Restructuring special programs to reflect the distinctions between children’s and adults’ experiences with giftedness

In this article we draw on longitudinal, retrospective, and cross-sectional studies to address the relationship between giftedness in childhood and adulthood. Evidence points to the fact that children who became eminent adults did not necessarily fit conceptions of giftedness driving programs that currently exist in our schools. These findings suggest that special kinds of educational experiences and social contexts, access to tacit knowledge from mentors and parents, grouping with true intellectual or talent peers, appropriate support networks, and select personality dispositions of talented individuals need to be incorporated into our understandings of the talent development process.