Gifted and Talented Adolescents: Challenging Perspectives

Abstract

Research and review papers in the Journal for the Education of the Gifted (Vol. 8, Nos. 1 and 2) special topical issue on gifted and talented adolescents are examined from a psychosocial perspective and the larger context of previous research about the adolescent process. Key features of these invited contributions are summarized into broad areas for future investigations in the field of gifted education. This special topical issue which focuses on gifted and talented adolescents may prove to be an important watershed event for the field of gifted education. As anyone interested in the topic could attest, the previously available research and review literature on gifted and talented adolescents could be quickly located and easily digested in short order. This state of affairs has vexed many. It is not easy to understand how the growing concern about and interest in gifted children that blossomed in the 1970's has carefully sidestepped to a great degree adolescence, middle schools, and high school programming.Professional organizations in the field have not always ameliorated this neglected situation. Publications like Gifted Child Quartedy, Roeper Review, and even this journal (JEG) have been steadfast in keeping parents, educators, and researchers informed about fastbreaking developments in gifted education. Yet the scope of articles submitted to and published by them often closed quickly to avoid