Counseling the Gifted: Past, Present, and Future Directions

Counseling has always been considered a vital component in the nurturing of talent and the overall service of the gifted population (Klein, 2000). In the 1986 special issue of the Journal of Counseling & Development (JCD), counseling was presented as a means of preventing "predictable crises" (Blackburn & Erickson, 1986, p. 552) before they occurred in the talent development of the gifted individual. After reviewing the literature pertaining to the social and emotional development of gifted individuals to date at that time, Robinson (2002) wrote that there were "a number of situations that, while not unique to [gifted individuals], constituted sources of risk to their social and emotional development" (p. xiv). Robinson suggested that gifted individuals might encounter challenges related to the following: (a) asynchronous development; (b) affective and psychological responses stemming from their traits and characteristics; or (c) belonging to a special population (e.g., racial/ethnic minority groups or lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and questioning groups) or being twice-exceptional (having a disability as well as being identified as gifted). Although the majority of the gifted population is identified in childhood, gifted students obviously grow up to be gifted adults. Thus, there is a need for counseling of gifted individuals around issues that arise along the normal developmental trajectory but that are compounded by the additional factor of being gifted and navigating the traditional developmental milestones from that unique experience. Who Are the Gifted? What is giftedness and what does it look like? These are probably the questions that cause the most frustration for counselors, educators, parents, and gifted individuals alike largely because the field of gifted education cannot agree on how giftedness is defined (Reis & Renzulli, 2009). Generally, identification of gifted individuals occurs while they are in elementary school. Identification practices in most U.S. states rely on the areas defined by a report titled Education of the Gifted and Talented, often referred to as the Marland Report (Marland, 1972). Based on the guidelines of this report, the consensus of what constitutes giftedness has included 3% to 5% of the school-age population demonstrating outstanding abilities, performance, and achievement (including general intellectual ability) in specific academic domains, as well as in creativity, leadership, arts, and psychomotor ability. Although each state may interpret these guidelines slightly differently, most have relied on the guidelines to establish their districts' identification procedures, which typically include multiple measures, such as IQ scores, achievement test scores, grade point averages (GPAs), teacher and parent observations, student portfolios, performances, and interviews (American School Counselor Association [ASCA], 2013). The identification of gifted individuals has also relied on the analysis of characteristics, traits, and abilities resulting from researchers' and psychologists' work with gifted students and adults as well as from analyses of biographies of eminent individuals (Renzulli, 2005; Simonton, 2003). Lovecky (1994) suggested five predominant traits of gifted individuals: (a) divergent thinking (original, innovative, novel ideas); (b) excitability (high levels of arousal and energy, but with a focus and concentration); (c) sensitivity (characterized by identification with others and empathy); (d) perceptiveness (being able to see multiple facets of a situation simultaneously; insight and intuition); and (e) entelechy (taken from the Greek word for having a goal) or the combination of motivation and inner strength. Hoh (2008) identified several cognitive characteristics of gifted individuals. These include the following: (a) precocity (especially early verbal abilities); (b) perceptual sensitivity or awareness of what others fail to notice (Sternberg & Lupart, 1992); (c) persistent concentration (Root-Bernstein & Root-Bernstein, 2004) and commitment to a task (Renzulli, 2005); (d) extreme fascination with a topic and/or curiosity with a concept or idea (Winner, 1996); (e) superior memory, including kinesthetic memory or hands-on "body knowledge" (Cooper, 2000, p. …