true or false?

[Cumberland]

A blog I read, http://www.dooce.com- she says her 23month old knows the entire alphabet, and numbers at least up to 13. She also said as she was spelling her daughter's name, her daughter was saying the letters out loud, so she spelled another word, her daughter knew all of them, and she knew how to recognize all of her numbers. True or false?

[KCwife]

I vote...TOTAL CRAP. It is not that I see it as totally impossible, but because she says "I am a Stay at Home Mom (SAHM) or a Shi* As* Ho Motherf*cker. I do both equally well." w/o the asteriks that I have to question it....

[Vanquisher]

It is within the realm of possibility. There are kids that are just geniuses, but, most liekly crap.

[Rapunzel]

If you said 32 or 34 months I'd totally believe it without a second thought. But at just under 2 I'm hesitant to believe it. Definitely a stretch.

[mommax3]

I agree with all of the above. Girls are quicker to be able to do stuff like that....but still, it would be a stretch, and probably not much comprehension involved, as Annie said.

My oldest is EXTREMELY bright, (which has had as many negatives as positives, tbh) and he was barely talking at 23 months (Peter, are you reading this?) but was reading chapter books 2.5 years later.

Sally

[Auspicious]

I love the dooce blog and think she has real writing talent. She's also been pretty upfront about all the things her daughter is behind on (like walking) and has gotten lots of comments about "your daughter must be autistic blah blah blah" and I think that's made her pretty eager to point out the things her daughter can do. I have no idea if this is exaggerated or not, but even if it is I can sort of sympathize.

A friend of my oldest daughter was *very* verbal at 2. She did know her ABCs around 25 months but I don't remember if she could spell her name, certainly not her mom's. And her grandpa spent much of his time with her playfully teaching that. But knowing numbers that well and spelling her mom's name? Within the realm of possible but highly unlikely IMO.

[Gwendolyn]

More than likely her daughter can, but can not understand what she is doing. In the 80's the flashcard method was very popular and "baby universities" popped up all over the place. I watched a study in an early ed development class of a 18mo verbally identifying all of the fighter jets of the US and British militaries. They followed up with in high school and he could not remember ever seeing one, let alone what their names were.

Although cool, at this age it is a parlor trick

[SueC]

You know, that reminds me of a kid in our neighborhood that has some definite developmental problems (he's kind of a mess at 5.5), and exhibits lots of asperger's-type symptoms, but at around 2, I think his mom was pretty desperate for him to shine and she taught him to ID the 50 states. He could do it, but it was memorization, nothing more. It was sad, really. I didn't read the blog, but Julie's reply made me think of him. I suppose it's possible, but it is probably due to lots of drilling which doesn't involve her actually learning the concepts.

[fluffhead]

I believe it. It's just rote memorization - like learning a song. My kid could do the itsy bitsy spider, so why not counting to 13?
But I wouldn't brag about it - the kid just has a good head for mimicry. She'll make a great guitarist for a cover band someday.

But I wouldn't brag about it - the kid just has a good head for mimicry. She'll make a great guitarist for a cover band someday.

Good point. My genius child ( ) knows Twinkle, Twinkle and Old McDonald's Farm. BUT, I'm probably the only who can recognize it and it's because we sign it for her bedtime song every night.

I agree with the 'true' side of it. DD is about the same age and can id letters and numbers. Its not like I can say spell 'apple' and she'll write it out or point to a word and have her read it, but she can point to letters and name them.

I also read and enjoy her blog, and I think someone had a good point when they said dooce is upfront with the challenges her daughter has. She's pretty upfront in general, one of the reasons I like the blog. I honestly didn't even give it a second thought until I read this post. [/quote]

[PrincessFiona]

I believe her...after all, my kids were all doing calculus by 23 months NOT!

No..really...I had a friend who taught her almost 2 year old the alphabet and also read the same few books to him...so...if she left out a word for him, he'd say the word. She was convinced he was reading it. At the same time, of course, my almost 2 year old daughter was picking her nose and smearing the boogars all over the woman's new furniture...but that's a story for another day.

I think with concerted effort, you can certainly put the time/energy in to teach your 1-2 year old 26 little letters. After all, they can learn that many words....with flashcards, etc...I'm sure it's possible....and...at the Montessori schools, they have kids reading pretty well at 3 and 4.

The question in my mind is how much the child actually comprehends.

The little girl is an only child people..wait until she has 4 kids and she's just happy if her two year old will eat his peas without throwing them at the dog. Tomorrow we start phonics though...of course.

[PrincessFiona]

OK...I'm more skeptical now after reading her blog. I think she's exaggerating. Two months ago the child could recognize/say a couple of numbers (hey...Aidan knows 1 and 2...a cookie for each hand...should I call Guiness Book)...but was still doing a lot of vocabulary building....

I just somehow don't think it's true..she says she didn't use any flashcards...just sesame street...and lots of it.

I think she's an interesting writer...but she's a bit...odd.

kris

[Gwendolyn]

That's funny...I just read her blog and I am ready to give her more leeway. I still wouldn't trust that her child can enter a spelling bee or anything, but perhaps some creative license has taken place. 8)