I agree-- particularly true in younger kids who have been hothoused by well-meaning (but Tigerish) parents.
What I think cannot be mistaken is the rate at which gifted children learn, or how rapidly they attain mastery.
I do not think that a child who is not gifted can, for example, go from basic decoding skills (e.g. Bob books) to late high school reading ability (no, not just decoding, but actual comprehension) in just a few weeks or months.
Well, yes, but "gifted" (intentional scare quotes) is a pretty huge range. There are more "gifted" kids who couldn't go at twice the normal pace than those who could, due to the normal distribution. And even then the trajectory levels out. Yes, kid A went from 0 to sixth in reading in six months, but they're probably only reading eight or ninth grade by third grade, and kids who have been slow but steady and took three years to get there will appear about the same. Then look again at sixth grade and they're still probably going to be not that far apart.
