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I think my son is smart, but he's not yet 3, it's too soon to say (my younger son is only 10 months, I don't even know if he's smart yet). My brother and I were both in the gifted program in school. We were referred and tested - he was 7, I was 9 - and both screened into the program. We went to a "gifted school" through grade 8, and then were in the gifted program in a "regular" high school
that was a mix of gifted classes (basically the core classes - English, French, maths, sciences) and regular classes (more specialized stuff - drama, creative writing, etc). I definitely had a great experience but I'm not sure if I would put my kids through it. It was tough going from a grade 8 class with 40 kids to a high school with 400 grade 9s, and my schools all involved a 20 minute drive or 45 minutes on the bus, and none of my friends were local.

I have no idea if my kid is gifted. She is bright and creative but she isn't reading yet which is usually a marker for giftedness. We will participate in any school testing and if she is referred for special programs we will enthusiastically participate. I think getting the appropriate education for giftedness or non giftedness is important.

@irene: It's hard to say what I did that was "different" as a small child. I don't remember too much from back then . In general, I've always been an extrememly curious and logical person and I really, truly, love to learn. I'm one of those people who would just go to school forever, if that was an option! As a kid, things often just "made sense" without too much explaining. I've always been a huge reader.

I know that throughout my childhood, but particularly in my early childhood (preschool age), I gravitated towards adults and older children rather than my peers. It was something the preschool teachers really worked with me on, but it was also likely influenced by the fact that I was an only child to a single mom who brought me with her to all her social things where I was generally the only child present (restaurants, the theater, etc).

My family likes to tell a story that the preschool teachers told my mom that I was doing great reading and she was blown away because she didn't think I could read, at all. I had been hiding it at home because I thought my parents and grandparents would quit reading to me when they found out I could read myself (totally unfounded fear).

I don't know exactly what the testing was that I did in Kindergarden to qualify for my AP program in 1st grade. Mom says that it was all verbal (no written) and based around play but she didn't know specifics because she wasn't allowed to be in the room. She asked me about it right after the testing and all I remembered was that they asked me to think of all the things that I could think to do with an empy Coke can.

I didn't really think of myself as unusual in elememtary school, because I was surrounded by kids in the same program. Middle school was really an eye opening experience, for me, and helped me learn that things don't always come so easily to others, which has helped now that I teach grad students as part of my job.

My first clue was an aunt didn't believe I could read at age 4, thought I was memorizing it and gave me a newspaper which I read for her to her surprise. In elementary, I thought everyone was getting 100% on everything like me in school so I had no idea I was different until I was tested upon entry/placement at a new school. I just knew the moment something was 'wrong' in a test, the teacher said something off or a book was not edited correctly. And it would bother me for a moment or two. I noticed every single incongruency or wanted to learn every single new word or idea that I've heard at the time I was exposed to it. It was totally intrinsic. Due to my introversion and other environmental situations, I also hid in middle school and purposely scored down on my placement test to put in the same 'easy' classes with my low performing friends/relatives. Because of that, low income family, no enrichment or activities and moving around A TON in upper grades, I didn't have the benefit of a gifted education for most of my years. Somehow I found/attracted the right crowd and outlets in college which was completely a new world for me, so I turned out ok! Because of my experiences, I recognize the advantage of a specialized gifted education to engage kids with these abilities and value what a gifted peer group/community offers in developmental years.

Also wanted to add that just because a child is in a gifted program, there are many other social groups -family, peer, sports and other outside activities that a gifted child will interact with and won't be in a bubble. Just educated differently.

I was also labeled gifted at an early age. In my case, the gifted program (just an occasional pull-out program in the years it was available at all in our poor district), was kind of a joke. I will say that it gave me a confidence boost at first, but later became a source of anxiety as I feared testing poorly and losing the label. I suffer(ed) from an anxiety disorder, however, so maybe that wouldn't worry most kids.

I did attend a state-run summer program in high school that was aimed at gifted kids, though it wasn't labeled as such. It required a long application, essays, and recommendations to gain a spot. Now THAT was a really good program and I'm so glad I did it. But I actually could have done it without ever having been tested and labeled.

I think overall, I wouldn't test my young child unless I felt confident that the difference in program options would be worth the labeling.