Essential Steps in Screening and Identifying Preschool Gifted Children

Abstract

This article describes a practical screening and evaluation process which identifies a unique group of academically/intellectually superior children—pre— schoolers—in need of placement in a publicly funded gifted program. Problems faced by one public school system and steps developed for the school system to resolve the problems when attempting to screen/identify gifted 3- to 5-year-olds are presented. The process described has been in operation for five years and involves screening (i.e., education of the public, general screening, and individualized screening) and formal evaluation (i.e., comprehensive evaluation and evaluation report).