Debbie wrote: **I think I am still trying to wrap my head around the concept that my son could be gifted, perhaps very much so. So much we've seen over the years, that adds up to him being so different from other kids. Yet then I think I'm imagining it all!**
Debbie, I'm sure all parents of gifted have the same thoughts at times. Recently my husband and I debated this very question when we were trying to decide whether to switch schools for DD5, only 3 weeks into the year. Playing devil's advocate he said, "Yes, she's really smart--but what if she's just really smart, not gifted...?"
It really is hard to know sometimes if we are only imagining that our child is "so different" from other kids. We worry maybe we're being self-indulgent or egotistical and exaggerating our child's abilities, or maybe we've "pushed" them somehow. On top of our self-doubts, we've got the Establishment (school system) saying "she'll be fine where she is... she can't be gifted because she didn't have the top score in the class on yesterday's test... etc. "
I've found that a good cure for this doubt is to actually visit a classroom and see what the "normal" kids are doing. Classroom visits have really been eye-opening for me! The day we visited DD's potential new school, for example, I sat and listened to her read higher grade level material to the teacher--and then heard other kids in the room struggling to sound out simple one-syllable words. It drove home the fact that DD is very very different from her age group. (Added to all the years of strangers saying, "Ummm, HOW OLD is she?")
