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Administrators in school systems strive to ensure that the identification of giftedness in elementary students results in proportional demographic representation. Overly stringent or biased gifted identification results in deserving students receiving fewer opportunities-to-learn and exacerbates the excellence gap. My aim in this action research for transformation project was to utilize three complementary perspectives on the continuum of giftedness to generate a more representative pool of students who will be further screened and potentially offered the opportunity to participate in the gifted education programming in East Carolina County Schools. One perspective was provided by a nonverbal identification instrument, another perspective by the nonverbal form of a well-established test of academic ability, and the third perspective by a science-oriented, classroom-based instructional program. Teachers of Grade 3 and Grade 4 and their students at a rural, low socio-economic, and diverse elementary school participated in this three-month, school-based intervention to achieve proportional representation of Black and Hispanic students among those accepted into the gifted education program. As a result of my study, several modifications to current practice have been suggested and key questions for future research emerged. The combined role of one nonverbal assessment along with teacher observations proved partially effective. By further adding the identification of the top 10% in demographic groups, my study showed promise to achieving the goal of a truly level playing field. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

In spite of significant scholarly attention paid to the needs of intellectually Gifted students, programming and placement practices in publicly funded educational institutions in North America have remained stagnant in the 21st Century (Gallagher, 2015; see also Borders, Woodley, & Moore, 2014; Brown & Stambaugh, 2014; Gallagher, 2000). Critical disability theorists have made significant advancements toward more socially just systems of education for individuals with exceptionalities who have been stigmatized for their impairments by investigating the attitudinal, structural, and political barriers that create the disability of one's impairment. This research was poised to address the same social injustice of inaccessibility for a group of marginalized pupils with a bona fide exceptionality—Intellectual-Giftedness—in pursuit of intellectual accessibility. This social constructionist and interpretivist, Critical Narrative Inquiry (CNI) focused on the construction, deconstruction, and reconceptualisation of pedagogical responses to the needs of secondary Gifted learners in public education in Ontario, Canada. This study asked: What can we learn from the experiences of Gifted learners, teachers of the Gifted, and educational stakeholders about the programmatic and placement needs of high-ability learners in the current system? In what ways do their experiences contribute to our understanding of whether programmatic and placement practices have or have not evolved throughout history? How might ANT help us identify both the actors and assemblages that produce the current systems so that educators, policymakers, and system leaders are better positioned to respond to their contemporary needs?This dissertation is comprised of four chapters and four integrated articles that offer scholarly, methodological, and data discoveries at various phases along my learning journey toward identifying precisely what is preventing the intellectual accessibility in our classrooms and schools for our high-ability pupils. Together, these chapters and manuscripts embody my learning as both participant and researcher, from taking issue with the robust stagnation of the field of Gifted education to problematizing our varied approaches to meeting the needs of these pupils, as well as employing a novel methodological approach using complementary "show and tell" methods that drew upon material-semiotics and autoethnography, which gave rise to a more complex, more three-dimensional way of understanding the topography (Hamilton & Pinnegar, 2013) of this status quo phenomenon. A close and meticulous examination of the features, the different terrain, and the contours show exactly what and how this phenomenon is existing so we may engage in informed debate as to why we might be subscribing to a recycling of what Sayer (1992) calls "practically adequate" practices and discourses.This research contributes meaningfully to this renewed conversation around re-taking responsibility for our high-ability pupils in public education. I offer four calls to action for educational stakeholders and policymakers that must be implemented in order to disrupt the established status quo of programming and placement practices based on replicated policy that do not serve the contemporary needs of high-ability pupils today. This work has implications for the classroom and school levels, at system and governance levels, as well as for the fields of Gifted education and Disability Studies. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The purpose of this quantitative study was to analyze the effect of school socioeconomic status, presence of gifted programs, and teacher's ethnicity on teachers' perception of their students' potential, giftedness identification, and administrative support in a suburban school system with a high representation of minorities and students who are culturally, linguistically, economically diverse. The participants in the current study consist of 293 teachers selected from a suburban school district located nearby a large metropolitan city in the northeastern part of the United States. The survey used in this study is a 47-item online instrument adapted from the Snapshot Survey of Gifted Programming Effectiveness Factors: Using the National Gifted Teacher Preparation Standards and NAGC Program Standards to Inform Practice. MANOVA analysis indicated that teachers' perceptions of giftedness were significantly different between schools of high poverty (Title 1), schools of low poverty (non-Title 1), schools with gifted programs, and teacher ethnicity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

