The Gifted Child

Gifted and Talented Children: Issues for Pediatricians. Robinson NM, Olszewski-Kubilius PM. Pediatr Rev. 1996;17 :427– 434OpenUrlAbstract/FREE Full Text

The Gifted Child. Jaffe AC. Pediatr Rev. 2000;21 :240– 242OpenUrlFREE Full Text

Early Childhood. Robinson NM. In: Plucker JA, Callahan CM, eds. Critical Issues and Practices in Gifted Education: What the Research Says. Waco, Tex: Prufrock Press; 2007:179– 194

Homeschooling. Kunzman R. In: Plucker JA, Callahan CM, eds. Critical Issues and Practices in Gifted Education: What the Research Says. Waco, Tex: Prufrock Press; 2007:253– 260

Parenting. Schader RM. In: Plucker JA, Callahan CM, eds. Critical Issues and Practices in Gifted Education: What the Research Says. Waco, Tex: Prufrock Press; 2007:479– 492

Parents suspecting that their young child may be “gifted” often seek the advice of their pediatricians. An analysis of parent email received by the National Association for Gifted Children from 2001 to 2004 revealed that approximately 50% of all inquiries involved children 5 years of age or younger. Most of the questions dealt with the recognition of giftedness and how to develop a child's exceptional abilities. Other frequent questions involved information about resources, such as the type of school program that is best for a gifted child. Next most common were questions about achievement issues, social and emotional needs, and resources for specific talent areas.

Research on giftedness remains limited in its generalizability for many reasons, most fundamentally, the lack of a universally accepted definition. Different school districts, for example, have different criteria based on demographics and available resources. General giftedness, as measured by superior intelligence quotient (IQ) (top 3%), is only one subtype, but superior IQ alone does not predict academic success because of the coexistence of emotional and behavioral as well as cultural and learning differences. …