I was reading through this thread and very happy to see social skills come up. I was somewhat gifted - my IQ was not off the scale but well above average. However everyone at school knew I was "smarter" and I therefore dumbed myself down because I thought I would be more accepted socially at school. Didn't really work LOL! But I have a lot of regrets, I wish I had really applied myself to see what I could have done.

I actually think it would be important to concentrate on them being well rounded. If they are gifted intellectually, also encourage physical activities, something that doesn't come quite so easily to them. And to concentrate on their friendships. If they really are super-smart, they will need to know how to interact with "normal" children without getting impatient with them. It can be just as isolating being highly intellectual as being intellectually impaired.

And just because someone is gifted it doesn't mean they will actually be a high achiever or wildly successful. Because things come so easily to them it can be hard for them to learn to apply themselves consistently and persevere to achieve long term goals. That's possibly something they could learn by "other" activities, where they are "normal" and need to put in the same amount of practice as "normal" people.

Hope this makes sense, desperately typing while keeping DD2 away from the keyboard.