[quote=QT3.1414]
Do any of you feel that you and/or your children are sometimes/often misunderstood by administrators, teachers, professors, psychologists, or even therapists because of giftedness? For instance, if you or your child indicates that a class is not sufficiently challenging, this might be taken as arrogance though this was never the intention? If you and/or your child has or still encounters this, how do you deal with these irritating incidences? Is this feeling of being misunderstood something we must become accustomed to?
My DS8 would probably love to elaborate to you on his feelings about this question. At 4, his private Kindergarten teacher (who we otherwise LOVE) misunderstood his response to something as "easy" and scolded him for being arrogant. We think he was simply explaining that the reading text he was given was "easy." Little guy broke down in tears that night at the dinner table, so upset that he had hurt his teacher's feelings by saying she didn't give him challenging work.
It has been a battle to minimize the damage that one comment made. To this day, he is afraid to directly talk with teachers about his feelings of "needing challenge." And we have tried it all from inviting him into conversations about educational planning with his teachers to weekly sessions with a psychologist (Ph.D) I don't think even the most seasoned teachers truly know how deeply some of these children feel and how long and intense their reactions can be to a negative response.
