Gifted and talented adolescents' experiences in school counseling

Current literature and research has suggested that gifted students encounter developmental challenges typical of all students but also encounter unique stressors due to their giftedness. Several of these stressors, challenges or "predictable crises" have been suggested in the literature as those gifted students will most likely encounter during the development of their talent. Counseling has been suggested as a means of facilitating the talent development process in accordance with ethical considerations to the gifted students' need, the primary goals of the counseling profession, and the need for future contributions of the gifted student to society at large. School counselors are in a unique position to be an active part of the talent development through utilizing the best practices of counseling the gifted student. However, currently there is a lack of research which methodologically tests these best practices and little is known about what gifted students encounter in their experiences in counseling from their point of view.; The purpose of this study was to investigate gifted and talented adolescents' experiences in school counseling. This study examined what gifted and talented adolescents experienced in terms of "predictable crises," the counseling relationship, best practices in counseling the gifted, and their ideas of beneficial school counseling program options. Results of an online survey given to gifted students in the state of Virginia were analyzed via descriptive statistics, factor analyses and multivariate analyses of variance using SPSS 12.0. Descriptive statistics indicated that perfectionism, fear of failing and issues tied to multipotentiality were of concern to participants but few of the best practices of counseling the gifted were experienced by them. Participants reported a need for support by meeting adults in their talent area, discussing class structure and rigor, and a desire for apprenticeships, mentorships, and shadowing as components in their school counseling programs. Factor analyses yielded nine factors which accounted for 69.7% of the variance of survey items.; Implications for high school counselors include an awareness of the concerns gifted students have about their talent development, the infusion of best practices for counseling the gifted through academic, career and personal/social counseling, and a diversity of program components which meet the needs of gifted students. Counselor education preparation programs can consider providing the necessary knowledge of gifted psychology, facilitating student counselor awareness of the need for advocates for the gifted student by integrating of the ASCA National Model and NAGC program standards into their curriculum in addition providing clinical experience to train school counselors to work with gifted students. Further research is needed to better understand the outcomes of specific counseling techniques, orientations, and best practices when used with this population so that school counselors can be increasingly prepared to meet the unique needs of gifted students.