Miraca U. M. Gross

Small poppies: Highly gifted children in the early years

Highly gifted children are frequently placed at risk in the early years of school through misidentification, inappropriate grade‐placement and a seriously inadequate curriculum. Additional factors are their own early awareness, that they differ from their age‐peers, and their consequent attempts to conceal their ability for peer acceptance. Teachers who have had no training or inservice in gifted education, and who are reluctant to use standardized tests of ability and achievement, may rely only on gifted behaviors to identify extremely high abilities in young children. This may compound the problem by ignoring early indicators of demotivation and underachievement. The very early development of speech, movement and reading in many highly gifted young children serves as a powerful predictor of unusually high intellectual ability. Parents of the highly gifted become aware of their childrens developmental differences at an early age; yet parent nomination is under‐utilized by primary and elementary schools,...

The "Me" behind the Mask: Intellectually Gifted Students and the Search for Identity.

The process of identity development in intellectually gifted children and adolescents is complicated by their innate and acquired differences from age‐peers. To be valued within a peer culture which values conformity, gifted young people may mask their giftedness and develop alternative identities which are perceived as more socially acceptable. The weaving of this protective mask requires the gifted child to conceal her love of learning, her interests which differ from those of age‐peers, and her advanced moral development. If this assumed identity does indeed bring her the social acceptance she seeks, the gifted child may become afraid to take off her mask. Gifted children and adolescents need the opportunity to work and socialize with others of similar abilities and interests if they are to grow towards self‐acceptance. This article is illustrated by poetry and diary entries written by highly gifted young people, portraying the process of their own identity development.

The Use of Radical Acceleration in Cases of Extreme Intellectual Precocity

This paper reviews the school histories of five extremely gifted children, of IQ 160 - 200, who have been radically accelerated. Prior to their acceleration, the children were retained in the regular classroom in a lockstep curriculum based on their chronological age and grade placement. They suffered severe intellectual frustration, boredom, lack of motivation, and social rejection by age-peers, and displayed significantly lowered levels of social self-esteem. A combination of grade-skipping and radical subject matter acceleration has given the children access to curricula commensurate with their academic achievement levels and the intellectual and social companionship of children who share their abilities and interests . The young accelerands are more stimulated intellectually, enjoy closer and more productive social relationships, and display healthier levels of social self-esteem than do equally gifted children who have been retained with age-peers of average ability.

Radical Acceleration and Early Entry to College: A Review of the Research

Radical acceleration is a successful, yet rarely utilized educational practice that assists educators in meeting the cognitive and affective needs of highly gifted students. Individual case studies and cohort studies of students who have radically accelerated are reviewed regarding combinations of procedures that result in successful acceleration, variables that appear to predict success and cognitive and affective outcomes. While research supports the use of radical acceleration for the positive cognitive and affective gains that result for highly gifted students, some concerns about the process have been identified. An outline is presented of procedures that have been shown to lessen the likelihood of unfavorable outcomes. These procedures include counseling support, study skills programs, and opportunities to foster social interaction with other students. The literature concerning radical acceleration strongly supports the wider adoption of this most successful intervention.

Insights From SMPY's Greatest Former Child Prodigies: Drs. Terence (“Terry”) Tao and Lenhard (“Lenny”) Ng Reflect on Their Talent Development

If the academic needs of the most profoundly gifted students can be met through the use of existing educational practices, specialists in gifted education can assume that the educational needs of less able, but still academically talented, students can also be met by using some combination of these strategies as well. This paper illustrates the feasibility and effectiveness of utilizing an individualized educational approach with gifted students by highlighting the unique educational paths taken by two of the very ablest math prodigies identified by Dr. Julian Stanley through the Study of Mathematically Precocious Youth (SMPY) since its founding in 1971. Interviews with Dr. Terence (“Terry”) Tao and Dr. Lenhard (“Lenny”) Ng, now both highly successful mathematicians, are presented in their entirety, demonstrating that even among the very ablest, strategies can be tailored effectively to the characteristics of each student through a combination of creative planning and the cooperation of parents, educators, and mentors.

Changing Teacher Attitudes to Gifted Students through Inservice Training

AbstractThis paper reports on the effectiveness of an intensive program of professional development in changing teachers’ attitudes toward gifted students and gifted education. Opposition to abilit...

Highly Gifted Young People: Development from Childhood to Adulthood

Highly gifted children and adolescents are students at risk because they differ so significantly from their age-peers in many aspects of their cognitive and affective development. The cognitive strategies they employ are not readily understood by classmates or, often, by teachers. In the elementary school years, their strong intrinsic motivational orientation is at variance with the “reward” philosophy of many classrooms. Their conceptions and expectations of friendship differ strongly from those of age-peers and more closely resemble those of older students. Their moral reasoning tends to be more akin to that of students some years older. Longitudinal studies which have traced these young people’s development through adolescence and adulthood have identified strongly positive academic and social outcomes of various forms of academic acceleration, including, for exceptionally and profoundly gifted students, thoughtfully monitored programs of radical acceleration which allow graduation from high school three or more years earlier than usual.

Levels of Intellectual Giftedness, Culture, and the Forced-Choice Dilemma.

This study investigated whether intellectually gifted students in Australia, with different levels of giftedness and cultural orientations, had different experiences of the forced-choice dilemma—choosing between the needs for peer acceptance and academic achievement. A random sample of 231 intellectually gifted students attending secondary school completed and returned a self-report questionnaire. The data were analyzed using factor analysis and multiple regression analysis. The study found some support for the hypothesis that level of intellectual giftedness was positively related to the experience of the forced-choice dilemma. It was also shown that those with medium-level vertical allocentric orientations toward the family were likely to be the most vulnerable to the phenomenon. Intellectually gifted male adolescents, intellectually gifted students in early adolescence, and intellectually gifted students with peers of different cultural backgrounds were additional groups identified as being at risk.

International handbook of giftedness and talent

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The Forced Choice Dilemma: A Model Incorporating Idiocentric/Allocentric Cultural Orientation.

This study developed and tested a new model of the forced choice dilemma (i.e., the belief held by some intellectually gifted students that they must choose between academic achievement and peer acceptance) that incorporates individual-level cultural orientation variables (i.e., vertical allocentrism and vertical idiocentrism). A survey that had previously been administered to a sample of intellectually gifted Australian adolescents was modified and then administered to a new sample of 450 intellectually gifted Australian students enrolled in Grades 7 through 12. The data were analyzed using structural equation modeling procedures. The major findings of the study were that: (a) motivation for academic success and need for peer acceptance generally predict the experience of the forced choice dilemma, and (b) vertical allocentric and vertical idiocentric orientations strongly predict motivation for academic success. The findings of the study provide insights that may assist educators, psychologists, counselors, and family members to better understand, and guide, intellectually gifted students affected by the forced choice dilemma. Putting the Research to Use Educators, psychologists, counselors, and families may be able to use the model developed and confirmed in this study to better understand how some intellectually gifted students experience the dilemma arising from a perceived conflict between academic achievement and peer acceptance. The model provides insights on how specific cultural orientations of students may play a part in how the dilemma is experienced. It appears that intellectually gifted students who value human inequality and interdependence are more able to resolve the dilemma; hence, attention in this realm should be focused on those students who place greater importance on human equality and/or independence, for whom the dilemma may be a more difficult issue.