Vulnerabilities of Academically Gifted Students

Abstract

It is often assumed that gifted students enjoy relatively good social and emotional adjustment, vibrant mental health, and overall well being. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, and a significant number of gifted students experience painful, troubling and often debilitating psychological problems. Gifted children and youth possess a set of personality characteristics that make them uniquely vulnerable. School personnel and parents need to be cognizant of these risk factors so that they can provide coordinated and comprehensive educational and social opportunities to foster resilience and, when needed, provide preventive and therapeutic mental health interventions for those gifted students with actual psychological problems.     

Identifying Gifted and Talented Students

ABSTRACT

This article offers a set of recommended best practices in the identification of students who are gifted and talented. The article recommends that school psychologists gain familiarity with gifted children and their families, recognize the multiple manifestations of giftedness and the developmental nature of talent development, link identification to intervention, employ multiple assessment measures, include the assessment of motivation, consider social and emotional needs, and monitor the recommended interventions. The article also reviews recurring issues that adversely impact upon the provision of gifted services in the public schools. These issues include society not viewing the gifted as a high-priority special needs group, definitions of giftedness that vary across states, differing expert opinions on what giftedness represents, uncertainty about prevalence rates, under-representation of certain groups of gifted students, the role of creativity, and whether gifted education should be a part of special education.     

In Favor of Being Only Humean

The twin conceptions of (1) natural law as causal structure and (2) explanation as passage from phenomenon to cause, are two sides of a certain philosophical coin, to which I shall offer an alternative – Humean – currency. The Humean alternative yokes together a version of the regularity conception of law and a conception of explanation as passage from one regularity, to another which has it as an instance but of which it is not itself an instance. I will show that the regularity conception of law is the basis of a distinguished branch of physical mechanics; thus the Humean conception of law, like its better-loved rival, enjoys the support of a venerated tradition in mechanical theory – in fact, that strand which culminates in quantum theory. I shall also offer an account of explanatory asymmetry, a natural companion to the Humean conception of explanation as passage from one regularity to another of greater scope, as an alternative to van Fraassen's unsatisfactory account. My account of asymmetry is just as free of reliance on context as it is free of reliance on cause. I shall thus proclaim that explanatory asymmetry is at once a reality deserving of philosophical treatment – one not to be given over to the care of psychology or linguistics – and at the same time susceptible of an account worthy of Hume.     

Exploring University Counselors' Perceptions of Distinctions Between Gifted Black and Gifted White Students

This study examined the perceptions of a sample of university counselors relative to social, cultural, and psychological barriers to achievement among gifted Black and gifted White students. Ninety-three counselors at institutions of higher education throughout the nation participated in the study by responding to a mailed survey questionnaire. Comparisons were made relative to counselors' demographic variables (ethnicity, gender, multicultural training, and geographic locale). The results indicate that the university counselors sampled disagreed with or were undecided about the special dilemmas confronting gifted learners. Moreover, most counselors perceived that gifted Black and gifted White students experience social, cultural, and psychological problems in the same way. The study concludes with recommendations for university counselors working with gifted students in general and gifted Black students in particular     

超常学生集体教学的阶段性心理测量

1　引言　　自 1 985年 ,在北京第八中学办起了超常儿童教学实验班 ,是用来满足超常儿童特点的特殊教学。十几年来 ,已有五个班的小学生在短期完成了初高中全部教学、升学的工作 ,应该说 ,这样的特殊教学对超智儿童的早期开发有积极意义。少儿班学生达到了知识的“超常”是有目共睹的 ,西方一些教育心理专家对这样的特殊教学效果也点头称是。现在的研究是采用多种能力测验考察进入一段教学后高智力学生的智能心态 ,为保持和修改超常儿童中学教学提供参考依据。《鉴别超常儿童认知能力测验》是查子秀研究员1 986年主编的智能测验。该测验分出…     

Intervention for Multipotentiality: Effects of a Career Counseling Laboratory for Gifted High School Students

Career counseling effectively enhanced high school students' desire to engage in discussion about their career development with counselors, parents, and peers. They also were somewhat more likely to plan to go to college. A total of 59% changed or confirmed their career plans.     

