assured me that the doctor often works with gifted children. Do I verify this by asking if he knows about SENG, DYS, etc?
I would tend to suggest asking how many patients with
IQ 168+ the doctor has worked with
(fill in your child's IQ). You may not get a number as a reply, but the response you do get may be very telling... it could range from ho-hum (doctor sees a lot of patients with that high of an IQ) to WOW (doctor sees few patients with an IQ in that neighborhood). It is helpful to prepare for this type of introductory phone call as you would for an advocacy meeting; For example have your list of well-thought-out questions prepared (and discussed with your spouse) prior to calling.
My experience now with the medical community is I know way more than they do about HG children.
Yes, unfortunately many professionals are not trained in "gifted", although our children would benefit greatly if they were. Our children are a very small minority of the population and therefore may be overlooked and suffer benign neglect. It often helps to remember that we, as parents of gifted children, also were once lacking information about giftedness.
As parents, we can always invite others to join these forums, mention SENG, etc. Some parents have prepared a brief typed information sheet of favorite gifted links and pass a copy along when it seems appropriate to do so.
