Originally Posted by Artsmartmom
Really? To the point that the parent never once suspected there was a single thing different about them until a gifted teacher observed them for 5 minutes? My understanding is that most parents "have always known."????

"Denial (also called abnegation) is a defense mechanism postulated by Sigmund Freud, in which a person is faced with a fact that is too uncomfortable to accept and rejects it instead, insisting that it is not true despite what may be overwhelming evidence. [1] The subject may use:

simple denial - deny the reality of the unpleasant fact altogether

minimisation - admit the fact but deny its seriousness (a combination of denial and rationalization)

projection - admit both the fact and seriousness but deny responsibility."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denial