"It's a tough time to raise, teach or be a highly gifted child... Schools are to extraordinarily intelligent children what zoos are to cheetahs... Every organism has an internal drive to fulfill its biological design. The same is true for unusually bright children. From time to time the bars need be removed, the enclosures broadened. Zoo Chow, easy and cheap as it is, must give way, at least some of the time, to lively, challenging mental prey." – Stephanie Tolan
This week we will focus on two subpopulations of gifted: the highly gifted and the young gifted. These two often go hand-in-hand because children with extraordinary IQs tend to distinguish themselves during the early stages of development. We will also discuss the issues associated with gender, and the implications as such. Lastly, we will look at the how a gifted program can be evaluated as to its effectiveness in serving our special populations.