High student mobility in some populations, coupled with an ever evolving and inconsistent conception of giftedness, has led to increasing numbers of students being labeled gifted in one location only to have that label taken away in another. This work examines the impact of gaining and losing the gifted label due to relocation on students' understanding of the their own identify as related to their understanding of their own intelligence, social interactions, and the development of their academic self-concept. The study was conducted as a collective of qualitative case studies utilizing narrative inquiry to elicit the participants lived experiences as students whose gifted status was rescinded due to a parent's military relocation. The data collected was analyzed using a thematic analysis method, as the analysis structured around the intersections of Foucault's (1988) technologies as a theoretical framework. This study shows that students believe they can earn the gifted label through hard work and effort, that social connections are built and maintained around the shared interests and values encouraged by the gifted label, and that academic performance is more strongly influenced by instruction and other school factors than gifted identification. The implications of these finding reveal the ways in which students work to exert power or control over the bestowment of the gifted label, power or control over the composition of social peer groups, and acknowledgement of whether the gifted label affords them educational opportunities. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

This study explores how upper-grade elementary makers' spaces reveal creative thinking and critical thinking in identified and unidentified gifted students. It provides evidence that the situated learning context of makers' spaces elicit high-level motivation through constructionist practices and 21st century learning processes that leads to consistent application of creative thinking and critical thinking. The mixed-methods study incorporated surveys and interviews of educators who are invested in maker learning, observations of students during maker sessions, and analysis of photos, plans, and lesson provided by the educators. The findings indicate substantial perceived creative thinking in all students, more notably in gifted students who underperformed unidentified students on existing assessments. I argue that makers' spaces reveal multiple categories of giftedness in identified and unidentified gifted students, and that maker learning is an effective learning method for supporting at-risk students to provide life-skills and innovation opportunities for underserved populations. I propose a new identification category of giftedness, entrepreneurially gifted, which is revealed through making and the concept of maker confidence. I recommend that school and district policy implement makers' spaces and maker learning to prepare students to be college, career, and entrepreneurial-ready. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Students in the United States are not achieving in mathematics as indicated on the NAEP (2019) exams and other measurements of student achievement (NCES, 2019; OECD, 2019; O'Dwyer, et al., 2015). Mathematically gifted and promising students are especially impacted by this phenomenon, though it is not exactly known what factors contribute to successful teachers of these students. This phenomenological case study focused on the beliefs, instructional practices, and conceptual understanding of mathematics of five teachers in a public charter school for gifted students. Data sources collected included semi-structured interviews, classroom observations, and questionnaires based on Swan's (2006) practices and beliefs research with effective mathematics teachers. To better understand these phenomena, two conceptions of giftedness served as the lenses for this study: Renzulli's Three-Ring Model (1978) and Gagné's Differentiated Model of Giftedness and Talent (1985). Using an interpretive phenomenological analysis several themes emerged in response to each research question. Findings for instructional practices indicated that teachers used both student-centered and teacher-centered practices and consistently utilized differentiated groupings. Additionally, teacher participants believe that gifted students possess both positive traits and challenges, and specifically for math, believe that sense-making is key, and math is a subject students should enjoy. Teachers also noted that school and home environments impact access to an equitable mathematics education for children. Teachers' conceptual understanding of mathematics is guided by their ongoing practice, the curriculum, and math experiences prior to teaching. These findings indicate the importance of ongoing training and professional development in mathematics and gifted education, as well as the recruitment and retention of teachers who possess a strong conceptual understanding of mathematics, a passion for the subject, and a student-centered approach to teaching. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

