Coping or counseling:Families of intellectually gifted students

Although a considerable body of extant literature advises that parents of intellectually able children should be supported by counseling, research evidence is lacking. This study represents data collected from 42 families of 47 children (mean age 6.9 years: mean IQ 150) and reports their experiences across the contexts of family/friendship networks, community resources and school. The findings indicate that parents of able children are subjected to negative experiences in all three settings which would confirm their need for support. Further, the ecological‐systems paradigm is unlikely to be appropriate where home‐school perceptions diverge.