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Profoundly
gifted individuals have been identified in all races, cultures and
economic levels, although some cultures support, nurture and develop
giftedness more than others. (Clark, 1997; VanTassel-Baska &
Seeley, 1989; Kearney & LeBlanc, 1993)
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Social
isolation experienced by highly gifted children is caused by the absence
of a suitable peer group with whom to relate. (DeHann & Havighurst,
1957; Janos, 1993; Hollingworth, 1931; Gross, 1993)
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Vulnerabilities
of highly gifted children include uneven development, perfectionism, adult
expectations, intense sensitivity, self-definition, alienation,
inappropriate educational environments and role conflict. (Roedell, 1994)
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Underachievement
in school is a serious problem in the gifted population. If we compare
scores of all gifted students on individual aptitude tests with their level
of performance, we would likely find as many as 70 percent underachieving.
(Whitmore, 1980)
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Highly
gifted children are frequently placed at risk in the early years of school
through misidentification, inappropriate grade-placement and a seriously
inadequate curriculum. (Gross, 1994)
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Because
exceptionally gifted children often have high levels of energy and require
less sleep, they are sometimes misdiagnosed as being hyperactive. These
traits can look like hyperactivity, but there is a difference. The energy
of a gifted child is focused, directed and intense, whereas the energy of a
hyperactive child is diffuse, random and sporadic. (Clark, 1997)
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Research
on acceleration or grade skipping has been found to have almost uniformly
positive results; acceleration is educationally and socially advantageous
for highly gifted learners. (Clark, 1997)
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The
exceptionally gifted or profoundly gifted child requires an educational
program which differs quite radically in structure, pace and content from
that which might be offered to moderately gifted age-mates. (Gross, 1992)
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Individualization
in education is essential to serving the needs of the exceptionally gifted.
The higher the deviation above the mean, the greater number of possible
combinations and re-combinations of abilities. No one highly gifted child
can be expected to be like any other with the same score. Therefore, no
single-focused program…can hope to adequately serve a population with
such potentially complex profiles. (Lewis, 1984)
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No
other arrangement for gifted children works as well as acceleration,
which is far more effective in raising student achievement than the most
successful school reform models. (Colangelo, Assouline & Gross,
2004)
High
school dropout studies found that between 10 and 20 percent of those who
do not complete high school test in the gifted range. (Rimm, 2003)
It
is estimated that between 15 and 40 percent of all gifted students are
at risk of underachievement. (Seeley, 1993)
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