An educator's preparedness has many contributing factors, including natural-born giftedness, inspiration from a childhood teacher, or a need to impact our youth. However, for many current educators, teaching was not their initial choice. Alternative certification programs are growing in popularity as a means of placing qualified individuals in the classroom. Traditional university paths provide training that is often condensed or rushed for those seeking alternative certification. Therefore, once employment is obtained, the support from district induction programs could be extremely beneficial for novice teachers regardless of their training. Using a group of employees from one school district in South Carolina, who completed their induction year in the district and are still employed, research was conducted to measure a teacher's sense of self-efficacy based on the type of certification they possess. Additionally, the support that the district offers induction teachers was evaluated based on themes that arose from a review of the literature. Using a mixed-methods approach, it was resolved that there is not a difference in self-efficacy in first-year teachers based on their certification route. Additionally, it was determined that the needs of alternatively certified teachers vary, and should be given careful consideration by their district of hire. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore elementary gifted teachers' lived experiences regarding Black males' participation in gifted education in rural schools. Critical theory was used as the theoretical framework of this study. A phenomenological design was utilized with a purposeful sample of twelve elementary gifted teachers. The central research question of this study was: What are elementary gifted teachers' lived experiences regarding Black males' participation in gifted education in rural schools? Data were collected through in-depth interviews. This study's findings revealed (a) elementary gifted teachers have limited lived experiences with Black males participating in gifted programs, (b) elementary gifted teachers play a significant role in the gifted referral process and generally have their own perceptions of giftedness, (c) elementary gifted teachers have experienced the impact of socioeconomic status on background experiences and home environment, and (d) elementary gifted teachers have experienced a lack of professional development regarding gifted education but remain confident in their ability to make gifted referral decisions. Implications of this study include strengthening local gifted nomination policies and protocols, exploring more equitable ways to make gifted referrals, and increasing professional learning regarding gifted education. Recommendations for future research include conducting similar studies of broader scope, and studies to exclusively explore the role of socioeconomics, creativity, and testing in Black males' participation in gifted education in rural schools. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Parents of gifted adolescents often face unique challenges in supporting their children's social and emotional learning (SEL). The purpose of this mixed methods action research study was to examine (1) As a result of a SEL parent workshop series, what changes were observed in: (a) Parental knowledge of SEL? (b) Parental self-efficacy in supporting their gifted child's SEL needs? (2) What did parents perceive as the most useful aspects of the SEL parent workshop series? The intervention took the form of a flexible five-session virtual workshop series and was delivered via a combination of asynchronous and synchronous instruction. The workshop series was designed to provide families with key information on giftedness in adolescence to help them better understand how characteristics of giftedness impacted their own child's socio-emotional development. Results from this study showed a statistically significant increase in parent knowledge of SEL concepts, and a mean increase in parental self-efficacy. While participants rated all aspects of the intervention workshop as useful, limited participant engagement shifted the workshop model from a collaborative model to a highly individualized one. As a result of the study, it is clear that parents do benefit from additional information on SEL support strategies, but continued research is needed to develop an intervention where the content and format best support participant needs. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

