# Too early or normal? 19 month, being able to identify some numbers and letters



## Jessica1501 (Feb 11, 2009)

My DD is 19 month and a haft. She can identify numbers from 1-10 and a few letters. She seems to have passions for numbers and letters.
Do you think that's early and normal? How is your LO?


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## readytobedone (Apr 6, 2007)

it is early. i think the *average* for kids (not MDC kids, kids in general!) really starting to ID numbers and letters is about 3, and then they don't usually know them *all* till 4-5.

that said, DD knew all of her numbers 0-9 by 16 months and her letters...i dunno, 22 months? she is 28 months now.

there are lots of threads about this kind of thing on the parenting the gifted child board. maybe go over there?


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## Cristiaz (May 8, 2007)

Not sure what is considered normal but my DD could count to 10 and sing her abc's way before she turned two. She could also identify some. At 2 she could count to 15 or 20. I've been told by a lot of people she is "advanced" but I hate to label her in anyway.


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## Shami (Oct 9, 2007)

Wondering if you all worked a lot with your lo to get them to learn so early? Mine is 22 months and can count to six and then gets mixed up. She sings ABCD and that is it. Did yours watch any kind of kid shows to help them or did you work with them or a combination? Just wondering.

Don't get me wrong, I am fine with where she is at, but I am curious because I am not really pushing it and wondering if I should work in a more focused way.

Oh and yes that seems so early to me. I'd cross post in the gifted forum.


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## readytobedone (Apr 6, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *Shami* 
Wondering if you all worked a lot with your lo to get them to learn so early? Mine is 22 months and can count to six and then gets mixed up. She sings ABCD and that is it. Did yours watch any kind of kid shows to help them or did you work with them or a combination? Just wondering.


no, i didn't, really. she was interested in numbers starting about 14 months, would point and ask "what's that?" (in her baby language, lol)...

and i'd say "3" or whatever. she wanted to read books with numbers in them (like the sandra boynton "hippos go berserk" one) over and over, so i ended up getting her a melissa and doug 1-20 puzzle. after that, she learned very quickly up to 9-10.

letters...i can't remember how she became interested in them (fridge magnets someone gave us, i think), but it was slightly later than the numbers. again, once she started being interested, she learned them quickly. she could ID all her letters before she turned 2, but she couldn't sing the ABCs until after she turned 2.

that said, she is 28 months and doesn't seem to know any colors. i guess she's not as interested in that!


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## ShyDaisi (Jan 22, 2007)

I think that working with a child in day to day life might help, but each child is different and has his own interests, thus will learn at various paces and stages. I point out things when we are out in public or playing with his toys...his new favorite thing is picking out the letters he knows on the keyboard.

Micah is 28 months, he knows all his colors and the signs for them (including pink, brown, black and white -- working on grey), he can identify 75ish% of the alphabet and words that correlate with the letter (A for Apple, B for Ball, etc.), doesn't know the song (though I rarely sing it), cannot count (SOMEtimes he might attempt 1-2-3, but that is it), recognizes only the number 4 (because I had to point out several times that it was NOT the letter A), and is fascintated with the number 2 (if you ask him how many, he will generally say to regardless of how many there are) probably because that it how old he is.

I would say counting at 19 months is the early side of normal, but within the normal range.


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## 95191 (Nov 8, 2007)

very normal and not at all pushing!!

Both of mine knew numbers and ABC and colors by two. My 19 month old loves colors and knows most of them and it had nothing to do with _teaching_.


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## Paeta16 (Jul 24, 2007)

I don't know if it is normal or not but honestly I think my DD is ahead of average and she knew her numbers to 12 (counting and recognition) and letters (lower and upper, song and recognition) and all of her colours (and most shades) by 2 for sure. I think for 19 months it is great that she is so interested in these things! Go with the flow. My DD would also ask "what's this?" constantly and I just told her. They are such little sponges at that age (and still) that I would just tell her whatever she wants to know and whatever interests her.


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## Jessica1501 (Feb 11, 2009)

I feel that DD is crazy in numbers and letters, that's why she learns them quickly.
But I'm a little bit worried because one of the symptoms of autism is the ability to learn numbers and letters quickly. She doesn't have any other signs except she loves books so much and does not talk much (about 40 single words, not combination words yet - she's 19.5 month).
When I take her to Walmart, she points to all numbers on the aisles, price tags... But she is also interested in other things.

For me, I don't see the differences between knowing numbers and other things such as animals and shapes. Colors is more abstract so it's understandable that it comes latter shapes and animals. But numbers is a physical thing, like animals, we just need to repeat over and over for them to remember.


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## Violet2 (Apr 26, 2007)

It's early and this link may help you. My DD is similar. You don't need to do anything special--I have a thread verifying that on the gifted forum. I've been assured that this doesn't necessarily indicate a child will start reading anytime soon.

It's a little disconcerting, I know, when they start rattling things off that you didn't think they should know yet!

