Microaggressions, Multiculturalism, and Gifted Individuals Who Are Black, Hispanic, or Low Income

The National Association for Gifted Children (NAGC; 2014) defined gifted individuals as those who demonstrate outstanding levels of aptitude (defined as an exceptional ability to reason and learn) or competence (documented performance or achievement in top 10% or rarer) in one or more domains. Domains include any structured area of activity with its own symbol system (e.g., mathematics, music, language) and/or set of sensorimotor skills (e.g., painting, dance, sports), (para. 5) Recognizing gifted students in their area of aptitude, whether academic or sensorimotor, is important for their ongoing talent development and success (Gagne, 2004). However, the success of gifted students in schools does not hinge solely on academics. Gifted students' success is less optimal when their economic, cultural, socioemotional, affective, and developmental needs are ignored, trivialized, or poorly addressed. Therefore, teachers and counselors must understand the unique characteristics of gifted individuals and collaborate to optimize student learning and school success. This collaboration is essential for all gifted learners and is especially vital for gifted students from low-income backgrounds and for gifted students who are culturally different (Ford, 2010). The AC A Code of Ethics (American Counseling Association [ACA]; 2014) outlines the need for cultural competence of counselors, including their awareness of personal biases and their client's cultural worldview. Although cultural competence is typically associated with race or ethnicity, giftedness can also be included as a subculture. Levy and Plucker (2003) argued that gifted students deviate from the majority population and identified parallels between Sue's (2010) Multicultural Competencies Model and gifted students. Furthermore, in the field of gifted education, gifted students differ from their same-age peers in a variety of ways. For example, they have unique characteristics and learning preferences that distinguish them from other learners of their given age (Rogers, 2007). They also differ socially (Peterson, 2009), and this difference increases the higher the student's intelligence and achievement (Gross, 2004). When any individual differs significantly from the general population, whether in beliefs, ability, cultural differences, race/ethnicity, or social status, they may be more susceptible to misunderstanding, a lack of fit, and even microaggressions (Robinson, Zigler, & Gallagher, 2000). Microaggressions as a Framework for Working With Gifted Students A microaggression is any comment, attitude, action, or gesture individuals experience as inappropriate or hurtful based on their personal history and characteristics (Franklin, 1999; Sue, 2010). These microaggressions are brief and commonplace verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative racial/ethnic slights and insults toward others--most often Blacks, Hispanics, and women. Microaggressions can be intentional or unintentional, can be subtle or overt, and are frequently based on assumptions about race/ethnicity, gender, or income (Valencia, 2010). In recent years, researchers expanded the definition of micro-aggressions to include women (Owen, Tao, & Rodolfa, 2010) and individuals with disabilities (Sue, 2010). Until now, gifted individuals were not included, even though they may feel isolated from their peer groups (Gross, 2004), may be teased for their intelligence and achievement (Ford, 2010), or may feel out of sync with those around them (Robinson et al., 2000). Consequently, their same-age peers may categorize them as different. Comments such as "Wow, you are really articulate," "You are in the gifted program?" or "If you are so gifted, then why don't you have straight A's?" although intended as harmless, can be viewed as degrading and illustrate inaccurate assumptions about race/ethnicity, cultural differences, and giftedness. …