Steven I. Pfeiffer

Inpatient Psychiatric Treatment of Children and Adolescents: A Review of Outcome Studies

All outcome studies of child and adolescent residential treatment and inpatient psychiatric hospitalization reported in the literature from 1975 to the present were examined. A set of statistical procedures was developed to integrate the findings of the 34 studies, which provided a weighted predictive value for 10 variables. Psychiatric hospitalization was often beneficial, particularly if a specialized treatment program and aftercare were available and if the child presented with a less pathological clinical picture. Age at admission and sex bore no relationship to favorable outcome, and IQ and length of stay yielded only a modest relationship to outcome. Recommendations to guide future researchers are offered that will provide new insights into better understanding inpatient psychiatric treatment.

Identification of Gifted Students in the United States Today: A Look at State Definitions, Policies, and Practices

Definitions of what constitute students who are gifted and talented as well as policies and procedures to identify these high-ability students play a critical role in determining which individuals actually receive gifted services. This article reports on a national survey of how state policies and practices define giftedness, identify gifted students, and accommodate for gifted minority group students. Results indicate substantial changes in definitions and categories of giftedness over the past decade. Results also reveal variability in identification methods, with a majority of states using a 3–5% cutscore for demarcating giftedness while endorsing a multiple cutoff or averaging approach to gifted decision making. Most noteworthy is the fact that at present, no state advocates using a single-score decision-making model for gifted classification. The authors discuss the implications for school psychology.

Identifying Gifted Students Using Teacher Rating Scales: A Review of Existing Instruments

The federal definition of giftedness conceptualizes giftedness as extraordinary intellectual and academic ability and high performance capability in creativity, the arts, and leadership. The practice of identifying gifted students in the schools typically centers on assessing intellectual and academic abilities. Rarely do schools identify the other areas of giftedness. This article reviews the technical adequacy and usefulness of three popular teacher rating scales designed to identify gifted students: the Gifted and Talented Evaluation Scales (GATES; Gilliam, Carpenter, & Christensen, 1996); Gifted Evaluation Scale, Second Edition (GES-2; McCarney & Anderson, 1989); and Scales for Rating the Behavioral Characteristics of Superior Students (SRBCSS; Renzulli, Smith, White, Callahan, & Hartman, 1976; Renzulli, Smith, White, Callahan, Hartman, & Westberg, 1997).

Identifying Gifted and Talented Students: Recurring Issues and Promising Solutions

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.

Challenges and Opportunities for Students Who Are Gifted: What the Experts Say

Five questions were answered by 64 authorities in the gifted field: (a) What do you see as the three greatest identification, assessment, and/or definitional issues in the gifted field? (b) What do you see as the three greatest curricula, instruction, and/or program issues for the gifted student? (c) What are the three most pressing unanswered questions in the gifted field? (d) What have been the three most important research findings in the last 5 years in the gifted field? (e) What are the three most significant developments or innovations in gifted education in the last 5 years? Responses were coded and sorted according to an analytic strategy that permitted the descriptive data to be grouped into a small number of categories. Most frequent categories included a need for consensus on how to define, conceptualize, and identify giftedness; new procedures to increase the under-representation of gifted minority students; and the importance of translating research on educational innovations into practice. Research and practice implications for the gifted field are provided.

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.

Emotional intelligence: Popular but elusive construct

There is a growing interest in the concept of emotional intelligence (El), as a result of a new Zeitgeist that embraces nontraditional views of intelligence, and a belief promulgated in the popular press that El holds the promise for solving many of societys most pressing problems. Two important bodies of writing on El, the work of Daniel Goleman and Peter Salovey & John Mayer, are discussed as illustrative of recent theorizing on El. The article discusses conceptual and measurement problems that presently challenge the usefulness of the El construct. It is suggested that El be tentatively viewed as a possible kind of intelligence, awaiting further theory development and validation.

The Gifted Rating Scales-School Form: An Analysis of the Standardization Sample Based on Age, Gender, Race, and Diagnostic Efficiency

This study analyzes the standardization sample of a new teacher rating scale designed to assist in the identification of gifted students. The Gifted Rating Scales–School Form (GRS-S) is based on a multidimensional model of giftedness. Results indicate no age or race/ethnicity differences on any of the scales and small but significant differences in favor of females on three of the six scales: Artistic Ability, Motivation, and Leadership Ability. Diagnostic efficiency statistics and receiver operating curve analysis support the validity of the Intellectual Ability scale in identifying intellectually gifted students. The Intellectual Ability scale was successful in both correctly identifying students with high IQ scores (test sensitivity) and correctly identifying students without high IQ scores (test specificity). The present findings extend the analysis of the standardization sample reported in the test manual and provide additional support for the psychometric qualities of the GRS-S as a valid gifted screening tool.

Performance of disruptive behavior disordered and normal samples on the Draw A Person: Screening Procedure for Emotional Disturbance.

Draw A Person : Screening Procedure for Emotional Disturbance (DAP:SPED) scores were compared for 54 normal students and 54 students with conduct and oppositional defiant disorders who attended a psychiatric day treatment facility. Both samples were age 7-17 years. The samples were also matched by sex, race (White/Non-White), and geographic region

Current Perspectives on the Identification and Assessment of Gifted Students

Contemporary thinking challenges the view that giftedness and high IQ are synonymous. Contemporary thinking also challenges the view that being gifted is something real. A number of authorities in the gifted field advocate a paradigm shift; moving away from emphasizing categorical definitions of giftedness and adopting a talent development perspective. This shift to a developmental perspective advocates that we consider giftedness as the unfolding and transforming of uncanny potential among young children into actual outstanding performance and accomplishments in adulthood. The early identification and ongoing assessment of individuals of uncommon ability takes on a more complex, nuanced, and rich perspective when viewed from a developmental model.