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In this chapter, counselors tell the story of Tianna, a gifted Black female who struggles with sibling and family responsibilities and has difficulty connecting with peers because of established cliques. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: introduction)

I teach United States history in a rural high school. In our school, the student population is not very diverse, with 20% identified as African American, 70% as Caucasian, and 10% as Hispanic. In my 6 years of teaching in this setting, I have worked with gifted students in my social studies classes. Teaching these students is a joyful experience; however, I have observed a critical problem. The underrepresentation of gifted Black males within my classes is overwhelming. In my years of teaching within this school district, I can count the number of Black males who have received gifted education services, totaling about three. Although the state of Georgia has adopted a multiple-criteria approach to identification in order to identify and serve more minority students, I have not seen an increase in the number of culturally diverse students receiving gifted education services at my high school. At the current time, there is not a single Black male enrolled in the gifted program. Ford and Grantham (2003) explored the issue of the underrepresentation of culturally diverse students in gifted programs. These scholars called for a change from deficit to dynamic thinking where negative views of culturally diverse students were replaced with high expectations for success. With this change in thinking, schools would expand their views on giftedness, use instruments that are culturally sensitive, identify and serve gifted underachievers, and develop stronger relationships with parents. These efforts would lead to more culturally diverse students being identified and served. As an African American educator of gifted students, I have a personal connection to this issue, and I share my story to help shed some light on the problems facing gifted Black males in schools. My story takes place in Georgia public schools from 1992 to 2002. My father was in the military so my family moved often. Due to his assignments, we lived in Georgia before the change in Georgia's law for gifted identification took place and again, later, following the change in Georgia law. These are my experiences as a student. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Any attempt to synthesize Dabrowski's theories, much less in 25 pages, is almost inherently doomed to a certain level of failure, given the sheer scope, volume, and complexity of the work done by Dabrowski and others to refine and expand his work over the years. Yet by the same token, no serious text on giftedness would be complete without reference to it. As such, the author has taken the liberty of providing a basic overview, and then (in the hope that the theory can be more readily grasped through a concrete, albeit fictitious example) offering an overview of a work of fiction that can serve as an exemplar both for teachers trying to understand Dabrowski's work themselves and those wishing to introduce it to their students. For the purposes of a simplified, and especially an introductory, explanation, it is often easiest to divide Dabrowski's work into two parts: overexcitability theory, and positive disintegration. The former is more often discussed in gifted-education circles than the latter, possibly because on a practical level, issues of positive disintegration are more likely to be seen as the purview of psychologists, while overexcitabilities not only manifest themselves in the classroom setting (and elsewhere) but also dovetail easily with other multi-modal theories with which teachers are already familiar. However, overexcitabilities should be understood as a component of the broader theory of positive disintegration, in which it serves as a subset of the developmental potential that enables it. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This chapter will attempt to provide an overview of current findings in relation to how giftedness is perceived from the perspective of the neurosciences. A historical account of conceptions of giftedness as being either innate or environmentally-driven will be explored to provide a framework as to how such models have evolved (and may be interpreted now) in light of advances in technology and brain-based research. The implications of brain imaging studies on educational practices are likewise discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Finding John Galt: People, Politics, and Practice in Gifted Education covers significant highlights in the history of gifted education, addressing significant contributors to the field, important political and policy concerns, and programs and practices of note. Finding John Galt's scope is holistic, using Ayn Rand's concept of "men [and women] of the mind" to frame giftedness as a quality of individuals that extends beyond the academic or "schoolhouse" setting and into a range of aspects of the lived human experience of gifted individuals. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: cover)

