Is this normal?

bkeane619

I don't really know anyone else with kids other than myself so I don't know what is odd or not.  My son has been able to do the following

He has pointed out letters of the alphabet since he was 17 months old.

He recites multiple pages from books in situations that are relevant to what we are doing.  Like if we are at a playground and there is a slide he will recite about 4 pages in one of his books that mentions a slide.

He can count to 10 with blocks....not sure if he can do more because that is as many as we have.

He recognizes words in books.  If I point at the the word he says it and I can continue on reading.

He says countless words.  I don't even know how many maybe 300.

If you do what starts with A he can name something and does it through the whole alphabet.

He knows all of his colors

I have not drilled him in any of this stuff.  The majority he learned on his own from his toys and books.  It seems like a lot to me but I don't know anyone else with kids his age and anyone with older kids don't remember.  We had him evaluated  a few months ago because of some issues socially, flapping arms and some cognitive things like not asking for things from us.  He was found to be behind developmentally a little so he has a teacher come.  She doesn't do this kind of stuff with him.    They also did autism test which he came back ok.  That was a major concern when he started being obsessive with letters at 17 months. So back to my original question...is this normal?

Edit: Oh yea, the other day he told me "Goldfish swim in water", he uses pronouns and very often proper verb tense.  His teacher and I both noticed this last week. 

RingOfFire11

I think he's advanced.

DD knows all of her letters too and has for some time. We read the same books so often (her choice) that she seems to have memorized things that happen on each page but definitely not reciting the whole or mulitiple pages (more like key phrases). She can count to 10 perfectly and almost to 20 but skips a couple numbers. She also knows her colors (I just taught her these). She definitely isn't recognizing words or associating things that start with a specific letter. I guess I'm telling you all this so you can see where another kid his age is at. I think he sounds really smart and that's awesome! It's so hard not to worry that something is not "normal" but he sounds advanced with really good teachers.

 

RingOfFire11

Molly&:

RingOfFire11:

I think he's advanced.

DD knows all of her letters too and has for some time. We read the same books so often (her choice) that she seems to have memorized things that happen on each page but definitely not reciting the whole or mulitiple pages (more like key phrases). She can count to 10 perfectly and almost to 20 but skips a couple numbers. She also knows her colors (I just taught her these). She definitely isn't recognizing words or associating things that start with a specific letter. I guess I'm telling you all this so you can see where another kid his age is at. I think he sounds really smart and that's awesome! It's so hard not to worry that something is not "normal" but he sounds advanced with really good teachers.

 

Out of pure curiosity, what do you mean by knows all her letters? My daughter can sing the ABCs, but my niece could identify them out of order if written down.  My DD is very hit or miss with that and tends to guess "D" a lot, haha! 

She can identify them all out of order -- if I pick up a letter or write one down, she can tell me what each letter is. I previously posted a Leap Frog toy that helped with this so much. I credit most of her letter recognition to that and a couple books.

bkeane619

Molly&:

RingOfFire11:

She can identify them all out of order -- if I pick up a letter or write one down, she can tell me what each letter is. I previously posted a Leap Frog toy that helped with this so much. I credit most of her letter recognition to that and a couple books.

Yeah, my DD is definitely not to that level! Thanks for the link.  That seems fun so DD may be getting that for her birthday

I have that toy too...also the leapfrog leaptop that helped him learn his stuff too. https://www.amazon.com/LeapFrog-19150-My-Own-Leaptop/dp/B0038AJYSS/ref=sr_1_14?ie=UTF8&qid=1368284984&sr=8-14&keywords=leapfrog

rattlecanqueen

It's exceptionally advanced...that said, young children tend to develop one skill at a time in that if they are really focussed on language skills, the others fall to the wayside (fine motor, counting, gross motor) then when their bodies are content with how developed the skill is, that interest will recede and a new will arise.  There isn't necessarily a method to it either.  HTH!