When my son was ready for school, I had a problem getting people to understand his needs.  After quite a bit of searching, I thought that I found the perfect kindergarten for my son.  Boy, was I wrong!

The school I sent him to was a private school with a philosophy of meeting each child's individual needs. However, in spite of the fact that I told the principal all about my son's needs and abilities, she was actually one of those who believe all children are gifted. She was, however, quite sympathetic to the needs of children who had learning disabilities and whose abilities fell below the average range. In her mind, there were children who were able to achieve the skills and knowledge of their age and those who were unable to do so. She simply did not believe any children existed who could achieve more.

Her viewpoint would have some serious repercussions for the way my son was treated in that school and set in motion an on-going problem my son had in school.

Was (is) your child's principal sympathetic to your child's needs?  Share your story by clicking on the Comments link.

I'm one of those who believe gifted kids should be told they're gifted, but at the right time and for the right reasons. They don't need to be told they're gifted so that they can feel smarter than the other kids or so that they can be pushed to work hard.  And there is a difference between telling a child he or she is gifted and telling that child the exact IQ score. I don't know of a good reason to tell children their IQ score.

Lauren Cox, writer for ABC News Health, has written a thought-provoking article on the topic.  In Should Genius Kids Know Their IQs? Cox covers some of the pros and cons of letting kids in on their IQs. It's not always a clear cut issue and and it's not always so easy to decide if you should tell your child.  What do you think?

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It's been nearly a week since Michael Jackson died, but stories are still being written about him.  I think my favorite one is the one by Heather Siladi. In her article Michael Jackson as a lesson about gifted children, Siladi says, "Although Michael's giftedness was more profound than most, his story is an excellent example of the hardships all of these children face."

The hardships she is referring to are those that parents of gifted children are familiar with: intense emotional and physical sensitivity, and asynchronous development. Siladi refers to things that Jackson said in the documentary Living with Michael Jackson that make it clear he was a highly gifted young boy.  For example, he said that when he was little, someone had called him a "forty-two-year-old midget."

We know how hard it is for our sensitive children when their classmates tease them and say horrible things about them.  Imagine that those slights and insults appeared in newspapers and on TV all over the world. And imagine them to be insults and slurs of a greater magnitude.  It is small wonder that Jackson tried to wall himself off from the rest of the world and create a childlike fantasy world into which he could retreat.