In Saudi Arabia, the teaching of gifted and talented students is relatively new, and research that describes the quality and effectiveness of teachers' gifted preparation programs and the training sessions they receive remain rather limited and inconsistent. Purpose: This dissertation focuses on understanding the perceptions and experiences of in-service teachers regarding gifted-focused preparation and training programs in the country. Research Design: Data were collected through observation and semi-structured interviews with teachers of gifted and talented students in the country. Findings: Analysis of the data revealed six themes related to teachers' perceptions and experiences of preparation and training programs in Saudi Arabia. These six themes are: the need for support and training, factors that affect teachers' participation, professional and personal growth, effective teaching skills, classroom management skills, a lack of systems and policies, accessibility issues, and lack of motivation. Although the MOE and Mawhiba Institute offer support and training opportunities for teachers of gifted students, the teachers clearly stated that these programs are still far from meeting their immediate needs. However, many teachers have a positive perception about the training sessions they received; their responses revealed that these sessions helped them develop their professional, personal, managerial, and teaching skills. The study also identified a lack of systems and policy, accessibility issues, and lack of motivation as challenges associated with gifted preparation and training programs. Significance and Implications: The study allowed teachers to voice their ideas, beliefs, and thoughts about gifted-related preparation and training programs in Saudi Arabia. The results also inform educational leaders, decision-makers, and gifted program directors about the quality and effectiveness of the efforts to improve teachers' knowledge and skills regarding giftedness and teaching gifted students in Saudi Arabia. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Identifying students who are gifted with dyslexia (GWD) has presented a host of challenges to practitioners in school and clinic settings because these individuals possess both qualities of giftedness and learning difficulties, yet do not 'fit' in either category. The term "stealth dyslexia" was coined to indicate the presence of high abilities that may mask dyslexia traits, complicate diagnostic accuracy, and allow individuals to compensate for their weaknesses. The masking of reading difficulties can cause dyslexia to remain undetected in gifted children for a prolonged period of time which may leave them prone to academic disengagement.The present study provided an empirical examination of the patterns of academic strengths and weaknesses students with GWD. Using data from 98 clients from a private clinic, the scores of three different identified groups were compared: GWD, Gifted-only, and Dyslexia-only. A profile analysis, followed by post-hoc one-way ANOVAs, compared the groups across cognitive (WISC-V) and achievement (WIAT-III) measures. Results indicated that the cognitive scores of the groups varied from each other in the predicted patterns (i.e., higher verbal, abstract, and visual spatial reasoning) for Gifted-only and GWD, and lower cognitive efficiency (i.e., working memory and processing speed) for GWD and Dyslexia-only groups. Across achievement subtest variables, GWD scores were significantly above the Dyslexia-only students on all measures with the exception of Pseudoword Decoding, and below the Gifted-only students on all measures with the exception of Reading Comprehension and Listening Comprehension. Across achievement composite scores, the GWD scores were in between the Dyslexia-only and Gifted-only groups Total Reading and Reading Comprehension & Fluency, no different from Dyslexia-only on Basic Reading, and no different from Gifted-only on Oral Language. The GWD group displayed greater variability, as measured by the difference between highest and lowest subtest scores, in reading performance than the comparison groups. Finally, overall cognitive scores were significantly lower than the index score that omits working memory and processing speed among participants in the GWD group. The implications from this study regarding the nature, magnitude, and range of cognitive and achievement strengths and weaknesses of GWD students will help educators and psychologists accurately recognize and advocate for these students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Gifted children placed in traditional school settings, often do not have their educational, motivational, mental, and emotional development appropriately supported. Unidentified giftedness in young children can result in academic limitations due to unmodified educational standards to stimulate and support gifted children's needs. Consequences of unidentified giftedness can include boredom, anxiety, dislike of school, loss of motivation, and challenging behavior. This qualitative phenomenological study recruited parents of gifted children to identify consequences of delayed identification of giftedness using Vygotsky's Zone of Proximal Development as a lens to explore the beneficial effects of gifted students' early assessment and placement into classrooms with similarly like-minded gifted children, curriculum, and instruction. Findings supported the literature that children who were not identified as gifted and were not given appropriate support experienced anxiety and other behaviors that caused distress for them, their families, and their classroom environments. Families bear a financial burden, sometimes moving to different cities to find an appropriate educational setting and often bearing the costs of assessment to verify giftedness. Further, learning disabilities can co-exist with giftedness. Gifted children with such co-morbidities were less likely to receive appropriate support for their educational needs. Finally, children identified as gifted and taught in environments with similar peers were able to develop better social skills and became more willing to attend and succeed at school. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

This project is focused on the period of life known as emerging adulthood. Adolescents graduate from high school but then have a difficult time transitioning to adulthood. Emerging adulthood is not a generational designation like Generation Z. Rather, sociologists describe those age eighteen to thirty as emerging adults. Young people in this age group are no longer adolescents, but they do not consider themselves full-fledged adults. Emerging adults face many challenges during this period of life in the areas of education, relationships, work, careers, living arrangements, and many more. They are looking for answers to questions such as: Who am I? Why am I here? What is life all about? These individuals need guidance in understanding their worldview, values, vocation, and personality and giftedness. Emerging adults need a decision-making paradigm to assist them in navigating the challenges and questions during this crucial stage in life. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

