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Giftedness counseling in Germany: Consultation reasons and issues and their relations to gender, age, and aptitude

ABSTRACT In Germany, parents can request counseling and assessment of school-related learning and behavioral issues from either independent counseling centers or school-based ones. Focusing on giftedness consultations at independent counseling centers, the goal of this study is to provide a detailed description of the reasons for and the issues discussed during the consultation process. Specifically, the frequency and relationships among each other are examined as well as the relationships with the client characteristics gender, age, and ability. A questionnaire, completed by the counseling professionals, was used to assess the reasons that were given for seeking consultation and the topics that were addressed during the counseling process at 14 psychodiagnostic counseling centers. Overall, data from 156 children and adolescents (25% female) were included in the analyses. Frequent reasons for and topics of the consultations were giftedness assessment, advocacy of gifted education, and motivation. Correlation analyses identified two separate groups of themes: “social and behavioral problems” and “learning disorders and achievement-related problems.” Whereas the motives for seeking consultation and the counseling issues were typically the same for both boys and girls, some of these varied greatly depending on age, type of school, and aptitude of the children. These results are discussed with respect to the current state of research as well as their implications for counseling practice and the qualifications of the professional counseling personnel.