We also had a lot of people DOUBT how gifted she is over the years simply
because she blends in so well when she wants to be under the radar and not on display as a circus sideshow. Naturally someone with excellent social skills can't be that smart.
I totally agree. My child takes blending in to the extreme by looking very silly and goofing off in order to not show that he has any superior abilities at all. He is also an only child and very social and very lonely and does not want any friend to think that he is different and hopes that he will then be able to socialize with the large, popular crowd.
The only thing that has worked so far is outside validation. That has definitely made the school sit up and take notice and offer the "best" option that they have available - subject acceleration for DS's strong subjects at the level that we asked for. Until we brought in outside validation of his abilities, they brushed me off by saying that there were many smart kids in the school who were happy with schoolwork and also that my DS needed to show more "maturity" in order to handle more advanced work.
