Using examples of gifted students in specialized programs, the author discusses the phenomenon called "code switching." Code switching is the name given to the process of alternating between one linguistic code and another. The author learned early on that most gifted students feel different from their nongifted peers, mostly about being…

Peer relationships form a key developmental context. The current study investigated differences in peer acceptance between high-ability and average-ability youth, from the perspectives of teachers, peers, and students. Relying on the person-group similarity model, we also tested whether high-ability students' acceptance would depend on the peer…

Previous empirical studies have yielded inconclusive results about peer perceptions of academically high performing students. The purpose of this study was to investigate students' perceptions of the intellectual ability, positive social qualities, and popularity of a hypothetical new high performing classmate. Participants were 1060 Vietnamese,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate the differences between identified gifted adolescents and adolescents not identified as gifted in terms of social acceptance and self-concept (peer relations, academic, and general). In addition, we aimed to investigate the differences between two groups of students identified according to different…

Research indicates that Black children with darker complexions experience more difficulty being accepted by Whites and their Black peers; and they are believed to be less intelligent than White and lighter complexion Black students. It also reveals that the innocence young children have regarding differences between themselves and others do not…

Previous research in the literature on the relationships between creativity and psychological adjustment tended to use only one or two sources of creativity assessment and focus on a few aspects of adjustment. To examine creative children's psychological adjustment more thoroughly, this exploratory study assessed children's creativity from…

School and life achievement patterns for girls and women differ from those of boys and men. While girls have made dramatic progress in school, they need to be inspired to connect to lifelong achievement. Both research and clinical work at the Ohio-based Family Achievement Clinic find that more boys than girls underachieve in school. There is much…

Despite its importance in social development, social understanding has hardly been studied in high-ability children. This study explores differences in social understanding between children in high-ability and regular classrooms, specifically theory of mind (ToM) and perception accuracy, as well as associations between individual characteristics…

This study examined whether a self-contained gifted classroom meets the needs of its learners. Considering the existing and desired aspects, as perceived by students, teachers, and parents, it offers a unique lens forming a holistic in-depth view of the self-contained classroom. Forty-two participants took part in this study: 20 students, 15…

Responses of high IQ students and moderate IQ students to a set of questions about friendships were compared. Ss preferred friends of their own sex. More high IQ Ss reported their friends to be older than themselves, that they did not have enough friends, and that being smart made it harder to make friends. (CL)

A middle school teacher describes the way in which a gifted program gained prominence and its students acquired peer esteem through a model congress approach in which students learned parliamentary rules and debate principles. (CL)

Responses from interviews with over 400 gifted students (7-18 years old) were grouped into areas of students' perceived difficulties, which included lack of explanations about giftedness, unchallenging school work, overly high expectations, teasing by other children, lack of understanding by peers, lack of acceptance, and feelings of helplessness…

The study with gifted children (N=64) in grades 4-8 with classroom peers (N=432) not identified as gifted found gifted boys were the most popular although gifted girls were the least popular. Overall, children not identified as gifted were rejected more and boys were rejected more than girls. (Author/DB)

Attitudes of 82 gifted students (grades K-12) toward handicapped children were positive, with no overall differences found between sexes among grade levels. Ss showed greatest acceptance of learning disabled children and responded more favorably when handicapped children initiated an interaction than when initiation was left to nonhandicapped…

Answers to two parents and a gifted fourth grader are given by two educators on questions of peer acceptance, a three-year-old who is reading, and communication skills. (CL)