The Use of Consultation to Improve Academic and Psychosocial Outcomes for Gifted Students

Abstract

School psychologists can make use of consultation within a prevention and wellness framework to heighten gifted students’ academic, social, mental health, and life competencies. The triadic and indirect nature of consultation allows school-based consultants the opportunity to support a larger population of students than they could with traditional direct intervention. Consultation holds potential to enhance the capacity of parents, teachers, and administrators to problem-solve by pinpointing critical information and then jointly considering multiple views about well-being, development, intrapersonal, interpersonal, and organizational effectiveness appropriate to the consultee's work setting. The purpose of this article is to present conceptualizations of giftedness and describe the congruence between the philosophy and aims of consultation and the challenges and attributes associated with gifted students. In addition, illustrations of the use of consultation at the classroom and systems level are presented.

KEYWORDS:

• consultation
• gifted
• parents
• wellness