Gifted and talented individuals possess the attributes and abilities to enrich their own lives and to make a valuable contribution to the knowledge society. This potential can be maximized by the provision of a tailored education which provides the scope and balance which gifted students crave.

The perception that gifted students will achieve, regardless of the educational provision, because of their innate abilities still lingers. International research, however, points to the tragic loss of potential which results from failure to engage gifted students during the early years.

For teachers, the challenge is to accurately identify all gifted students, provide differentiated programs which meet their diverse needs and continually evaluate the provision in light of the rapid changes which occur when gifted students are firing on all cylinders.

The purpose of this resource is to assist teachers in identifying the gifted. It looks at what their needs are and guides teachers in meeting these needs in an efficient manner which matches the personnel and resources of each school community.

The scope of this book is to address the needs of the regular gifted, i.e., gifted students who are not disadvantaged by an underachieving mind set or by a diagnosed learning difficulty. Although such students will be referred to in this book, their needs are so great that they require highly differentiated programs. The needs of GTU students (Gifted and talented underachievers) and GLD students (Gifted learning disadvantaged students) are detailed in other titles in this series.

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