Meeting the Psychological Needs of Gifted Black Students: A Cultural Perspective

In the literature, one finds rich analyses of the psychological, emotional, and social needs of gifted people. The data on the specific psychological needs of gifted minority children, however, are lacking; one finds even less information on their cultural needs. This article examines the psychological and social difficulties confronting gifted Black students. Racial identity development theory is described briefly, including the significance of culture on achievement and psychological well-being. Finally, recommendations are made for counselors who wish to work effectively with gifted Black students.     

Racial Identity Development Among Gifted Black Students: Counseling Issues and Concerns

A review of the literature suggests that a paucity of information exists regarding how culture-specific issues such as being both Black and gifted influence the psychological needs and personality development of gifted Black students. Stellar attempts, however, are currently underway to develop theories and perspectives of racial identity development among Black students. These theories and perspectives are discussed in an attempt to understand and address the psychological and social needs of gifted Black students.     

In Favor of Laws that Are Not Ceteris Paribus After All

Opponents of ceteris paribus laws are apt to complain that the laws are vague and untestable. Indeed, claims to this effect are made by Earman, Roberts and Smith in this volume. I argue that these kinds of claims rely on too narrow a view about what kinds of concepts we can and do regularly use in successful sciences and on too optimistic a view about the extent of application of even our most successful non-ceteris paribus laws. When it comes to testing, we test ceteris paribus laws in exactly the same way that we test laws without the ceteris paribus antecedent. But at least when the ceteris paribus antecedent is there we have an explicit acknowledgment of important procedures we must take in the design of the experiments — i.e., procedures to control for “all interferences” even those we cannot identify under the concepts of any known theory. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

The Career and Educational Aspirations of Gifted High School Students: A Retrospective Study

In this study the authors used a retrospective method to obtain information about the career aspirations of gifted high school juniors (69 boys and 125 girls). An instrument called the Occupations List (OL) was administered to obtain information about career alternatives considered by each respondent at various ages. The career alternatives considered in an early life period were compared with those considered later in terms of their prestige level and gender traditionality. The career and educational aspirations of gifted boys and girls were also compared. The implications for counseling gifted students with career concerns are discussed.     

The Relationship Between the WISC-III and the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test with Students Referred for Gifted Evaluation

A tolal of 29 students (mean age = 7.96 yrs) who were referred for gifted evaluation in an affluent suburban school district in Western Pennsylvania were administered the Kaufman Brief Intelligence Test (K-BIT) and the WISC-III. Paired t-tests comparing the K-BIT mean IQ (120.59) with the WISC-III Verbal (123.65), Performance (118.86) and Full Scale (122.86) IQs yielded no statistically significant differences (t (28) = 1.49, p = .15; t(28) = -0.74, p = .47; t(28) = 1.35, p = .19, respectively). Correlational analyses indicated that the K-BIT and WISC-III Verbal (r = .35. p < .05), Performance (f = .35, p < .05), and Full Scale IQs (r = 53, p < .01) correlated significantly. The limitations and implications of the study are discussed.     

The Development of Gender Identity,Gender Roles,and Gender Relations in Gifted Students

This article describes the interaction of giftedness with gender identity, gender role, and gender relations. The authors explored ways in which many gifted educational practices are gendered, a model for the development of talent in the context of gender and gender relations, and ways of reducing gender inequities in the realization of potential for both male and female students. Issues that are unique to gifted individuals are aligned with suggestions for counseling interventions.     

Academic Careers of Gifted Women

As part of a larger study concerning academically gifted college women, gifted freshman women who graduated (723) were compared with those who did not graduate (526) on certain academic variables. Graduates took an average of 12.6 quarters to complete their degrees. Average length of attendance before departure for Nongraduates was 5.8 quarters. Graduation with honors was achieved by 51.9 per cent of the Graduates. Graduates and Nongraduates differed significantly in GPA (3.06 to 2.50), contact with the Counseling Bureau (43.6 to 30.9 per cent), and in major fields of study. More Graduates had Liberal Arts (CLA) “social science,” CLA “interdepartmental and double,” Education, and Home Economics majors. More Nongraduates had CLA “English, linguistics, and languages,” CLA “natural science and mathematics,” and Business Administration majors. These results are discussed in relation to findings of the larger study concerning personality characteristics and vocational interests of gifted women, and a follow-up study of the Nongraduates.