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The focus of this book is summarized in the first word of its title: UNDERSTANDING. Unlike thousands of scientific papers and books, that for a whole century had been discussing definitions, ways of diagnosing, ways of academic nurturing, policy-related issues, such as the need to finance special education for gifted students, who is to benefit from gifted education, or the ongoing dialogue between those in favor of equity in education and others who demand that "each student receives their most suitable learning opportunity", the book is about the best ways of matching educational and psychological means and methods, in order to tailor the best-fitting garments to any gifted child. The first step of this complicated process needed in order to accomplish it is understanding gifted children. But the term "understanding gifted children" might be quite misleading. Rich Harris (2007) has written a whole volume about the issue considered one of the biggest mysteries of psychology: the causes for the differences in personality and behavior not just between each two strangers, but also between siblings, twins, and even identical twins. Thus, any trial to include individuals in the same group for the sake of providing ALL their needs must be unsuccessful. This fact has been the main reason for the failure of gifted education in Israel. However, when being somewhat more modest, trying to understand the different needs–whether educational, emotional or social–of various gifted children, those considered "highly-gifted" and the others who are perceived as "mildly-gifted"; children who are interested in science and others who tend to the humanities, or to arts; chess Olympic champions or child-musicians, or actors, one might be more successful. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: preface)

This book offers educators, counselors and parents of 3-16-year old gifted, talented, curious, and creative children and youths a new, original tool of assessing their interests and abilities. As this book has been published during the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, it concentrates on ways of assessment that can all function on-line as well. All offered activities have been practiced both before "corona-time" started, when on-line therapy, let alone—on-line giftedness identification, was not common for children. The case studies presented in the book have all been written since March 2019, proved effective, enriching the knowledge of the counselor. All activities described were perceived as "easy", "nice", pleasant" and "interesting" by the children involved, and thus are recommended; unlike formal identification they put no pressure either on the child or on her or his parents. The first assessed child described is a 3-year old girl, who was identified as highly gifted in mathematics. The "game" played was "The geometric shapes game", during which she was asked "what do you want me [the counselor] to paint?" and then: "what color do you want me to use?". During the "game" the child showed a wide knowledge in both 2- and 3-dimensional shapes, she always insisted on using the exact mathematical terms, and each time she approved on the result she was very happy. The next "games" descried were all word games. In "the associations game" the counselor writes a word and the child adds another one without thinking, and this goes on alternately for as long as the counselor decides, depending on the child's age, her or his attention span, level of hunger or thirst, etc. This "game" is suitable for toddlers, kindergartners and first grader. The "ugly words game" is suitable especially for children with emotional and social problems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

The chapter emphasizes on charismatic children who are in the Autism Spectrum. Gifted children are often referred to as twice-exceptional, a specific term that highlights the co-occurrence of exceptional challenges and exceptional giftedness. Furthermore, the purpose of this chapter is to reassert the challenge to identify and support twice-exceptional children during their early educational years. Developing individualized educational and intervention approaches for these children and their families is a need in order to help them reach their full potentials. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This new book by scholars and practitioners Susan Paik, Stacy Kula, Jeremiah González, and Verónica González is important and valuable. It represents a ground-breaking approach that describes for those on the frontlines of school improvement, policymaking, and research what positive success in gaining access to higher education actually looks like for Latino students, the nation’s largest minority population. Latino students are everywhere in this nation. They are no longer confined to large urban districts or border states, but are an emerging majority in many rural and some suburban school districts throughout our country. Figuring out what contributes to their academic success and their access to higher education becomes an important part of the nation’s quest to improve its economic standing and productivity on the world stage. Turning a spotlight on what factors contribute to Latino student success is the heart and soul of this timely volume. How family, culture, home environment, resources and preparation all play vital roles in developing students who beat both the odds and the conventional stereotypes about Latinos is captured in rich detail, including the often-overlooked voices of the students themselves. In addition to being the right book at the right time, these editors should be congratulated for giving us a stellar example of how a research-practice collaboration comes together to produce such a valuable and lasting contribution to the field of school reform and improvement. Those who work in schools, universities, think tanks and policymaking centers have been waiting anxiously for this kind of book, and it’s now here. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: foreword)

