Do you ever find yourself buying into the "they'll be 'right" mentality and questioning the impact of giftedness? DS5 is in the highly gifted range, and we are currently in the process of applying to a new school for next year that I think will be better able to cater to his needs. I know his educational needs are different, I suspect that he is not currently being challenged in most school subjects. Then I find myself thinking, well he is only in K, how much can they really do with him this year. Then as other kids' reading is progressing, I think, maybe DS is not that different. Maybe part of it is that DS has become my norm. I remember worrying a bit about DD because she didn't know the alphabet by 2. Then I realised that was perfectly normal. I think another part of it is my aversion to confrontation and internalising society's view of high intelligence as something not to be discussed. If I had a musically talented child and was switching schools, I would easily be able to answer the question, why are you changing schools? But there is no comfortable answer to that question when academics are the concern. Not that academics are the only concern, asynchronous development and social skills are up there, but we are aware of the risks if appropriate academic material is not presented. But it is not socially acceptable to talk about how a school might fail to meet the needs of a bright child. And it feels isolating, and does lead to me second guessing myself. I start to picture how other people would view my concerns for DS. I know that most 3 year olds do not come up to their mom, guide her over to their letter blocks and say, "look mom I spelt oxygen"(he had oxajni). But I find as he gets older, and his difference is less obvious, I sometimes start to think maybe he's not that different after all, and it is more difficult to resist the societal pressure to downplay the differences.
