There is some concern raised by researchers and writers in the field of gifted education as to the exact reasons why gifted children often read literature that is paced well beyond their chronological marker. It is critical that gifted children's reading materials involve a rich and varied language...

Halsted (1994), highlighted three possible problems that may arise:

• Gifted readers may push themselves to read any materials they can decode before they have developed the emotional readiness to comprehend;
• Appropriate books for young gifted readers who are able to decode materials that were written for children four or five years chronologically older than them are difficult to find;
• Prolific reading may be occurring as a reflection of social ineptness and therefore is not always appropriate.
  

Parental background, socioeconomic and educational influences may effect the quantity and type of reading a gifted child exhibits. Regardless of socioeconomic background however, gifted children often learn to read at an accelerated pace, needing very little repetition of the basic skills of reading required by their chronological peers of average ability (Halsted, 1988). On the whole, they can be voracious readers, spending many more hours each week reading than average children, and this trait regularly continues through to adulthood (Whitehead, 1984), although there is evidence that guidance in the choice of reading materials and positive experiences with reading during schooling and at home are important to the continuance of these reading habits (Clark, 1983; Halsted, 1994).

It is essential to children of all intellectual abilities that reading is seen as a valuable pursuit, but it is especially critical to gifted children that reading materials involving a rich and varied language is as equally valued, regardless of the child's parental and socioeconomic background.

Barbara Clark (1983) stressed that the specific cognitive and affective characteristics of gifted children, in turn imply a number of specific educational needs. It is important that gifted children are:

• exposed to new and challenging information about the environment and societies;
• exposed to varied subjects and issues;allowed to investigate their passions and interests;
• allowed to encounter and use increasingly difficult vocabulary and concepts;
• exposed to ideas at rates appropriate to the individual's pace of learning;
• allowed to pursue inquiries beyond allotted time spans.
  

These needs can be met through an educational program based on books and reading. If this program occurs in a classroom situation where there is also an opportunity for group discussions some additional cognitive needs of these children may also be met. Gifted children need to:

• have access to intellectual peers;
• share ideas verbally in depth;
• have a longer incubation time for ideas;
• build skills in productive thinking;
• draw generalisations and test them.

Gifted children and youth must face the same challenges as they grow that everyone else faces, but the phenomenon of giftedness can make growing up more difficult for them (Halsted, 1994), especially in a world that appears to be geared for the average. They may experience isolation, feelings of difference and even inferiority, and the sense of being misunderstood or not understood by their classmates and by adults. Because of their extreme sensitivity and intensity, they may be more seriously affected by teasing and criticism than most. They must continually choose between the alternatives of using their ability or fitting in with their group (Gross, 1989).

For gifted children, books may address these affective concerns. In many novels for children and young people, these issues are major themes, whether or not the characters are identified as gifted, and may therefore provide coping strategies for the reader. Gifted children may be led to explore and resolve concerns through shared reading discussions. Developmental bibliotherapy, the process of dynamic interaction between an individual and literature through facilitated dialogue, helps children recognise, sort out and evaluate their responses to literature.

Van Tassel-Baska (1993) adds that programs for high ability students should provide the opportunity for rigorous study in each discipline and that reading programs in particular should involve substantive texts as a crucial component of the curriculum (Halsted, 1988). It is no doubt frustrating for the early reader, newly arrived to Kindergarten, to find that they must relearn reading skills and processes already mastered and be forced to read texts that fall well below their cognitive and affective abilities.

There is considerable evidence that this regression towards the mean leads gifted children to mask and camouflage their identities (Gross, 1998). An appropriate reading program may help to negate this effect and allow gifted children the opportunity to be accepted for who they are, without judgement and prejudice, whilst still maintaining their need for privacy. Silverman (1993), further emphasised the need for an educational program that is appropriate to gifted readers because they not only think differently to their peers but they also feel differently.

Ref List:
Clark, B. (1983). Growing up gifted. Columbus, Ohio: Charles E. Merrill.
Gross, M.U.M. (1994). The highly gifted: Their nature and needs. In J.B. Hansen and S.M. hoover (Eds.). Talent development: Theories and practice (pp. 45 - 68). Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall Hunt Publishing Company.
Gross, M. U. M. (1989). The pursuit of excellence or the search for intimacy? The forced choice dilemma of gifted youth. Roeper Review, 11 (4) 189-194.
Gross, M.U.M. (1993). Exceptionally gifted children. London: Routledge.
Gross, M.U.M. (1998). The 'Me' behind the mask: Intellectually gifted students and the search for identity. Roeper Review, 20(3), 167-174.
Halstead, J.W. (1988). Guiding gifted readers from pre-school through high school. Columbus, Ohio: Ohio Psychology Publishing Company.
Hynes, A. M. & Hynes-Berry, M. (1986). Bibliotherapy: The Interactive Process: A Handbook. Boulder: Westview.
Silverman, L. (1993). Counselling the gifted and talented. Denver, Colorado: Love Publishing.Thompson, (1990).
VanTassel-Baska, J. (1993). Comprehensive curriculum planning for gifted learners. Boston, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Whitehead, R. J. (1984). A Guide to Selecting Books for Children. Metuchen, NJ: Scarecrow.

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