<p>Whether they are necessary or ego-boosters, I think if you have to ask, they aren’t really necessary for your child. Gifted kids usually feel bored and often socially isolated at school. For them it’s rather like being in a class full of kids several years younger, who take forever to get what the teacher is saying, need to do an inordinate amount of practice to grasp everything and then can’t apply what they learned to anything else, can’t hold a decent discussion because they lack the knowledge base your child may take for granted. and all seem to have ADD because they aren’t able to focus on their work. And when they get out of class, the kids can’t even understand the rules or strategies of their favorite games. </p>
<p>If your child has lived this, then you know that they can really benefit from meeting and being able to spend time with other kids like them. Regardless of the quality of those gifted programs, if they are really for gifted kids, then the kids should benefit by getting to know and work with other gifted kids. Of course it would be best to have a high quality program, but even if it’s just building presidents out of fruit, at least the kids get to spend time with one another.</p>