![]() Two years later, the school is continuing to individualize the curriculum and James is enjoying challenging material. ![]() While the eventual educational plan involved many changes: grade acceleration, an individual science curriculum, and much work on independent projects, the essential first step was an accurate identification of James’ level of giftedness and type of ability. They understood, and the school team also came to understand that a change in classroom instruction was needed. His parents, who had felt all along that James’ abilities had not been correctly identified, were startled by his high scores. Most importantly, James was becoming increasingly resentful and angry at the tedium and irrelevance of the classroom activities. The educational mismatch between the child and curriculum was glaring. After his parents sought a specialized battery of psychological and educational tests, selected to discriminate levels of giftedness, it became clear that James was an exceptionally gifted student with unusually high abstract reasoning ability and educational achievement levels well beyond a sixth grade level in reading, spelling and mathematics. The school staff observed that he was very intelligent but believed that the first grade curriculum provided adequate stimulation for him. ![]() James, a first grade student in a suburban school district, was becoming increasingly unhappy in school and threatening to refuse to attend classes. United States Department of Education (I). In a broad range of intellectual and artistic endeavors, these youngsters are not challenged to do their best work.” National Excellence: A Case for Developing America’s Talent. “The United States is squandering one of its most precious resources the gifts, talents, and high interests of its students. In this Update we focus on issues regarding the special educational needs of gifted and talented children. Although middle-class parents are often able to provide enriching experiences for their gifted children, provisions for the education of gifted children who are socioeconomically disadvantaged is lagging. The issues surrounding the education of gifted children have been clouded by misconceptions, resulting in considerable frustration for the children and loss of their talents. ![]() The article covers the special needs of gifted children, giftedness and self-esteem, and recommendations for identification and program planning for gifted students. Julia Osborn is still relevant in many ways today. Originally published 25 years ago, this article by Dr. ![]()
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