Caring for gifted students requires a long-term plan that begins with the stage of discovering and identifying gifted students and ends with the stage of empowerment by utilizing their abilities for the benefit of society and its prosperity. During this journey, it is necessary to provide guidance and counseling services in its various categories, including psychological, social, academic and professional. Guidance and counseling can be defined as a set of educational, psychological and professional services provided to the individual to enable him to plan for his future life, according to his capabilities, in a way that satisfies his needs, fulfills his desires, and achieves his self (Abu Ghazaleh, 1985). Guidance is also defined as "the set of services that aim to help the individual understand himself, understand his problems, and exploit his own potential and the potential of his surroundings to determine realistic goals that are consistent with those potentials, to reach the maximum growth that his capabilities allow" (Abdul Hadi and Al-Azza, 1999, p. 14). The difference between guidance and counseling must be clarified, as guidance is more general and comprehensive than counseling, and guidance precedes the counseling process and paves the way for it, while counseling comes after guidance.

Through scientific studies in the field of giftedness (Olszewski-kubilius & Thomson, 2015; Neihart, 1999, 2012; Cross, 2012; Rimm, 2003), specialists have indicated that gifted students face many psychological, social, academic and professional challenges depending on the age group and the cultural and educational background of the student. Perhaps the most prominent challenges facing gifted students are: emotional tension, hyperarousal, social isolation from peers, anxiety, high expectations from parents and teachers, rejection by peers, depression, perfectionism, violence, bullying, poor academic performance associated with lack of motivation, test anxiety, poor adaptation to the school environment, and difficulty determining the appropriate professional field according to inclinations and abilities. When these challenges are ignored or appropriate guidance and counselling is not provided, they may result in a deterioration in the student’s physical, psychological and social health, which will negatively impact society as a whole in the future (Al-Juhaiman, 2019).

Why is guidance and counseling important in gifted programs?

Gifted program planners should view guidance and counseling services as an essential component of their programs, not an optional extra. Providing guidance and counseling services to gifted students is important for many reasons (Olszewski-kubilius & Thomson, 2015; Al-Jaghiman, 2019; Greene, 2005; Sparfeldt, 2007; Neihart, 1999, 2012), including:

- The presence of guidance and counselling in gifted programmes contributes to developing students’ talents, building self-confidence and managing the social and emotional challenges that arise from their classification as gifted students.

- The presence of guidance and counseling specialists in gifted programs helps gifted students identify their strengths and weaknesses, set realistic goals, and develop strategies to achieve those goals.

- The presence of guidance and counselling specialists helps gifted students explore their interests and find ways to develop them.

- The presence of guidance and counselling specialists helps students develop a sense of belonging and communicate with their peers in a positive way.

Providing guidance and counselling services helps talented students identify the career field that is most suitable for them.

- The importance of guidance and counseling services also lies in helping parents and teachers of gifted students to identify the most prominent psychological, social, academic and professional challenges that may hinder the journey of gifted students during their participation in programs that suit their abilities and potential. For example, high and exaggerated expectations by parents or teachers towards the achievements of gifted students are a negative factor that may lead to creating psychological challenges for gifted students.

- Career guidance and counseling services are among the main pillars for which gifted programs exist. Gifted programs are supposed to be built according to the abilities and interests of gifted students, so as to help them identify the future professional field that is most appropriate for those abilities and contribute to meeting those interests.

- Career guidance and counselling helps in long-term planning of programmes and services provided to gifted students in order to meet their needs and develop their abilities so that the programmes provided to them are not short and unconnected.

Categories related to guidance and counseling

Although psychological, social and vocational guidance and counseling are of great importance and primarily target gifted students, it must be taken into consideration that the guidance and counseling program includes a larger environment to include the family, peers, and school (Al-Jaghman, 2019). The family plays an important role in psychological, social and vocational guidance for gifted students, as the family is the environment in which the student spends most of his time. Hence, it is important to educate parents about the characteristics of gifted students and the psychological and social challenges they may face after being classified as gifted students through scientific tools approved by the relevant authorities. Parents are also advised to work with gifted program designers to set short- and long-term goals for their children to develop their talents. Parents also need to set realistic goals and expectations and achieve a balance between the amount of challenge and the amount of appropriate support. Perhaps it is important to point out a negative behavior that some parents may practice towards gifted students, which is negative pressure by directing the son to a career path or field that the guardian believes is best for his son without taking into account the son's abilities and interests. For example, pushing the son into a specific major, or refusing the son to practice his inclinations in a certain field at an early age, or forcing the son to remain practicing a certain activity for a long time without the son feeling inclinations towards that activity.

The school also has a role in psychological, social and professional guidance and counseling for gifted students, as these students spend hours daily within the school environment, which requires the educational staff to provide support and assistance to gifted students. The student counselor, in cooperation with the teachers of gifted students, can draw up a long-term plan to provide support and assistance to these gifted students in many aspects to ensure academic, psychological, social and professional growth, including (a) individualizing education and focusing on the points of excellence of gifted students, (b) helping gifted students to identify their interests and inclinations, especially at early ages, (c) providing psychological support through several methods, including showing interest and encouragement, (d) enhancing work habits and teaching learning skills, and (e) trying to help gifted students by connecting them with experts in their areas of interest. The school counselor also plays a significant role in developing talents through the following: (a) assessing the needs of gifted students, (b) planning programs and services for the gifted in cooperation with the gifted teacher, if any, (c) follow-up, support and evaluation, (d) helping the student and guardian with career planning and knowing the requirements the student needs to enter university and the grades required by the university and the admission criteria, (e) educating parents and teachers about the psychological and social characteristics of their children, (f) contributing to connecting gifted students with each other, through a network of acquaintances that contributes to connecting the gifted student with his peers who are similar in tendencies and abilities from inside and outside the school.

Peers also have a significant role in psychological, social and professional guidance and counseling, and this should be taken into consideration. Parents and teachers are advised to try to help gifted students build a network of acquaintances among themselves, especially students who have common interests and similar tendencies, taking into account mental age. This does not ignore the fact that gifted students need to form social relationships and friendships with their peers who are similar to them in chronological age, as gifted students need to interact with community groups and develop social skills that contribute to enhancing mental health. Perhaps the most prominent challenges facing gifted students in this regard are the following:

- Negative comments from peers towards gifted students, which may stem from jealousy because of their high abilities, especially in the academic field or excellence in scientific projects. These comments may contribute to gifted students’ hesitation to show their excellence or lead them to a type of social isolation or withdrawal, which later affects their psychological and social development. To face such challenges, parents are advised to encourage their children to form friendships with peers who are similar to them in tendencies, abilities and mental age.

- Gifted students may tend to make friends with age groups older than their chronological age, as they find the opportunity to satisfy their interests and inclinations more than their peers of similar chronological age. Therefore, parents should pay attention to this aspect as it may be an indicator of the son's mental ability. The guardian should also take into consideration that the son needs to make friends with friends of similar chronological age, especially since gifted students, including children, need to play and enjoy childhood.

   There is no doubt about the importance of guidance and counseling for gifted students, as it contributes to developing their talents and building self-confidence. It also helps to discover their interests and find ways to develop them. It also helps parents and teachers to identify the most prominent social, academic and professional challenges that may hinder the path of gifted students, and therefore guidance and counseling are indispensable in the lives of gifted students.

the reviewer

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