The persistent Black and White achievement gap contradicts one of the United States' core values: equal opportunity for all. In response to the problem, schools seek to increase Black students' achievement through programs like Advanced Placement (AP). Although schools have tried to provide an equitable educational experience, the disparity in outcomes and access remains. Black students' voices must be in the conversation about educational equality to understand the function of race and reveal any blind spots. This study used a critical qualitative research approach to explore the experiences of Black students who participated in a Southeast Georgia AP program. A critical race theory (CRT) methodology kept race at the center of the study, challenged dominant ideologies, committed to social justice, focused on experiential knowledge, and used the field's current literature. A series of three in-depth interviews served as the primary data collection method. Other methods included analytic memos and school-level AP documents. I used data reduction and connection strategies to analyze and inductively generate themes that provided a framework for my participants' narratives as they made sense of race in their experiences in the AP program. Through the students' richly detailed narratives, I uncovered strategies that may improve Black students' participation in AP. Schools seeking to eliminate AP enrollment disparity may use this study to advance racial equality. Findings indicated Black students in AP courses realized the role of race in their education and its impact on navigating school. The results of this study resulted in four recommendations. First, there is a need to revamp the United States History curriculum to provide more positive Black history. Second, there is a need for more Black teachers and formal mentorship programs in southern districts. Third, there is a need for culturally diverse definitions of giftedness and more inclusive practices for recommending students for AP. Last, there is a need for diversity training for teachers with a focus on culturally relevant pedagogy. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2024 APA, all rights reserved)

Historically, students within the top 1% of general intellectual ability (GIA) have been described as having unusual personality characteristics. It is generally accepted that students within the top 1% of GIA have unusual academic abilities and educational needs; however, the unusual social-emotional needs of students within the top 1% of GIA are not universally recognized and are not well understood. In the field of giftedness, this has contributed to a lack of focus on students with the greatest need for gifted programming and services: the students within the top 1% of GIA. The purpose of this exploratory quantitative study was to examine the personality characteristics of elementary school students within the top 1% of GIA in relation to general education students using three personality measures. The 3rd–5th grade Study Group students qualified for a special program for the highly gifted with a WISC V score in the 99th percentile after a district-wide screener. The 4th and 5th grade Comparison Group students were enrolled in general education classrooms at the same schools. Data were collected using a self-report survey instrument comprised of the fourteen subscales from the Big Five Indicator for children (BFI-child), the Murphy-Meisgeier Type Indicator for Children® (MMTIC®), and the Overexcitabilities Questionnaire 2 (OEQ-II) personality measures. These measures were developed based on three personality theories, the Five Factor Model/Big Five Personality Traits, the Jungian Types, and Dabrowski's Overexcitabilities respectively. Data analysis using a 2-Way Multivariate Analysis of Variance (MANOVA) indicated main effects for Group and Gender. Post hoc analysis indicated that Conscientiousness, Neuroticism, Sensing/Intuition, and Sensual Overexcitability (OE) contributed to the Group main effect and that Sensing/Intuition, Thinking/Feeling, Imaginational OE, Sensual OE, and Psychomotor OE contributed to the Gender main effect. This was the first study to include measures from the three personality theories; the findings support S. A. Gallagher's (2013) proposed bridges among three personality theories. Additionally, the findings of this study suggest that the unusual personality characteristics of students within the top 1% of GIA should be considered when designing appropriate educational programming and pedagogical methods for these students. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

The purpose of this study was to examine the existing barriers to equity in the identification and servicing of gifted students in a small mid-western suburban school district. A mixed method approach guided by constructivist philosophy was used to conduct this research. An inductive Grounded Theory was the methodological approach. This study sought to gather the perception of school district stakeholders to identify potential barriers that exist for specific subgroups of students to being identified for gifted and talented services. The research questions for this Problem of Practice were as follows: (1) How do teachers and parents in School District A define the concept of giftedness? (2) How do teachers' and parents' definition of giftedness impact which students are identified for gifted and talented programming in School District A? (3) What additional elements of School District A's gifted and talented identification process may create barriers to racial, linguistic and socioeconomic equity? (4) How might School District A effectively eliminate barriers to racial, linguistic and socioeconomic equity in their gifted and talented programming? Analysis of data collected from surveys and in-depth interviews revealed teachers' and parents' conception of giftedness as well as perceived barriers to achieving equity. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Identification of students for High Ability programming is a complex issue. Ensuring that students from marginalized populations are proportionally represented when compared to the district student population adds to that complexity. This mixed analysis study examines the inequities that exist in the identification of students for High Ability learning programs at the national, state, and local levels. The top-down approach gives the study context for the variety of ways that giftedness is identified at the national, state, and local level. Alongside the document analysis, a survey was created and given to classroom and High Ability teachers. The survey asks the teachers what their perception is of the characteristics of a High Ability student. This information could support a district in forming a definition of a High Ability student. A school district could also ensure that there is proportional representation of High Ability students across all student groups. The results of the analysis show that districts need to rethink common practices when ensuring that all students are given opportunities to be selected for High Ability programming. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

