Recent research

Specialized programs designed to meet the unique needs of young gifted children are increasing in number. Parents of this population are becoming involved in the development of these programs. This study examined expectancies, concerns and current issues as perceived by parents of children identified as gifted at an early age. Additionally, parents expressed roles in which they would be willing to serve in the planning and delivery of services for their children. Curriculum preferences, availability and lack of services available or desired, support of full or half‐day programs, and specific information areas requested by the parents are presented.     

Recent doctoral dissertation research on gifted

The objective of this study was to determine whether electrophysiologic techniques can be used to identify central auditory processing difficulties in low‐achieving gifted adolescents. The electrophysiologic measures utilized included the middle latency response and the P300 response. These measures were obtained from four groups: achieving‐gifted, low‐achieving gifted, learning disabled, and non‐gifted non‐disabled. It was found that P300 wave morphology was significantly poorer for the low‐achieving gifted group compared to the achieving gifted and the non‐gifted non‐disabled groups. There was no significant difference between the low‐achieving gifted group and the learning disabled group.     

Recent doctoral dissertation research on gifted

One hundred twenty-four undergraduate education majors completed the phrase “a gifted student is ———— ” using a metaphor and then explained their choice of metaphor. Qualitative metaphor analysis influenced by Dai’s (2009) essential tensions determined that preservice teachers conceive of giftedness as rapid memorization of content knowledge and showy demonstrations of achievement. They believe that excellence is rare and that intelligence is generalizable. Responses were mixed as to whether giftedness is a natural state of being or a process of becoming gifted. There was very little evidence to suggest that preservice teachers focused on the motivational aspect of talent development or the notion that gifted students are likely popular with their peers.