Does your kid know the Alphabet?

Mar5195

So several people have mentioned they think my child is gifted.   And I'm one of those people who is very skeptical when people make random observations on my child.  Like when they all say he should be a model cause he has such pretty eyes, lol (cause that makes a model!).  

Timothy knows the alphabet but not the traditional let's sing song way.   We bought him some flash cards and he can say the letters at random. And he's a great little talker but some letters he can't 'say" but he tries to make the sound he thinks it should sound like.  For instance W he says 'woo" and U is "oo":

He's not in daycare so he's not really being taught the alphabet on regular basis.  He's with Grandma all day.  So I'm a little taken a back by how quickly he's grasp the alphabet.  He also understand concepts like things being broken.  His bubble machine (from his Secret Santa!!) batteries were out so I told him it was broken and I couldn't fix it.   The next day I go to turn on the TV and I can't get it on and he says to me "It's broken Mama".   

I'm just wondering since they are all contemporaries if anyone else's child knows their alphabet or grasping concepts?

MollySm

Lucia doesn't know the alphabet, because we aren't teaching it to her like that.  She can pick out a bunch of the letters and knows a word that they stand for.  For example, if she sees an M anywhere, she will point to it and say Mommy.  Same with L (Lulu), D (Daddy), R (raisins), J (jump), E (Ella), G (Grace), and K (kitty).  At first we just did the M, L, D when we were coloring or drawing with chalk, but now she loves knowing them so much the when she finds one of the ones she doesn't know, she'll point to it and say that she doesn't know it, and then look at us until we tell her a word that starts with that letter.  

As far as gifted or not, they are all learning tons of things at this point.  Some of that is guided by their interests (there are other children who are much better than she is at climbing, or putting together blocks, or whatever, because they would just rather do those things while she would rather look at books), and it's partially guided by their parents' styles of exposing them to things.  Your child is learning the letter names because you do the flash cards with him, mine is learning beginning letter sounds because we associate the letters with the sound that they make, other children's parents might be spending more time exposing them to different tasks involving creativity, or nature, or whatever, rather than the alphabet.  

The girls I nanny definitely knew broken when their batteries would be dead on toys they liked.  Lucia hasn't had any batteries run out, so I'm not sure that's something she would get.  But she is constantly surprising us with what she does know

pinkshades05

I think that's quite impressive! We are nowhere near that stage of development. Nat can barely say 10 words...

sunnyday016

We're nowhere near that.

MrMrsandBaby

I would tend to agree with @Starbuck128 on this one. I'm sure that all our our LOs can do something exceptionally well.  Gifted is a relative term and I'm not even sure it is reliable under the best circumstances.

But, to answer your question, no...Allison does not know her alphabet.  But she knows more words than I can count and if I were to hold up a picture of something she knows, she would tell me what it is - the same way Timothy does with letters...

NatesLady1309

sunnyday016 said:

We're nowhere near that.

Yep, Addy has no concept of the alphabet. We are still working on even getting her to use words.

HattieLove

Same as PPs, Ramona knows "R" because I taught it to her, but she doesn't know any other letters because we don't work on them. There are other things I feel like are more necessary for her to know now (people's names, manners, colors), so that's what I focus on.

"Gifted" doesn't seem appropriate because gifted means excelling in all areas. He has an impressive skill. Perhaps he will be gifted, but I wouldn't use the term just based off of this skill. 

Mar5195

Thanks for all your feedback.  I was feeling guilty I wasn't doing something more for him.  

I figured it was entirely too earlier to be deeming him gifted. The what if's will do it every time!  

I'mGonnaMarryYou

pinkshades05 said:

I think that's quite impressive! We are nowhere near that stage of development. Nat can barely say 10 words...

This!

Mar5195

I'mGonnaMarryYou said:

I think that's quite impressive! We are nowhere near that stage of development. Nat can barely say 10 words...

This!

You know what I find so funny?  I'm a big believer all kids are different and there are points in their development where they all even out (ex. when they all crawl/walk). But people always tell me how much my son talks for a Boy.  And how girls are "So much more verbal than boys".   

mamatobe2012

NatesLady1309 said:

sunnyday016 said:

We're nowhere near that.

Yep, Addy has no concept of the alphabet. We are still working on even getting her to use words.

DITTO!

sooner1981

My husband and I were just talking about this yesterday!  It is still way too early to be figuring out "giftedness" yet.  For example, I was the first born in my family and until 18 months, I had one word, "ga," which I used mainly for wanting food, but I occasionally broadened it to wanting other things.   At 18 months, my pediatrician told my parents that they needed to put me in some kind of social setting with kids my own age and not be so quick to anticipate my needs, because I didn't have a "reason" to talk.   Eventually, I learned to talk--but it was a slow and steady process.  Fast forward a few years to high school, I got one point below a perfect score on the ACT, full scholarships to college and law school, etc. 

My little brother was talking in complete sentences by 18 months (in his baby book, my mom has written down that at 18 months, he said "Mommy, which cake do you think we should buy?  This one is prettier, but I like chocolate cake."  Like--real, complex sentences.  He and I learned how to do basic math at the same time--even though he was 2 years younger than me.  He didn't do as well on "standardized tests" in school, but flourished in college, went to med. school and is now a neurology resident.

My cousin was also an extremely early talker like my brother.  Everyone said he was "scary smart" as a toddler.  He got As and Bs in school and in college, but never really did well on tests or any other "measurable" yardstick regarding his "giftedness."   But he remains to this day very good with people!

Giftedness comes in so, so many forms that it is impossible to tell at this age what is "innate" and what has been practiced to the point of rote memory.  My mom is a G&T teacher, and she said that really, 4th or 5th grade is when you start seeing any separation between kids who have just been very well "prepared" for school-type work and those who are really grasping concepts at a higher level.  Sorry so long--this post just grabbed my interest!

Mar5195

Thanks Sooner1981!  That's really interesting what your Mom said about it not when you can tell who is has just been real prepared and who is just smart.   

My son is alot like your little brother.   The other day he said "We going to park, we go see swings and trees".   I think he's really verbal because his Mama is such a big mouth he talks to shut me up.  

pinkshades05

Thanks, Sooner Definitely put some fears at ease!

Ya Never Know

When I first read this post, my first response was... What? No... not at all...

But then the last couple of days, she's been singing it... She doesn't know all the letters, but I hear h i j k, w, and some other letters as she's singing along. Obviously, in singing it, she can't identify the letters if I show them to her, but she's singing them anyway.

And two weeks ago, I learned that she could count. I was counting 1, 2, 3, 4, up to 10, and as I was going along, she said 3, 7, 9, and 10 in the right sequence. Since then, whenever we count, she'll say the numbers she knows at the right moments as I'm counting up.

Pretty cool