This hermeneutic phenomenological research study addressed the persistent problem of practice of underrepresentation of economically disadvantaged students in gifted education by exploring the beliefs, experiences, and practices of families with economic disadvantages pertaining to giftedness and family involvement in education. Data was gathered from six participants with economic disadvantages and a gifted child through two interviews and analyzed using the hermeneutic circle to uncover patterns and themes. Themes emerged around each of the three research questions including themes for beliefs and experiences pertaining to giftedness: resiliency, creativity, overexcitability, divergent thinking, twice-exceptionality, intelligence, asynchronous development, and negative behaviors. Findings also point to involvement in education on all of Epstein's Six Types of Involvement with common supports and barriers among participants. The findings were analyzed through the lenses of Funds of Knowledge, underrepresentation of children with economic disadvantages in gifted education, and Epstein's Six Types of Involvement. The results of this study provide implications for policy and practice that could impact underrepresentation. School districts need to review their identification policies and ensure that they have plans in place that would increase identification for students with economic disadvantage. Schools and teachers could be including parents in referrals processes and improve communication about gifted identification and services. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

While the advocacy of differentiation as best pedagogical practices for instruction of gifted students can be found in scholarly literature, minimal research attention has been given to high-ability students' perceptions about their lived classroom experiences. Lack of challenging and accelerated content for identified gifted students can lead to boredom, negative self-perception, and disengagement from school. Gifted adolescent females, who are less likely to address barriers to realizing their potential can especially suffer or thrive depending on curriculum. The purpose of this qualitative study is to describe identified female gifted university students' perceptions of pre-collegiate and collegiate differentiation of curriculum and instruction to find the essence of their lived experiences. This phenomenological research study shares the stories of ten gifted women in U.S. higher education. Data collection included in-depth interviews with gifted women within five years of high school graduation. Three themes emerged from data analysis: differentiation, agency, and self-perception. As supported in previous literature, the women in this study reported a lack of differentiation in secondary school. In higher education, the participants described some differentiation in terms of course content, process, product, and setting. A second finding was the level of agency in which all the women engaged to control their own educational experiences. Through participation in multiple, concurrent extracurricular activities, these gifted women supplemented their formal academic classes by independently regulating their learning. A third finding relating to self-perception revealed that nine of the ten participants in this study did not fully understand the manifestations of their own giftedness, while some experienced imposter syndrome. Implications for secondary educators point to a need for more systematic differentiation made to curriculum, instruction, and assessment for gifted students. Implications for higher education suggest broadening the concept of differentiation to enable students to design their own interdisciplinary majors. Another implication for students, parents, and educators is that gifted students need explicit training in the nature, development, types, and needs of gifted individuals. The women in this study expressed interest in learning about giftedness; the clear implication is that gifted students should be taught about giftedness in secondary and/or higher education. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2023 APA, all rights reserved)

Children who are gifted or twice-exceptional (2e) share distinct qualities beyond academic achievement such as heightened neurological responsivity and asynchronous development (Bishop, 2019; Buica-Belciu & Popovici, 2014; Gere et al., 2009). Decreased knowledge and awareness of these shared qualities, combined with bias in the referral process for evaluation and identification of giftedness or 2e, contributes to under-identification, misdiagnosis, and misunderstanding of this population (Card et al., 2016; Webb et al., 2016). As a result, these children have decreased access to interventions that effectively address their needs. Bloom Seedlings is an inclusive preschool program in which occupational therapy practitioners play a primary role in early intervention for children with behavioral challenges related to giftedness or 2e. Social-emotional learning, sensory strategies, mindfulness techniques, and engagement in meaningful occupations are infused in the curriculum to improve self-regulation and decrease impulsive behaviors. Educational modules and support sessions for professionals and caregivers are critical components to improve relationships between caregivers, educators, and children (Zinsser et al., 2019; Zulauf et al., 2019) and are integral to the program. Through engagement in Bloom Seedlings, participants experience improved occupational performance, health and wellness, quality of life, participation, role competence, well-being, and occupational justice. Occupational therapy practitioners can become strong leaders in giftedness and 2e through program development, program evaluation, and contributions to the research. Bloom Seedlings places occupational therapy practitioners in a primary role to increase health, wellness, and advocacy for children who are gifted or 2e. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)