Our local university (seriously) didn't understand why there should be any difference between MY child (working +3 years ahead of agemates, minimum) and kids identified as garden-variety gifted by the state (basically, 90th percentile or higher on grade-level achievement testing)...
this was for a SUMMER GIFTED PROGRAM. They refused to consider placing her out of chronological age, in spite of the fact that she (aside FROM her age) was completely qualified for the program in every other way (that is, still handily scoring at the 99th percentile OUT of level).
So don't assume that "gifted experts" affiliated with a university are any such thing.
I was appalled to be told that there were "no real differences" between children who are 99.9th percentile (like mine-- and like many of the children here) and those at the 90th percentile.
That, in my mind, simply bespoke a profound ignorance on the subject. Even my then-8yo knew there was a huge difference, and she lived it every time she interacted with her "GT" peers.
Off-topic, but to finish out that anecdote, the University pulled an end-run with "our insurance policy says...." to keep my daughter OUT of the program for 4th-6th graders, and she had exactly ZERO interest in the "low level" activities intended for the 1st-3rd grade cohort that they would place her with.
Honestly, the problem with that program was that it was GT in name only. The nature of the activities for 1st through 3rd certainly wasn't very engaging in terms of enrichment for a 6-8yo PG student; many of the activities were things that my DD had been fascinated by at 3-5yo.