Interest in gifted women has continued in the three decades since Carolyn Callahan published one of the first articles about this topic in the context of gifted education in 1979. Indeed, during the last three decades, books and multiple articles have been published about gifted girls and women by Karnes, Kerr, Rimm, Reis, and others. This chapter probes the reflections of gifted women in the field of gifted education in an effort to identify their perceptions of their contributions, challenges, and beliefs about giftedness and talents in girls and women. Reis (1998) defined talent development in women as occurring when women with high intellectual, creative, artistic, or leadership ability or potential achieve at in an area of choice and make what they define as personally meaningful contributions to society. Reis identified several factors that contribute to this conception of giftedness and talent in women including: abilities (intelligence and special talents), personality traits, environmental factors, and personal perceptions, such as the social importance of the use of one's talents to make a positive difference in the world. Each of these factors contributes to what Gruber called "self-mobilization", characterized in some talented women by the development of belief in self, a desire to develop one's talents, and a sense of destiny enabling one to make conscious decisions to develop talents, often with little support and against many obstacles. Each of the women profiled in this chapter displayed these characteristics, working many hours over years of sheer effort as they successfully used their talents to make a difference in this field. This chapter highlights both their stories and their personal reflections on their journeys. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The character of John Galt in Ayn Rand's book Atlas Shrugged (1957) was faced with his professor who had forgotten, in his thrust for political gain, an important statement made to John as his student. The statement was "The only sacred value in the world, John, is the human mind, the inviolate human mind...". As a brilliant scientist and philosopher, the character Galt thought that the mind needs freedom to think and create. He believed that the mind is the power that moves the world. It was in this role that he led several gifted people to strike against a society that envied instead of saluted their ability to make the world a better place. Is there a message in Galt's activities and philosophy that speak to the present status of minority and other exceptionalities in the field of education of the gifted? Perhaps there is a need to find him because the present processes for addressing the needs of gifted minorities for inclusion in programs for the gifted lack the qualities that are necessary to achieve the goal proposed in Galt's statement regarding the mind and its power. The future where there will be a consensus of philosophies regarding the approach toward identifying and developing programs for students who have historically been left out of organized programs for the gifted is promising. There are many ideas and questions to be resolved, and in coming to a consensus there will be many pros and cons regarding any suggestions that are made. It is important that the process of finding some answers to questions posed in this chapter not be used as a political football by those who seek recognition. Funds are being provided by the government to develop programs for the gifted. There are many children of difference cultures and socioeconomic backgrounds that bring untapped exceptional abilities. Their opportunity to develop these abilities is important in our new technology society. It is probably time for us to consider that one type of educational arrangement will not be able to fit the many abilities that do not fall within the category of the usual "school house" requirements. Perhaps there is a "John Galt" among us trying very hard to get us to understand. We need to seek him and his ideas. Perhaps geniuses such as those that Galt embraced are among us as we pursue ideas for a more enhanced understanding of giftedness. Let's find them! (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

This chapter provides a practitioner's focus on why Cal Taylor matters, as contextualized within other multi-modal systems of understanding giftedness. While there are many psychologists who worked on a theory of intellect, the focus here is on the work that served as a base for other researchers and not to account for what Taylor himself might call the many, varied, and sometimes unusual models that have been developed from those initial efforts. Unlike many other researchers, Calvin Taylor interpreted gifted students as those at the very top of any talent area, and talented students as those who are above average. As a result of this interpretation, he has suggested that nearly all students are talented in al least one way and that if a program was developed to cater for a wide range of talent areas, greater numbers of students would benefit. Taylor argued for a complete reformation of the education system to allow for the development of this diversity of talents displayed by students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

There is no doubt that the Cold War, and specifically America's emphasis on defeating the "red menace," had a significant effect on Western gifted education. And, while it's tempting to think of this period as something of a "golden age" for gifted education—when programs were funded and gifted students were valued—it's more appropriate to think of it as "the best of times... the worst of times." On the one hand, during the Sputnik era, gifted students were indeed valued—for "values" of "gifted" that equaled "productive," or in Renzulli's somewhat-deliberately inflammatory term, "schoolhouse gifted." This was a great time to be gifted—if you were a high-performing, high-achieving student, preferably from a family that valued education and possessed enough of it themselves to support your efforts. But was it enough simply to be brilliant? Yes—and no. Even within the intellectually liberating, and seemingly liberated, environment, culturally imposed taboos still existed. Even a suspicion of homosexuality was enough to get a man exiled from this Eden—and women were unlikely to be invited in at all. The range of tolerable deviation from the norm in the gifted stretched only so far, even among the gifted. Indeed, the very individuality of the highly gifted scientists who were lionized at the time supported and validated a larger-scale cultural belief in individualism; at the same time, the individualistic nature even of the scientific wunderkinder was only permitted its scope so long as it validated, or at least did not conflict with, other broad cultural values. Paradoxically, and sadly, it was precisely these cultural conditions that brought about the end of the "golden age of giftedness" and paved the way for the civil rights movement—a political and social shift from excellence to equity in education, which in turn ultimately paved the way for an examination of the gifted, not merely as culturally-conforming high-producers, but as individuals whose unique intellectual and creative capacities affect every aspect of their lives. But the Sputnik era nonetheless left its mark, for better and for worse, on the American approach to giftedness studies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

