschoolers have useful screening tools, but they don't actually measure intelligence and won't tell you anything more than you can see for yourself by watching your son.
To get a better idea of what constitutes giftedness and how to tell if a child is gifted, you might want to visit my About.com gifted children site (http://giftedkids.about.com). Look at the list of "essentials" on the left-hand side of the screen. Those are good articles to start with, especially the one on characteristics of gifted children. Another one you might want to read is the one on testing basics.
The way to nurture your son's abilities is to continue doing what you are doing. When you see that he is interested in something, then simply nurture that interest. I call that "following a child's lead." If he loves picture books, be sure to have a steady supply of them. Libraries are great resources since buying books for gifted children can be very, very expensive. They may have favorites they look at or read over and over, but they tend to tire of most books quickly. They crave new material.
I have several other tips on my About.com site. You can find them on this page: http://giftedkids.about.com/od/nurturinggiftsandtalents/tp/simplenurture.htm
I also have some specific tips on my other web site www.giftsforlearning.com. Most of the tips are scattered throughout the toy pages, since most of them involve what to keep around the house. However, your son might be a little young for some of my suggestions. For example, I suggest that parents keep different boxes around the house, each filled with materials that will allow a child to explore the world in different ways and to make the most of their interests. One box would be an art box, filled with art supplies. Another box would be filled with articles for playing dress up. Another, music, and so on.
The articles to put in these boxes need not be expensive. The art box, especially for younger children, can contain things like paper and crayons. As the children get older, particularly if they show an interest in that box, you can add more to the box. The art box can contain paints, watercolors, charcoal, etc.
The idea is to provide as many different experiences as you can reasonably do -- without pushing your child into them. You don't have to have a set time for your child to do each activity, nor should you worry if your child isn't interested in something you've provided. Just let your child know it's available. If he's not interested, you can put it away for a few weeks and then take it out again and show it to him. Or you can leave the boxes out so your son can go to them whenever he wants to.
