Preparing School Counselors to Address Concerns Related to Giftedness: A Study of Accredited Counselor Preparation Programs

Abstract

Professional school counselors are responsible for serving students across a wide range of cognitive ability, yet counselor educators may not attend to issues related to giftedness, such as how and when developmental phenomena may be experienced by highly able students, and the need to differentiate counseling approaches for this population. This study examined the extent to which CACREP-accredited school counseling programs addressed giftedness, as well as perceived barriers and supports that influenced whether programs included topics related to extreme ability in their preparatory curricula. Findings included that minimal attention was given to the implications of high ability for counseling practice, and that a lack of room in the curriculum, lack of funding, and absence of pertinent, mandated standards were some of the largest barriers to inclusion. Supports in the form of openness to including information, faculty expertise and experience, and perceived need were generally perceived to be low to moderate.