Presentation for careers.

1. Career Counseling for
Intellectually Talented
Youth

2. Intellectually Talented Youth
• Need special attention if they are to develop their gifts and avoid becoming
bored or underachieving
• Intellectually gifted youth may have a greater sense of opportunity.
• More career options
• Higher self-efficacy
• Early detection of intellectual giftedness is the first step in facilitating truly
exceptional talent development
• Goal of Counseling:
• Early assessment of personal characteristics relevant to
educational and career environments, followed by access,
support, and encouragement to pursue developmentally
appropriate opportunities.

3. P-E Fit Approach for Gifted Youth
• P-E fit theory, as the overarching framework for understanding and
studying talent development over the life span
• Critical Areas:
• ABILITIES
• verbal- linguistic, mathematical-numerical, and spatial-mechanical
• PREFERENCES
• Holland’s 6 General Interest Themes (RIASEC)

4. Above-Level Abilities Assessments
• Use of tests developed for older students for identifying and
nurturing intellectual precocity among gifted adolescents
• Help distinguish the good from the great
• Above-Level Abilities Assessments distinguish ability differences
among highly intelligent youth, as well as identify areas in which
the individuals are strongest.
• Over time, differential areas of strength forecast the selection of
contrasting educational and career paths.
• Ability patterns emerging in early adolescence among the
intellectually talented relate to the types of activities to which these
individuals devoted time and effort.

5. Above-level Assessment of Preferences
• Crystallization may occur earlier than normal age for the intellectually gifted.
• Strong Interest Inventory
• A vocational test that establishes a Holland code and a general idea of
the sorts of occupations that are appropriate, such as the Self-Directed
Search (Holland, 1985) or the Vocational Preference Inventory (Holland,
1988), should be the first instrument.
• A personality test that provides enough differentiation of specific
personality characteristics and that is developed on a normal population
should be next.

6. Instruments
• Strong Interest Inventory
• Self-Directed Search (Holland, 1985)
• Vocational Preference Inventory (Holland, 1988)
• Edwards Personal Preference Survey
• Personality Research Form

7. Multipotentiality
• Multipotentiality is defined as the ability to select and develop
any of a number of diverse career options.
• Most intellectually talented individuals can thrive in almost any
vocation or career because of their multitude of high-level abilities
and interests. Gift or Curse?
• Self-Report of abilities is not so informative
• Above-level assessment is necessary to show gifted individuals
still are better at somethings than others
• Despite outward appearances, we cannot assume that the gifted have
undifferentiated, or flat, abilities and interests—in fact, most do not.

8. Gender Considerations
GIRLS BOYS
Gifted boys’ attitudes found it
• Adolescent girls are often faced
necessary to hide their giftedness.
with the choice of developing
intellectually or socially.
• Girls tend to stray from original Boys on track for math/science track =
career ambitions good; Boys on humanities track = Bad

9. Gender
Considerations(Continued)
• Career assessment of gifted boys needs to take into account the
pressures boys experience fulfill the traditional masculine role.
• Career assessment with adolescent gifted girls must take into account
career aspirations, lifestyle plans, math/science self-efficacy expectations, and
self-esteem.
• Encouragement both girls and boys to consider nontraditional
occupations.

10. Counseling Intellectually Gifts Youth
• Focus on optimal development
• Acceleration and Rigor
• Counselor’s Aim:
• 1) Identify and capitalize on their salient abilities and interests
(nurturing their potential and finding their passion)
• (2) encourage youth to focus efforts on opportunities that align
with their distinctive potential or passion.

11. References
• Kerr, B., Sodano, S. (2003). Career Assessment With
Intellectually Gifted Students. Journal of Career Assessment.
Vol. 11:2. 168-186.
• Brown, S.D., Lent, W.R. (2005). Career Development and
Counseling: Putting Theory and Research to Work.