Gifted Stuff

This page is a work in progress, so just a few thoughts to start:

• If you think your baby is gifted, and some people don't believe you, don't get discouraged because time is on your side
• I think at first, it is really tempting to tell everyone that your little one is gifted. Even though this may not make you the popular parent, it is not necessarily a bad thing to build some kind of expectation around your child. People might dislike you as the parent, but your child may get extra attention anyway, which is the most important thing. Once your child has been tested, then you can ease up on the 'campaign' because you will have real documentation and your child, now older, will start exhibiting advanced skills in other settings besides at home
• As soon as practical, involve outside people, like a tutor in an area of strength, who has experience teaching small children. It is really critical that they have this kind of experience because while a two year old might do 1st grade math, he cannot be presented the material like it is presented to a six year old. In other words, a young child might need more manipulatives to demonstrate concepts at first, and there is also the matter of general behavior maturity. And the reason it is important to involve outside people is because they will be able to provide letters for school. Until your child is officially tested, they won't call your child gifted, but they might say things like 'at two years old, Joey can skip count by 2, 5, and 10, and understands the concept of 0, etc' 
• Document your child's achievements and take videos whenever possible, as long as they are not disruptive
• As soon as recommended (no earlier than three years old), have them tested for cognitive ability. Once your child is 'official', it will open so many doors, like perhaps Mensa (they have great stuff, including scholarships and an online forum for parents of gifted kids which is a great source of support), John Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (JHU-CTY), which is a great enrichment and acceleration tool, as well as a way to continue documenting your child's giftedness and his achievements for purpose of class placement
• The advantage of early reading: someone (another mother) one day said to me that early reading was not necessarily a sign of giftedness... that what really mattered what the kind of questions that a child asked. Well, a child can certainly be gifted even if s/he is not an early reader, but it sure is nice when your child is not limited in his ability to acquire knowledge by not being able to read.... and since we are on the subject of  asking questions, let me tell you that not having to focus on the mechanics of reading does a lot to expand a child's horizons: what I mean is that Joey asks a lot of questions regarding the meaning of the words he encounters, and when we drive around, he reads signs and asks questions about those things and their real life application (an example: bus stops, what are they for, why do people ride the bus, etc; what does 'wrong way' mean on the highway, etc).. you get the idea. SO being able to read multiplies the opportunities for a child to understand the world both in real life and through books!
• Now about diagnoses and especially misdiagnoses. I personally know several children (not mine) who, although clearly gifted, are being handed out other diagnoses instead. There is such a thing as 'twice exceptional', but there is evidence out there that many more are being misdiagnosed... and once your child is 'labeled' in the school system, then this will be the first and perhaps over-riding impression every teacher and every school official will have of this child. So before you agree to have the 'special district' evaluate your child, go the private route first so things stay off the radar, and go to someone with a lot of experience with not just gifted children, but also highly gifted, exceptionally gifted, and profoundly gifted, as well as twice exceptional, because the further away from the means, the more likely the child is to be 'quirky' and not behaving like his age-peers, the more likely this child is to be misdiagnosed. You, as the parent, are the best judge of your child, and if you think your child is gifted, if you think your child is fine (just 'quirky', but fine) or if you think there is something wrong, chances are your are correct. See below for this great video from the 'Misdiagnosis Initiative' (seng.org).

• Great resources are A Parent's Guide to Gifted Children, which helps you be the best parent you can be for a gifted child; and several yahoo groups which focus on homeschooling for gifted or regular children: GiftedHF (Gifted Homeschooling Forum); homeschool2college; homeschoolingmensans (membership is restricted to MENSA members or parents of members). MENSA also has a useful listserv called 'brightkids'.