In 2009, Sonia Sotomayor made history as the first Latina and the third female Supreme Court Justice since 1789. Sotomayor’s journey took her from a single-parent home in a Bronx housing project to the Supreme Court. Although many women of color have succeeded, very little is known about their stories and what helped them to become accomplished (Kitano, 1998). Based on the Productive Giftedness Model (Paik, 2013, 2015), this chapter discusses key factors that led to Sotomayor’s success. As a biographical case study, content analyses helped determine key themes throughout her school and life experiences. Sotomayor exhibited “productive giftedness” early on through her achievements, determination, and skills, which led to productive outcomes such as academic excellence, awards, prestigious schools, and leadership opportunities (Paik, 2013). Key findings and implications include individual, instructional, and environmental factors such as motivation, family and school support, teachers, mentors, peers, and contextual factors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This chapter provides an overview on recent thinking about gifted and talented children and youth. The chapter briefly discusses a history of gifted education and then tackles some big picture issues and future possibilities. The chapter addresses a number of questions, including the following: Who are the gifted? How are gifted identified? Is giftedness domain-specific or domain-general? How malleable is giftedness? Does giftedness represent a qualitative or quantitative difference? How does the concept of expertise fit into gifted education? The chapter concludes with future directions and challenges facing the gifted field. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The purpose of this Handbook is to provide a comprehensive representation of the development of this field of study. As such, we offer traditional and contemporary perspectives, and importantly, a multidiscipline-multimethod view of the state-of-the-science and -engineering research on expertise. Our aim is to present different perspectives, theories, and methods of conducting expertise research that have been influential in improving our current understanding of expert phenomena across a range of domains. Our second aim is to provide a particular focus on conveying how that understanding has been applied to address practical problems and societal challenges. In particular, the Handbook focuses on how this understanding has been translated into reliable predictions useful to society, and into effective interventions that can improve all facets of proficiency, performance, security, safety, health, and well-being. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: introduction)

The Law of the Republic of Indonesia No. 20 of 2003 on the National Education System requires the government to provide special educational services for citizens with extraordinary intelligence and talents. These citizens are known as gifted people who are capable of high-quality performance because of their above-average intelligence and creativity, and their high level of task commitment (Renzulli, 1978). Unfortunately, Indonesia still has no specific measurement tool to assess the third trait of giftedness in junior high school students; namely, task commitment. A task commitment measurement tool is needed to filter gifted students out of whole population so that they can successfully participate in the available special education services. Therefore, the goal of this study is to create a new Task Commitment Scale specifically for junior high school students. From our data analysis, we found that the 35-item Task Commitment Scale we constructed has a desirable reliability of α = 0.884, cr it = 0.200 to 0.627, and factor loading of 0.22-0.88. All the findings of the test properties, applicability, and limitations are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Academic procrastination is an important issue because it has been found to be associated with poor psychological outcomes in childhood including educational underachievement as well as school maladjustment (e.g., Howell et al., Pers Individ Dif 40:1519–1530, 2006; Kim and Seo, Pers Individ Dif 82:26–33, 2015). The external and internal worlds of young people contribute to the growing numbers of students who procrastinate at doing assigned schoolwork and as a result achieve far lower results than they are capable of. In some countries, educational underachievement as distinct from achievement continues to be of great concern and to some extent researched. Demographic factors researched as being associated with underachievement include gender, ethnicity, intellectual giftedness, and socioeconomic disadvantage (Banerjee, J Cogent Educ 3:1–17, 2016; Ozer et al., J Soc Psychol 149:241–257, 2009). This chapter defines educational underachievement and reviews different types of underachievers, with significant attention placed on a rational emotive behavior therapy (REBT) analysis of academic procrastination and underachievement. A number of case studies that illustrate how REBT can be used to overcome the different types educational underachievement and to combat procrastination are presented. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

Gifted education in the United States is not a high priority. Federal funding is allocated primarily through the Javits Act, a federal initiative that funds intervention research aimed at traditionally underserved populations of gifted learners. Poverty has many deleterious effects on children, and these can begin at birth. The achievement gap is present at the start of school and persists through all levels of schooling. This chapter provides several strategies for schools to use in operationalizing giftedness using a talent development framework. Very often, schools or districts rely on teachers to recommend students for gifted services as either a first step in their identification protocol or as a major component in the identification process. The field of gifted education has tended to approach programming with a one-size-fits-all strategy. Schools can help students envision a future trajectory and identity within their talent area by exposing them to professionals that share their educational and career paths. The image associated with school psychology and gifted education is typically an IQ test. School psychology training includes the limitations of individual test scores, the understanding of potential, and the important role that culture and identity can play in performance outcomes. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: create)

