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Ethical and Professional Practice Issues in the Provision of Educational Services to Gifted Students

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There have been many changes over the past 50–75 years in the provision of services to gifted children. As new theoretical positions and related discussions regarding “what is intelligence” have emerged in the literature (e.g., Gardner, 1983; Guilford, 1967; Renzulli, 1978; Sternberg, 1984; Thurstone, 1947), discussions regarding what constitutes “giftedness” have also taken place—with these discussions going beyond Terman’s (1926) restricted view of giftedness as referring to those individuals who score in the “…top 1% of general intellectual ability, as measured by the Stanford- Binet Intelligence scale or comparable instrument” (p.43).

In this chapter, we discuss the ethical and professional practice issues associated with the provision of educational assessment and intervention services to gifted children. We first begin with a discussion and commentary on the issues surrounding the definition of the term “giftedness,” followed by discussions and commentaries on the ethical and professional practice issues pertaining to the assessment and identification of gifted children, as well as the associated placement and curriculum issues that may arise. The chapter closes with a brief discussion of issues associated with providing counseling services to gifted children.**

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Thompson, K.C. (2008). Ethical and Professional Practice Issues in the Provision of Educational Services to Gifted Students. In: Pfeiffer, S.I. (eds) Handbook of Giftedness in Children. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-74401-8_16

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