The first difference between gifted girls and gifted boys is identifying them. The girls, Kerr says, typically are precocious readers, easy to spot for that reason. Parents are surprised when their 3-year-old daughter starts reading them the newspaper headlines over breakfast. The parents of the boys are surprised because they never seem to do quite what they're expected to. And they don't sit still for psychologists to administer boring assessments.

The boys are more creative than other boys, the girls more adventurous than other girls. They're more like each other in some ways than either is like other children of their own sex. And the schools, for the most part, don't know what to do with them. The language is revealing; children are called "profoundly" or "severely" gifted — as if it were a disability.
—Linda Seebach, "Don't let your child's gift of giftedness go to waste," Rocky Mountain News, (Denver, CO), July 6, 2002

Some call them gifted. Others prefer the term genius. Still others use the word prodigy. Whatever the name, they represent a dichotomy: children with skills far beyond their age level.

And often, that presents a problem.

In "The Random House College Dictionary," prodigy is defined as "a person having extraordinary talent or ability" and "something abnormal or monstrous." Similarly, educators often use the term "severely gifted."

They know that a gift, like the Trojan horse, can contain some unpleasant surprises.

Extraordinary talent, say psychologists, can be a social stumbling block that separates children from their peers. It can intimidate teachers, stymie school administrators and, if ignored, lead to behavior problems.
—Patti Thorn, "Being gifted," Chicago Tribune, August 26, 1985