Musical expertise cannot be summed up by simply counting the sheer number of years or hours an individual has been practicing. This chapter describes some of the existing studies on expertise and how researchers have defined musicianship, and explains how musical training is related to the way we think (cognitive processing) and the way we perceive (perceptual processing) the world. Like the general definition of a genius, a musical genius can be defined in three ways: high general intelligence, exceptional talent or giftedness, and extraordinary eminence. Of these definitions, the third seems the most important because it alone acknowledges the need for any genius to make creative contributions to a genre's repertoire. Although very little is known about the genes that underlie music-related traits, individual differences in most, if not all, traits involved in human music playing are at least partly due to underlying genetic influences. And this even includes music practice. Both genes and the environment play essential roles in musical expertise, as predicted by the multifactorial gene-environment interaction model. Competitions play a significant role in the music industry. Music competitions are big business, whether they are prestigious classical music competitions or televised competitions for musical "idols". (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This comprehensive volume explores the origins, development, and applications for Françoys Gagné’s Differentiating Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT). In an authoritative yet accessible style, Professor Gagné offers a holistic coverage of the DMGT, including its implications for the field, and its main divergent points with competing theories of talent development. Chapters guide readers through each of the five DMGT components, addressing the diversity of gifts, the contributions of Nature and Nurture, the most important personal qualities, the overemphasized power of outside agents, the key role of chance, and more. Filled with illustrative examples and vignettes from the author’s estimable career, this book is the authoritative resource for researchers and students looking to understand the DMGT and its unique role in shaping gifted education as we know it today. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

Language learners beyond early childhood are scarcely expected to reach native-like abilities in their new language, yet some do. Are these individuals uniquely gifted? If so, are such gifts innate, or the result of intense drive, optimal experience, opportunity, or something else altogether? All such "outliers" face limits, potentials, and choices. What they do in the face of these is key. Bringing together theory and empirical work from across disciplines, this groundbreaking book aims to better understand the perennial mystery of giftedness in language learning (GLL). Incorporating quantitative, qualitative, and case study data, this analysis demonstrates the need to reach across cognitive, neural, emotional, psychological, and social lines to understand native-likeness in a second language. With this complexity in mind, specific recommendations are provided to reorient the research toward an appreciation of the individual’s role, and a clearer understanding of the inherent balance of nature and nurture in GLL. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

This chapter focuses on gifted and talented education (GATE) in service of US students who are given the label, gifted and talented, and students who have the potential to earn that label. It discusses that the notion of potential is related to the philosophy of giftedness. However, the focus on potential is also related to concerns about equity of identification and access to programs. The chapter is intended to help schools serve all students with high academic potential. It begins with a brief overview of the history of gifted education, a definition of giftedness, and an overview of the talent development megamodel on which the work is based. The chapter provides some guidance on how to use assessment as a tool for identifying students with well-developed talents as well as students with potential. Using the Cole and Siegel (2003) model, it discusses consultation in the context of primary, secondary, and tertiary prevention and intervention, adapted for the context of maximizing talent development rather than managing risk. The chapter provides an annotated bibliography of print and electronic resources that can be used by educators and school personnel in working with gifted and talented students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2025 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This chapter develops the perspective of giftedness in France implemented at the National Center for Assistance to children and adolescents with High Potential (CNAHP). First, we present the debate about the terminology used to describe gifted children in France which varies according to the underlying theoretical conceptions and representations (e.g., gift, precocity, talent, or potential). The term high potential has been preferentially chosen given that it reflects both the cognitive capacities of children and adolescents (high intellectual and/or creative potential), and the fact that this potential can be expressed or inhibited by their difficulties (emotional, behavioral, and/or school problems).Then, the multidimensional and integrative approach to identify high intellectual and/or creative potential at the CNAHP is examined. We propose a model that highlights the central role of the environment in the development of intellectual/creative potential in children, notably their family, school, and societal environment. Four main environmental factors contribute to the development and expression of children’s high potential: fostering and sustaining motivation, providing opportunities of enrichment, valuing effort, and offering support for the child. After identification of the child’s profile (based on cognitive, conative, and psycho-affective assessments) in order to understand better the child’s needs and possible difficulties, the objective of the CNAHP, presented in the last part, is to provide appropriate care, enhance children’s well-being, and enable them to express and develop their potential. Simultaneous interventions are conducted in the family, school, and societal environments in collaboration with parents, teachers, and caregivers, taking into account the motivation, enrichment, effort, and support factors. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

