I'd delete "non-special needs" from that. My giftedness/ADHD/Asperger's combination was pretty far into special needs territory. I'd have to go back through my psych textbooks to find evidence--I'll see if I have the energy for that tomorrow--but I thought that the combined influence of heredity and environmental factors on intelligence levels was rather noncontroversial.

Most of my classmates in gifted classes were at least a few years ahead of grade level in reading, far enough that the regular curriculum would not have met their needs. Writing skill levels varied widely, from grade level up through 5-8 years ahead.