My son's development wrt his age group

ikoonman

I hope this doesn't sounds like too much of an "oooh" and "aaah" email, but I am quite curious to know how my sons development is wrt his age group. It's always difficult to benchmark development, so I am hoping some people will give me their opinion.

My son is now 2 yrs 8 months and he is showing some very extraordinary mental (at least, to us) abilities. For example, things we've observerd:
* he could count to 10 and say ABC's to F/G by the time he was 2 1/2 (may have been earlier).
* He can complete puzzles for his age group the first time, so we're actually buying him more difficult ones (for higher age groups).
* A few days ago we went to visit a friend who stays abt 8 miles from us. As I approached the road leading to their house, I had to drive past to pick something up from the shop first. Knowing we're going to these friends (because they have a big train set), my son realised we're going passed their street and insisted that i had to turn around. I was quite shocked because I had no idea he'd remember that. (We don't go there that often)
* If you ask him something specific abt "a toy" in one of his books, he'll go find the right book and open at the correct pages
* And finally, even more suprisingly, although he is not allowed to watch too much tv, he remembers which programs follow each other and would excitedly annouce it even before the channel would (on Nickleodeon).

Does this sound common for his age, or should we start encouraging extra mental excercises?

TIA!

Billiejo

Normal and well stimulated age appropriate social skills. He sounds like a delightful little chap.

littlebitdull

I am assuming this is your first child!! He does sound extreemly bright and a joy to you. Long may that continue.

He does not however sound exceptionly far ahead of his age group. Many of the things you write about I have seen in my own three at that age.

But you certainly do not have anything to worry about with him. He sounds to me like a very bright child, luckly not a gifted one.

dame

Sounds normal. My own daughter could recite entire alphabet by then. I'm not trying to boast - it's purely cos they recite it once every morning and once every afternoon in her creche so all the kids in her room know it. At that age it's just a rhyme to them same as "Old MacDonald" or any other. I'd rather she learn songs or rhymes that she actually understands though, more fun for her. You don't want to push a child and turn them oof learning. Also you don't want a child going to school apparently able to read and write only to find they've been taught wrong and have to re-learn which will take them longer, or, getting fed up waiting for others in class so they tune out or act up. Kids are very observant and will often recognise places they've been previously - ie my own daughter made a bee-line for a table in a restaurant we'd sat in months previously, etc etc. Encourage all this as it helps build memory skills but make it a game and never push the child. Keep up the jigsaws etc but stop at first sign of frustration. Toddlers should be learning through play and dictating the pace themselves.

Also toys are given a fairly broad age range. Makes better sense for marketing. The age stated is always younger than it's actually suitable for - all those Dora laptop comptuer things for example. It just means they can sell them to parents earlier and therefore sell more. The only exception to this is toys with bits that a small child could choke on which necessarily have a 36 months plus guide on them.

deisemum

Sounds fairly standard. I work with young children and apart from one (late developer due to medical condition) this standard seems the norm.

With my own children they started talking from about 4 months and whenever they had their development checks they were well ahead for their age group. PHN thought my older could be a child prodigy but I think it's much better for a child to be an all rounder because children do not want to stand out from their friends. His micro t tests were a couple of years ahead of his age according to his teachers from a few years back.

Younger lad was always very good with numbers and could count to 12 by his first birthday. It took me a while to figure out why to 12 and not the normal 10, he counted the numbers on a clock at creche. When he was 3 he was able to buy something in a shop and knew how much change he should get. We joke he'll be an accountant or a bookie as he's very good with figures. 98% is the lowest mark he's received in maths up to 3rd class.

I think when it's your first you don't really know what's considered the norm until someone like a PHN advises you. Also when mixing with other children of similar ages as your own it can be easy to start comparing but by the time they're 3 years old approx most children are at the same level. Younger than that some speak earlier than others but may walk later than someone who doesn't talk much, same with teeth, some get their teeth very early or are born with a couple of teeth then others can be a year but may end up with the full set sooner than those who were early to cut their first tooth.

The first child can often have more developed social skills and they're the centre of your world and everything is a first, with a second or subsequent child you've already been there done it so there may not be the same amount of wonder at every little thing junior does

squire1

deisemum wrote:

With my own children they started talking from about 4 months

Four Months:eek: Really? I'm stunned.

My own oldest boy is 25 months and we have been amazed by the recent leaps in development. His speech, although slow to start, is improving rapidly to the extent that he is using a few new words each day. He has learnt his colours and can count up to five (his fingers, cant get him to count the other hand yet:) ). He rhymes off the ABC but his pronunciation is bad so we think he is just mimicking the sounds rather than understanding what he is saying. He has started making structures from his lego rather than just sticking pieces togeter and is a "genius" with jigsaws. He starting to sing nursery rhymes to himself and to his little brother.

All of this has happened in the last few months and we were a little concerned with his development until then. His little brother was born eight months ago and we feel that this may have stunted his advancement somewhat. He is certainly catching up now. It is truely amazing watching him learn his new skills. Happy days.

deisemum

squire1 wrote:

Four Months:eek: Really? I'm stunned.

At 4 months they were saying dada quickly followed by baba and them mama. They were saying 6 - 7 word sentances by their first birthday. This is all on record with the PHNs from their development checks and the PHNs often met my children at the weekly mum and babes mornings that they ran. Speech development was their strong point, they were later with other development stages.

squire1

That's impressive deisemum. My youngest boy is seven months but is still at the gugle/coo/rasp stage, which I assume is normal. Did you do something to encourage the early speech development or did it come naturally?

Communication with baby is important and although most parents learn to "read" their child, speech at such an early stage must be very useful. I'd be interested to see if you have any tricks up your sleeve;)

deisemum

No tips but then again I'm a bit of a chatterbox so it may have rubbed off.

My eldest lad is tall for his age, I'm only 2.5 inches taller than him maybe less since we last measured him. When a child is tall for their age some people can assume that the child is older especially if good with speech and then if the child isn't behaving as a child of similar height that the child is badly behaved or bold but the poor child is only behaving for his age if that makes sense.

When I had my first I didn't know what was considered normal until others started pointing out things. As I said they were slower at other things but by three most children level out.

littlebug

Gosh Deisemum that is impressive! I remember one of my nephews at 3-4 months would mimic us saying hello. If we said an exaggerated "Hellloooooo"...close to him he would concentrate hard on the face, copy the mouth movements an really intently say "eeeeyyyoooooo" with the same mouth movements. It was hilarous! It only lasted for a couple of weeks during which we said hello an awful lot.:D

I think that phase between 2 1/2 to 3 is a huge development phase and the huge cognitive leaps and bounds (coupled with the ability to express them)can be astonishing, particularly first time round.

silverharp

We had great fun with the baby signs, at 6mths I think we had a sign for water,milk, and food. later we had signs for things one would see on the street, since age 1 he now always wants to tell us about everything he sees when he is out. It's hard to know cause and effect but I guess you'd like to think all the efforts aren't in vain.