If you look at the biographies of the most esteemed scientists and mathematicians who contributed much to humanity's knowledge, many if not most of them had a chance to get special education, either through mentorship or gifted programs since they were in primary school or younger. The cases of Terence Tao, John von Neumann, and Albert Einstein are some that I know of for certain.

Another data point from a personal perspective: I was fairly gifted (though far less than the names I mentioned) and came up with the idea of limits in math on my own when I was 9 years old. I never got any proper mentorship and the development of my math skills and intuition was held back by the boring classroom materials and routine homework I needed to attend/finish. I did not have access to or even aware of any advanced materials I could learn from, and thus wasted several of the best years to develop those math skills and intuition.

> The notion that gifted students need a special environment to learn is comical.

They may need a special environment to be allowed to excel in learning without getting bullied.

Which is what I was getting at, that intelligence and giftedness can function as a handicap in a lot of situations.