For more than 100 years, intelligence tests have had a significant role in determining the appropriateness of special programs and classes for certain children. Intelligence is generally accepted to be an important element of giftedness. The research-based models for developing programs and services for gifted and talented students include multiple components for identification, instruction, and curriculum. Several types of assessment are used in each of these components, including intelligence or aptitude tests, observation, interview, portfolio, and check lists for parents, teachers, peers, and the students themselves. This chapter examines the significant characteristics of standardized tests, including intelligence tests, that are used in gifted education, their historical development and contribution to the development of gifted education, and the pros and cons of their continued use in the field today. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The main goal of this chapter is to present general treatment aspects of children suffering both a pain disorder and a mental disorder. We pinpoint the specifics for paediatric pain therapy in children with a pain disorder and concomitant depressive symptomatology, anxiety disorder, trauma disorder, or adjustment disorder. We furthermore discuss the specific therapeutic needs of children who are accused of school truancy or who actually have learning disabilities or intellectual giftedness. Finally, we discuss children with chronic pain also suffering a severe somatic disease or living in highly burdening family systems. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Educational programming, clinical practice, and even parenting decisions are shaped and driven by beliefs and philosophies. They may not be overt or articulated, but they underlie actions from everyday behaviors to high-level policy decisions. Because the field of gifted education is characterized by not one, but many belief systems, there is a considerable variation from state to state and school to school in definitions of giftedness, identification of students for special services, programming delivery models, curriculum and instructional practices, and guidance and counseling practices. One can argue the merits of one belief system or philosophy over another, but the key to providing high-quality services to gifted children is to examine carefully the current theory and research in the field; come to a consensus on underlying principles to guide programming, based on sound reflections of what the theory and research indicate is best practice; and then create the components of a program consistent with a set of beliefs derived from careful reflection and decision making based on current knowledge. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

A traditional identification procedure using primarily quantitative assessments is the most widely used approach in the United States. Implementation of this approach, however, is quite diverse and is influenced by federal and state definitions, standards-based practices, state rules and regulations, program characteristics, and implicit or explicit conceptions of giftedness. For the most part, educators who use traditional approaches believe that gifted students exist and form a distinct group, that they can be identified with technically adequate assessments, and that they need to be served to develop their gifts and talents. To implement this approach, all who are involved in the identification process need to receive professional development, including administrators, parents, special educators, and general educators. Without this development, the quality of the overall process is in jeopardy. Moreover, technically adequate assessments need to be selected to ensure adequate ceilings, alignment with-the program, and recognition of all groups, particularly those from special populations. Since traditional assessment approaches do not generally provide sufficient diagnostic information for programming, a diverse group of gifted students is often served within a common program. To meet each student's interests, abilities, and skills more effectively, teachers need to gather more information to tailor the curriculum to each student. Even when well implemented, the traditional approach presents challenges including under-representation of minority students and inability to consider the dynamic nature of giftedness. Therefore, decisions are made on what is assessed, what the student has acquired, rather than what the student might develop. Politically, the process raises important issues; however, even though traditional approaches have serious challenges, they do recognize that gifted and talented students exist. Without the recognition that some students have distinct characteristics, is there a need for professional development, for services, or for resource support? (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Identification of gifted students remains one of the most controversial aspects of gifted programming. This controversy stems from the lack of a consistent definition of giftedness, which makes identifying giftedness tricky; diversity in the ways in which giftedness is operationalized from school district to school district, sometimes referred to as the "geographic giftedness" phenomenon; and a lack of understanding of the technical aspect of measurement involved in the identification process. While there are myriad ways in which school districts implement the process of gifted identification, one commonly used process includes the use of a gifted identification matrix. Scholars in the field have written extensively about the perils of using matrices in identifying students for gifted services. The purpose of this chapter is to provide a (mostly) non-technical discussion of the uses and misuses of matrices and to offer some guidance on appropriate practices that can be applied in a school setting. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Since its first appearance in Gifted Child Quarterly, the Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (DMGT) has evolved into a full-fledged theory of talent development now referred to as the DMGT 2.0. No chapter-length text can encompass all the details of its contents and dynamics. Consequently, I offer the present text as a "detailed overview"—a potential oxymoron!—of the updated DMGT. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The question "What makes giftedness?" has been debated for decades, with renewed interest over the past 20 years as new theories of intelligence emerged, questions of equity were raised, and resources in schools declined. To shed light on this complex and controversial question, we will draw heavily on the theoretical and research literature associated with the study of gifted and talented persons, but our approach also reflects the point of view of educational practitioners who have devoted significant time and effort to translating research and theory into defensible identification and programming practices. In this chapter, an explanation of key features to be included in a definition of giftedness is followed by a review of the types of giftedness typically identified by school personnel and a summary of purposes for educating gifted students. Subsequent discussion of the developmental nature of giftedness and a rationale for viewing giftedness as a displayed behavior rather than a possessed trait lead to an explicit definition—the Three-Ring Conception of Giftedness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

