my 2 year old son can spell words

20 years ago

so my sons favorite toy is his collection of magnet letters and numbers, he's always loved numbers, counting them and so forth. But yesterday he really freaked out his mother and me. Tyler's mom was cleaning up the letters and found the word "stop" written in perfect order, the next day I found the word "pause." Now some insight to this would be he's FASCINATED with electrical things like remote controls. Anybody have any insight on if I should have someone evaluate this kind of behavior?

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Comments (5)

sweeby
20 years ago
On the one hand, this could indicate your son is extremely bright. On the other hand, it could indicate his brain is developing in 'non-standard' directions and that an evaluation would be a good idea.

Is your son advanced in other areas? Does he ask probing questions about how things work? Is he an avid 'watcher'? Are other family members unusually intelligent, supporting a genetic predisposition to high intelligence? Does he assemble jigsaw puzzles designed for older children easily? What about other building toys like Legos? 'Yes' answers here would support a high-intelligence theory.

The words 'STOP' and 'PAUSE' could easily have been copied from a TV remote control. (Is the RC in all caps? and your son's writing also all caps?) Still, an impressive achievement for a 2-year old, but not the same feat as spelling 'cat' or 'tomato', or even mixing upper and lower case letters. Copying words can be a visual pattern-recognition thing; spelling them is a whole sound-symbol coding exercise -- so very, very different. (My older son started writing letters at age 2, but in his case, it was clearly a visual pattern thing -- simply copying shapes that he knew were somehow important.)

How does your son play with other children? Is he indifferent to, upset by, confused by, or annoyed by other kids? Does he line things up often, and melt down when his lines are disturbed? Is he anxious or upset by changes in routine? Does he have just a few favorite toys, and play with them the same way over and over? Does he repeat words and phrases he's heard on TV? And if he does 'TV talk,' does it sound different from his regular speech? (Inflection, vocabulary, not appropriate to context) Does he use your hand as a 'tool' to get things instead of pointing? How are his language and speech development coming along? Does he mix up pronouns like 'it' 'me' and 'you', or have trouble with 'Wh' questions? Does he seem over- or under-sensitive to certain sounds, smells, tastes, textures, or sensations? Does he have a strong preference for only a few foods (macaroni and cheese, milk, chicken nuggets) and refuse to eat anything else? How are his sleeping patterns?

Problems in these areas suggest you may want to have him evaluated. Very bright children with issues on the autism spectrum (Hyperlexia, Asperger's Syndrome, PDD, High Functioning Autism) could show the types of behaviors you described for your son, but would also tend to have many of the problems described in the paragraph above.

If he's only got 1 or 2 issues from the second set of questions and they're not too severe, then you probably don't have anything to worry about. Just keep an eye on him, and enjoy your obviously bright little boy.

Here is a link that might be useful: Hyperlexia
lindac
20 years ago
I would question does he also talk well....or is this just a letter arranging thing.
My son could read at 3....we suspected because he knew things we didn't mean for him to know....but I finally held up a newspaper and asked him what it said....and he read it ( but did stumble over a foreign place neme!). Mystery solved!
He was faulted in 1st grade because he didn't finish all his reading work book assignments, so a compassionate teacher had him evaluated....yep...smart!
I just say present him with every opportunity to learn.
Linda C
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That is really something, My son is just turning 3, but since 1 1/2 he has been fascinated by shapes, numbers, and letters. By the time he was 2 he was recognizing all alphabet letters and numbers to 20. By the time he was 2 1/2 he was recognizing by pointing to any number I asked him to point to from 0-100 and able to use his number puzzle with numbers (0-9) to make all of the numbers to 100 one at a time. With the exception of 22,33,44,55,66,77 &88. He also uses his alphabet puzzle and computer to spell out words. He has no language, but can spell out 11 words. Being taught only once or twice before he amazes me and spells them himself. Needless to say we are going through Autism screenings at this time, But he is a very bright boy!
HU-557373233
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It seems you have just described my boy who is too turning 3. Same intellect advancement but lack in socialization and underdeveloped language, means he has not advanced to talking in sentences but uses only 1 or 2 words to express his needs. We are going through alot. We are looking for the right person who can tell us what exactly the problem is. We are totally clueless. Some of child psychologists have indicated a red flag for autism, we are having an assessment this week. But i feel myself to be in denial as i know he is far ahead of other children in one area, i dont want any label attached to him. It is going to be really hard for me to accept anything like that.
HU-557373233
6 years ago
Since you have wrote this in 2013. I really want to talk to you to know about ypur child....

my 2 year old son can spell words

Comments (5)

sweeby

lindac

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