Conceptions of giftedness and talent have undergone significant changes since Galton (Hereditary genius: An inquiry into its laws and consequences. London, UK: Macmillan, 1869) and Terman (Genetic studies of genius: Vol. 1, Mental and physical traits of a thousand gifted children. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press, 1925). The general consensus seems to be that human potential is pluralistic rather than monolithic, dynamic rather than fixed; talent is shaped through developmental interaction with the environment over time in a bidirectional, probabilistic manner, rather than uni-directionally determined. In line with this general trend, I present Evolving Complexity Theory (ECT), a theory of talent development I have built with a developmental systems approach, as an attempt to account for a diverse range of talent outcomes. In this chapter, I first present major arguments of ECT phrased as a set of eight interrelated propositions regarding what develops, how it develops, and when it develops. I then compare ECT with other conceptions of talent development to show how a theoretical synthesis like ECT contributes to our understanding of developmental potential and its short-term and long-term development. Finally, I discuss practical implications of ECT, particularly with respect to educational policy, identification, educational intervention, and psychological guidance. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

This chapter focuses on creative-productive giftedness and proposes that young people showing creative potential and an investigative mindset should also have access to special opportunities, resources, and encouragement. It also describes the evolution of the Three Ring Conception of Giftedness, with its three interacting clusters of traits: above average (not necessarily superior) ability, task commitment, and creativity. Various considerations that have guided the development of the Three Ring Conception of Giftedness include the differences between two kinds of assessment. The first, assessments of learning, focuses on what students already know based on cognitive and achievement test scores. This approach to the development of giftedness and talents in all areas of human productivity takes into consideration factors related to another type of student data called assessment for learning. Factors include sensitivity to traits such as curiosity, interests, preferred instructional styles and expression styles, enjoyment of learning, collaboration, communication, cooperation, planning, and self-regulation. Recurring questions about the Three Ring Conception of Giftedness are discussed, as is the overall goal of both this definition and the recommended programming approach called the Schoolwide Enrichment Model. That goal is to increase the world’s reservoir of creative and productive young people who will contribute to the scientific, economic, social, and cultural development of mankind and to preserve the earth’s resources for future generations. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

In this chapter, I present a theory of giftedness that emphasizes that giftedness should be defined not just in terms of general-intellectual skills, as it has been in the past, but in terms of adaptive-intellectual skills—a person’s ability to make a positive, meaningful, and potentially enduring difference to the world. People who are adaptively intelligent not only are “smart” in a traditional sense, but they also have the skills to become active engaged citizens and ethical leaders. I discuss the theory, the research, and the implications of the work for gifted identification and instruction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

The number of theories and conceptions endeavoring to understand gifted and talented behavior are surprisingly numerous because of different scholarly convictions, practices impacted by culture, and motives to study and further the achievement potential of this relatively small but extraordinary group of individuals. In spite of intense study all over the world, we do not seem to be much closer to a common understanding of what giftedness and talent are in the scholarly community. This chapter does not present yet another theory, but it does propose a framework of important issues to consider in trying to forge all current theories and conceptions together motivating scholars to seek consensus on the basis of well-established knowledge in biology and evolutionary theory. These offer fundamental and scientifically uncontroversial knowledge shedding important light on the subject matter of education, psychology, and other social sciences and their derived practices. An evolutionary understanding offers new perspectives and will inevitably create a more sustainable knowledge base for understanding the social significance of giftedness, talent, and its education in a collective society by setting boundaries to what is likely to be possible, and perhaps of greater importance, to also suggest what is, in fact, impossible. The latter is likely to limit the impact of cultural and ideological biases on scholarship and educational practices. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)

Trait complexes of cognitive ability, personality, and privilege can be used to conceptualize potential future roles of gifted adolescent students. The Counseling Laboratory for the Exploration of Optimal States (CLEOS) uses ACT scores; Big Five personality factors; and intersectional measures of gender, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status used to assess distance from privilege. Combinations of these characteristics can be organized into a “Beehive,” in which professional workers (Worker Bees), nurturing and healing professions (Honeybees), business and political leaders (Strivers), scholars (Foragers), innovators (Drones), and visionaries (Queens) are represented. Combinations of ability and personality suggest the domain of work that may be appropriate and the training needed, while the addition of intersectional privilege suggests the social, cultural, and financial capital that are necessary for the attainment of the highest status within each domain. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: book)