Is my 18 month old toddler advanced?

[pamelawauters]

My son was born premature at 31 weeks; the internet tells me that 39 weeks is considered full term and that I should adjust his "developmental age" until 24 months. After correcting his age for prematurity, I've concluded that he is exactly 18 months, 1 week and 3 days as of today.

Based on this age correction and the expected milestones associated with it, could one say that my son is advanced if he knows most of the alphabet and some numbers as well?

I'm not talking about the ABC song, counting out loud or rote learning, but an actual knowledge of the shape and sound for most letters and a few numbers.

I can draw a letter (that I'm certain he knows) on a dry erase board, ask him what it is and he'll answer correctly every time. He does however get confused with letters that appear to mimic others, e.g., an "M" flipped vertically looks like a "W", or an "L" flipped horizontally somewhat resembles a "J" and he'll name those incorrectly; we're still working on those.

He was also playing with a calculator one day and I'd point to a number on the pad while asking what it was, and he remembers the shapes and names of the numbers "2", "3", "8" and "0". He calls the "0" an "oh" instead of a "ze-ro" but this is expected because theyre literally both circular shapes and he learned the letter first.

He obviously doesn't know that letters are different from numbers, but that each one is a shape with it's own name, and I just wanted to know if what he's demonstrating is above average. Thanks!

 

[reddog44]

@pamelawauters Pretty similar to my son at that age, and many of his similarly-aged friends.

It’s not really helpful to think of toddlers as “advanced,” anyway, because in reality, they’ll all learn things at different rates.

For example, my son was really quick to walk, run, and climb. He was racing all over the park and playground before his friend Vivian could even walk. On the other hand, Vivian was speaking and naming about a billion objects before my son was saying more than “mama,” “dada,” and “truck.” Now they’re both 2, and they speak and run equally well. It all evens out.

 

[pamelawauters]

@reddog44 Yes, I agree with how you say it'll all balance out it end the end. I just wasn't sure how exact monthly milestones were and I could consider "earlier than normal". Thank you for your reply!

 

[benftw]

@pamelawauters It depends. My 2 year old cannot do this but I have never shown him letters or numbers and said this is an A because it's not important at this age. If I did do that I would expect he could remember just like he can remember this blue, this is a cat, etc. If you never taught your kid this then it's odd yes. But if you've taught him idk why it would be odd.

 

[katrina2017]

@pamelawauters Maybe a little but is is very normal for kids to be ahead in some areas and behind in others. You nurture what they are good at and have fun working on the areas they need to improve.

My 2 year old son is very talkative, knows his ABCs and colors in two languages,and has strong gross motor skills but struggles with fine motor skills.

 

[pamelawauters]

@katrina2017 Thank you for your reply. My son also struggles with fine motor skills such as being able to rotate the shape correctly so it'll go in the hole or putting lids back on containers.

 

[lindseyt]

@pamelawauters If you’re regularly pointing out letters/numbers to him and telling him what they are then it makes sense for him to know them, it’s similar to pointing at a cow and him knowing the name/sound. At that age I’d say it’s more valuable to just read together than focusing too much on letters, although if he begins asking about them totally keep rolling with it.

 

[angelsong]

@pamelawauters I could read at a 5th grade level in 1st grade. I am not "gifted" nor "advanced". My mother just happened to read things to me repeatedly until I memorized them, then that turned into seeing the letters and reading them. You son is not gifted nor advanced.

 

[thisisaaron]

@angelsong im always weary of parents who deem their child to be "gifted" or "advanced", youre really just setting your child up for failure, OP. every child will learn things at a different rate, this is completely natural and your child knowing letters can be explained away by your behavior of exposing him to letters a lot. he will learn what you teach him, hell memorize what you show a lot, this is normal toddler behavior. i am sure that since you seem to be obsessed with his letter-reading abilities, he probably is less advanced in other, equally crucial skills.

aim for balance and consistency, and stop holding onto unrealistic expectations for your child that will make him one day hate the things he now loves because you expect him to be perfect in them. see the best in your child without pressuring him to act "gifted"

 

[funvaxed]

@pamelawauters Your kid isnt advanced, your kid is a kid, get over yourself

 

[tahizensis]

@pamelawauters Does he know colors, shapes, common animals/vehicles, community members/jobs, etc? These are all things to learn prior to learning to read. Learning to identify letters and numbers is good, but the very next step is to learn their sound, and your son is very young for that. Concentrate on the things I listed above and basic counting to 5. As he develops, combine tasks (ex: Can you find 2 yellow legos and 1 blue lego?). After mastering these tasks, then add the sounds the letters make (make sure you make those sounds properly). Teaching a little person to be a reader and one who likes numbers is a long, tall staircase that is climbed for years.

Retired kinder/1st grade teacher

 

[blizz]

@pamelawauters My daughter was also born prematurely. The way the pediatrician explained it to us is that because she was 6 weeks early, she's "allowed" an extra 6 weeks for any milestone before she's considered delayed, up until 24 months. The closer you get to 24 months, the less it matters. By 24 months they're expected to be completely on par with their peers... which doesn't mean a lot because there's a HUGE range of normal for all milestones and skills anyway.

 

[jdsnyd]

@pamelawauters We discovered my son knew most of his alphabet, numbers, shapes, colours at 15 months… as unbelievable as it sounds. He couldn’t talk, but we had this table with all those things etched into the edges and one day for fun I asked him where letter C was and he chose right. I was shocked and quizzed him on everything - he proceeded to get it right like 90% of the time and you could tell he was observing and thinking/searching for the right answer.

We went over letters/numbers/shapes often before that point, but he was also simply took an interest in those things. Different babies have different interests and strengths. It is advanced, then in other ways you may get delays.

 

[bigred78]

@pamelawauters That sounds super advanced for 18 months! So cool!

My son learned to color sort and knew all his colors at 15 months . Can recognize upwards of 100 objects and point to in a book. He’s 18 months now and just learned 0-4, which to be fair we only just started teaching him numbers. But he doesn’t say then yet, just points when asked “which is 2?” Doesn’t know his alphabet yet but we haven’t started teaching him.

That being said i think toddlers just have a really good capacity for memory and recognizing objects based on shape. So like maybe he doesn’t understand what a number is yet, but he can recognize what it looks and sounds like . Then again, toddlers know a lot more than we think they do so who knows