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Excellent Memory
By Inderbir Kaur Sandhu, Ph.D
Q: My 4 year old began reading around 15 months old. He taught himself all of the states and capitals in America and all of the countries of the world before he turned 3. He also taught himself all of the flags of every country in the world before he turned 3. He also taught himself to spell all 50 states and nearly all of the countries. What am I supposed to do with him?
A: Thank you for the link – it was quite impressive that your son is able to do all that at such a tender age. There is no doubt that your son has above average skills and among the distinct qualities of a gifted child is the ability to learn quickly with an excellent memory. He also began reading at 15 months, so this is truly advanced development of the brain.
Are you also noticing rapid development in other cognitive areas? What about emotional development? Does he question you a lot? There would be many areas that should be noted in his developmental milestones and nurtured accordingly. Most importantly, he needs to be doing stimulating, meaningful and varied activities. For now, as he is very young, most activities would get his attention as he is in the exploring and discovering stage but soon he would “pick and choose” certain activities that stimulates him more. It would be a challenge to keep him occupied all the time but if you manage to monitor his interests and activities and further guide him to explore more, he would do very well with free play rather than structured activities.
At 4, you may want to start him with a play school to introduce him to early social skills. It may be hard for him to mingle with children of the same age but it is a skill that younger children learn more easily than the older gifted who are more attuned to their environments. Your son has special brain characteristics as do all gifted children and among others, these children enjoy the benefit of a higher level of vivid sensing, prodigious memory (as is seen with your son), greater fund of knowledge (very high absorption of material), and greater analytic ability. Do also note that these same distinct characteristics may carry a number of potential drawbacks as he gets older such as, sensory, emotional, and memory overload, sensory hypersensitivities, personal disorganization, sensory distractibility, delayed processing due to “analysis paralysis” (too much thinking that leads to getting lost in thought due to an excess of options), and mental fatigue.
To answer your question, you are supposed to support and guide him to help him maximize his potential to the fullest. Read up a lot to be aware of what can be done and what to avoid. Join an association that supports gifted children to share your experiences and learn from other parents. The keys is to be aware of how you can help him explore and use his gifts in the best way possible by exposing him to a variety of stimulating and meaningful activities (include physical activities and creative arts). Please read the previous newsletters on nurturing a gifted child for some tips. You have a very special child and I wish you a very happy parenting journey!
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