I think that "obviously gifted" might be a better term here than "typically gifted." Some people are obviously very bright from very early infancy. They meet milestones way ahead of schedule (even one/two-month milestones). They talk early and have vocabularies well ahead of what's expected for their ages. They read early. They count early and may not need instruction for certain basic skills like adding. Etc.
All this can translate into doing well at school, especially in the lowest grades when a five-year-old with very high cognitive ability may be ready for second-grade material. Obviously, as students get older, the grey area increases. Some HG+ kids continue to get high grades with low effort, especially if homework scores are worth less and test scores are worth more. Some don't, especially if homework is worth more and test scored less.
Personally, I don't like the idea that giftedness is a "state" over a "trait" as implied here. That said, I haven't read the whole of Kaufman's
Ungifted and can't comment properly on it. So far, it seems to be a mix of navel gazing (which makes me less likely to trust the author) and a literature review with references (which makes me more likely to trust the author).
