After nearly a century of development, gifted education has evolved into a complex educational discipline with well thought out pedagogy and research agendas. However, while the number of studies escalates, the field as a whole has been criticized for producing fragmented and piecemeal results. One of the reasons for these shortfalls is that the field has invested little in meta-theoretical aspects, such as historical perspectives and philosophical foundations. This article is a comprehensive review and analysis of the conceptual changes and paradigm shifts in gifted education. Three major paradigm shifts in gifted education were identified- (i.e., giftedness as manifested wonders), (i.e., giftedness as measurable predictions), and (i.e., effectuation of human possibilities). Presently, there is still an implicit focus on the identification paradigm despite considerable efforts to shift the focus to creating and sustaining appropriate developmental niches for all individuals. Debates in the field are highlighted to provoke discussion of future directions.

New findings are presented for children in grades 1 to 9 who qualified their families for a multi-generational family genetics study of dyslexia (impaired word decoding/spelling) who had either superior verbal reasoning (=33 at or above 1 2/3 standard deviation, superior or better range; 19% of these children) or average verbal reasoning (=31 below population mean, but above - 2/3 standard deviation, average range; 18% of these children). Evidence-based rationale and results supporting the tested hypotheses are provided: (a) twice exceptional students with superior verbal reasoning and dyslexia significantly outperformed those with average verbal reasoning and dyslexia on reading, spelling, morphological, and syntactic skills, (b) but not on verbal working-memory behavioral markers of genetically based dyslexia related to impaired phonological and orthographic word-form storage and processing, naming orthographic symbols (phonological loop), writing orthographic symbols (orthographic loop), and supervisory attention (focus, switch, sustain, or monitor attention). Superior verbal reasoning may mask dyslexia if only very low achievement is used to identify this disorder of oral word reading and written spelling. Instruction for twice exceptional students who have dyslexia, but are also verbally gifted, should focus not only on oral word reading and written spelling but also the impaired working memory components within intellectually engaging lesson sets. These findings for gifted students with dyslexia are situated within the broader context of the many kinds of twice exceptionalities related to specific learning disabilities that exist in school-age children and youth.

Adolescence is a period of development particularly vulnerable to the effects of alcohol use, with recent studies underscoring alcohol's effects on adolescent brain development. Despite the alarming rates and consequences of adolescent alcohol use, gifted adolescents are often overlooked as being at risk for early alcohol use. Although gifted adolescents may possess protective factors that likely inhibit the use of alcohol, some gifted youth may be vulnerable to initiating alcohol use during adolescence as experimenting with alcohol may be one way gifted youth choose to compensate for the social price (whether real or perceived) of their academic talents. To address the dearth of research on alcohol use among gifted adolescents the current study (a) examined the extent to which gifted adolescents use alcohol relative to their nongifted peers and (b) examined the adjustment profile of gifted adolescents who had tried alcohol relative to nongifted adolescents who tried alcohol as well as gifted and nongifted abstainers. More than 300 students in seventh grade (42.5% gifted) participated in the present study. Results indicated gifted students have, in fact, tried alcohol at rates that do not differ from nongifted students. Although trying alcohol was generally associated with negative adjustment, giftedness served as a moderating factor such that gifted students who had tried alcohol were less at risk than their nongifted peers. However, evidence also suggests that gifted adolescents who tried alcohol may be a part of a peer context that promotes substance use, which may place these youth at risk for adjustment difficulties in the future.

This article reports on an analysis of the diagnostic accuracy of a new teacher rating scale designed to assist in the identification of gifted preschool and kindergarten students. The Gifted Rating Scales-Preschool/Kindergarten Form (GRS-P) is based on a multidimensional model of giftedness. An examination of the standardization sample using diagnostic efficiency statistics provides support for the diagnostic accuracy of the GRS-P Intellectual Ability and Academic Ability scales identifying intellectual giftedness, irrespective of the IQ cut score used to demarcate giftedness. The present findings extend the analysis of the standardization sample reported in the test manual and provide additional support for the GRS-P as a gifted screening tool.

The Gifted Rating Scales-School Form (GRS-S), a teacher-completed rating scale, is designed to identify five types of giftedness and motivation. This study examines the reliability and validity of a Chinese-translated version of the GRS-S with a sample of Chinese elementary and middle school students ( = 499). The Chinese GRSS was found to have high internal consistency. Results of the confirmatory factor analysis corroborated the six-factor solution of the original GRS-S. Comparison of the GRS-S scores and measures of academic performance provide preliminary support for the criterion validity of the Chinese-translated GRS-S. Significant age and gender differences on the Chinese GRS-S were found. Results provide preliminary support for the Chinese version of the GRS-S as a reliable and valid measure of giftedness for Chinese students.