I have attempted in this chapter to undermine some of the most fundamental articles of faith in the field of gifted education: that enrichment works; that gifted education requires gifted programs; and, finally, that the notion of giftedness among school students makes sense and results in positive outcomes. Many, if not most, people in the field of gifted education, I suspect, would reject my arguments out of hand. That is well and good; intellectual disagreement and debate are healthy signs in any discipline or field of practice. What I would find disturbing would not be disagreement with my conclusions, but dismissal of the value of problematizing our most cherished notions. A decade and a half ago, I wrote an article entitled "Gifted Education and the Threat of Irrelevance" (1996) in which 1 suggested that, as a field, we have a "fear of the big questions". By this I meant that we let others explore questions we find to be too controversial and thereby cede to others important intellectual territory that ought to be ours. We need to reclaim those "big questions" that others, including some not so friendly to our purposes, have laid claim to. Problematizing our most fundamental beliefs would be a good step in that direction. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

The study of the psychological constructs of cognitive ability and intelligence' has its roots in the work of theorists and researchers in the fields of psychometric measurement, intelligence, and developmental psychology. Giftedness as a trait of individuals is an outgrowth of the study of intelligence and cognitive abilities, and the definition of giftedness has changed over time as the study of human abilities has evolved in psychology. The study of giftedness in psychology can be traced back to Francis Galton's (1869) Hereditary Genius. From his observations of families of eminent persons, Galton defined giftedness as either attainment of genius or children showing the potential for genius, emphasizing the influence of heredity. Galton's beliefs about the high hereditability of intelligence and the link between measured intelligence and giftedness had a strong influence on the study of both intelligence and giftedness. This orientation continued with the work of Terman and his longitudinal study of gifted students and the work of Hollingworth (1942) with highly gifted students. Terman defined gifted children as those scoring two standard deviations above the norm on the Stanford-Binet intelligence Scale, an assessment created by Terman. Theories of giftedness that align with the conception of giftedness as advanced cognitive ability have generally focused on performance as measured by the Stanford-Binet, the Wechsler intelligence Scales, or other intelligence tests. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Definitions of terms and concepts in any field of study provide the basis for common understanding and shared meaning while also facilitating decision making and resource allocation. They serve an important role in building credibility and consensus among theorists, researchers, practitioners, and policy makers. The field of gifted education is no exception, but as the following example demonstrates, there is still much work to be done regarding the clarity and utility of policy-related definitions of giftedness. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)

Students who simultaneously show evidence of high performance or potential in a talent or ability and have a disability that impacts on their ability to achieve and learn are often referred to as "twice exceptional" and require attention in the academic setting. Recognition that twice-exceptional students exist in U.S. classrooms was articulated over three decades ago by Maker (1977) who referred to these students as "gifted handicapped." Initially, educators viewed twice exceptionality as paradoxical, as it seemed implausible that intellectually gifted children could concomitantly have a learning disability. However, based on Maker's contention that intellectual giftedness and learning disabilities can and do coexist, researchers began to investigate the characteristics, identification, and curriculum needs of students with dual exceptionalities. The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC) (2010) recognizes this population and advocates finding mechanisms for identifying twice-exceptional children so that educators can serve both their gifts and disabilities, and thereby prevent them from falling through the academic cracks. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved) (Source: chapter)