Over Time or All at Once--Realization of a Gifted Child

I often wonder how you first notice that your child is different than other kids. How do you know if they are gifted? Is it all at once, like an overnight thing, or is it more gradual?

With our oldest, I didn't think he was super smart. He was learning ABC's and sounds and shapes all slowly and over time. He was 2 and telling me what letter made what sound, but I thought it was fine. When he was 3 and could memorize books to make people think he could read as he pointed to the words, I thought it was cute. And when he figured out reading at 4 I thought hey that's pretty good, but I never really thought he was all that more intelligent than any other kid.

It wasn't until Kindergarten that I realized he was more advanced. Or maybe he wasn't, but the teacher wasn't teaching anything close to his level. Sometimes I think there are a lot of gifted kids out there but they aren't challenged so they end up just going with the flow at the level they are given at school.

I suppose if it weren't for our oldest son's boredom and sadness over Kindergarten, then maybe we wouldn't have gone the route we had, and maybe he wouldn't have been challenged by us changing things.

As far as our 2nd son. It was all very different. We were always saying, "No, he isn't going to be anything like his brother". We didn't have quite the same amount of time to teach or help him to learn, and we noticed that he didn't pick up on things like his older brother did. That is why it was such a complete shock when he did show signs of giftedness. It seriously was an overnight thing.

One day he was just a little 3 year old not doing much, just playing and listening, but then the next day he was reading all the street signs and shortly after he was teaching himself to play the piano at 4.

Now where did that come from? I don't really know, and it was so weird! I don't like to compare my sons, but they are both so smart, yet so different in how they learn. Our oldest is so much more of a deep thinker, and seems to know everything, yet our younger son is quick to learn but in much different areas.

It is interesting. So I say to anyone, you can never tell if you're gonna get some super smart kid. They may show it all along, and so it seems normal until they match up with other kids, or they may just wake up one day and have learned it all in their sleep!