Oh and we never expressly worked with DD on any of this stuff, but she did get exposure to letters and numbers from Sesame Street (although we are now TV free so that is over). We sang the ABC song only b/c DD was trying to do it and wanted us to sing. She reads letters better than she sings them. She only knows about 1/2 the song right now.

Reading is also font sensitive. Since foveal vision that enables reading doesn't fully develop for a while, fonts can confuse DD. So one day she'll say every letter in the word Optometry at the eye doctor (the sign was at her eye level) and then get confused when looking at momma's magazine because the font is 'bubbly' and puffy.

The only thing I ever pushed was a shape puzzle, but that was more to give us something to do than any burning desire to have DD be the youngest child on the planet say 'where octagon go, momma?'

V


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## catters (Nov 20, 2007)

Seems pretty normal to me. My DS just turned two a couple weeks ago and has been counting to ten for several months and identifying letters and numbers in books, signs, whatever for a while. I never thought it seemed early as he seemed pretty much right on target with other babies his age who we see regularly. That said, he still uses his pacifier, has a blankie and throws tantrums, so I'm not considering him too advanced just yet!







I think, like Paeta16 said, just go with the flow. DS is really curious and asks a lot of questions and has, I would say easily over a hundred words. His vocabulary just took off around 21 months in one huge spurt and he just seemed to remember things and puts several word sentences together. I hear you with worrying about autism, though; one minute I'm totally confident he's right on and then the next minute he's throwing a tantrum because we want to take off his coat indoors, and then I'm like, "uh oh...". But I think that's just being two.


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## ChetMC (Aug 27, 2005)

I'd say it's early, but not at all uncommon. It has a lot to do with a child's interests and what they're exposed to.

I totally agree that it's just identifying objects - the same as learning to identify pictures of animals or anything else. Our kids were pretty good with maps, and could identify several countries, states and provinces at an early age. But they were just linking words to recognizable shapes, and with us traveling and moving around they were exposed to maps and place names. It wasn't really remarkable. Even though picking out Spain, England and Morocco on a globe seemed more impressive than naming farm animals in a picture book, it wasn't really a different skill.

Our oldest was identifying numbers and letters early, and had a small vocabulary of sight words before she turned 2. Oddly enough, her younger sister was the one who turned out to be the early reader.


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## Jessica1501 (Feb 11, 2009)

DD learns numbers and letters pretty quickly (numbers 1-10 in a weeks and 4 letters in 3 days). I don't consider this a gifted thing or anything. I just wonder if I should continue to teach her more. Now she knows only 1-10 but she can find number anywhere, in any book, box, or toy... I am worried that she just pays attention on numbers on a car but ignore the car itself and miss chances to learn many other things.
Do you think this happens because she just started knowing numbers? I think it may be so because when she just started knowing shapes, she also showed interest like this.


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## amberskyfire (Sep 15, 2007)

It depends on the child. If your child leans heavily toward verbal skills rather than physical milestones, then they will often learn to identify letters and numbers earlier.

My daughter is 17 months old and can recognize several letters of the alphabet and knows the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 10 by sight. She can sign about 200 hand signs and knows probably more than a thousand words.

But she can't walk yet







She only just started trying to walk a couple of days ago. Doc says she's great, just that she's one of those kids into verbal skills. Yours is probably one of those, too! Did she start talking early? Was she late with some of her physical milestones?

Maybe you've just got a genius on your hands


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## tellmemore (Jan 8, 2009)

I asked a very successful-at-homeschooling mama friend of mine how she began with her children (now teenagers) and what I could do to begin with. My DS was under a year at the time. She told me, "Teach him to love numbers and count everything!" It made sense to me, since I am horrible with math myself. I went through horrible experiences in school and had teachers that I just did not "get". I finally did have a teacher and environment that helped me understand so much more in college. At that point it was fun!

So, sorry, back to my DS. Before 18 months even he began to identify letters and numbers. Before long we'd be at the store and he'd be calling out the numbers on EVERYTHING. I of course thought, "Wow. I don't have to teach him a thing. He decided very early what was fascinating to him." I can't complain that he loves learning. He is advanced beyond most of his friends. But myself and his grandparents spend hours of one on one with him outside, playing with puzzles blocks and books. It's NORMAL for them to suck it all up like a sponge. He's 28 months today and can count into the 30s, although it is never pushed that he be perfect at anything. He decides. For instance, at 20 months he discovered what a clock was. It was then that he needed to know how to count to 12, not just 10.

Our counting started out with him saying a few numbers. I then would clap and count with him. Our game became him starting and saying all the odd numbers and then I'd fill in the even ones, or the opposite. He still loves it! V-tech or LeapFrog makes that fridge phonics game with the magnet letters. He loves that, too. He knows all the letters AND the sounds they make.


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## JudiAU (Jun 29, 2008)

It is considered early but is also very normal. DS learned to identify 1-10, identify alphabet letters by sight, and colors around 20 months. Basic shapes came at 22m. Oddly enough, he was a late speaker and letters and colors where among the first things he learned to speak. We did not direct him-- he was just interested-- but we do have a lot of monessori-type toys and that may have helped. At 28 m he still doesn't know the alphabet song. Go figure.


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