To the parent of a profoundly gifted child, a moderately gifted child may not seem gifted and their parents may seem to be over optimistic about identifying them as such. But I wonder if that's a fair statement? It's one thing if a parent of a moderately gifted child is claiming that their child is profoundly gifted, but the term "gifted" currently refers to a dramatic range of abilities, doesn't it? What other word are these parents to use when their child learns and understands differently than bright, hard working children but is not profoundly gifted? I worry about the children who neither fit the stereotypes teachers/schools have about how gifted children learn and behave (stereotypes which more appropriately match bright, hard working, competitive or "pleasing" children); nor are at a high enough level of giftedness to be easily identified without those behaviors. Let's not assume bad or selfish intentions when parents try to figure out how typical or atypical their children are. In lieu of very expensive formal testing, it is often not clear at all, and I think many parents are sharing information about their children as a way of testing the waters and trying to figure that out.
