Accurate assessment and early identification of gifted children is of great importance in terms of providing them with educational programs tailored for their abilities in specific areas. Individually administered intelligence tests are widely used to identify gifted children, and an above-average level of intellectual capacity is generally accepted as the main criterion for giftedness. This study aimed to investigate the utility of the Turkish version of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children- Fourth Edition (WISC-IV) to distinguish gifted children from non-gifted children. For this purpose, 201 gifted children and 201 non-gifted children were included in the study. To be able to determine the predictive power of the WISC-IV index and subtest scores, logistic regression analyses were performed. Results indicated that the Perceptual Reasoning Index, Working Memory Index, and Processing Speed Index scores (except Verbal Comprehension Index score), and all subtest scores significantly predicted giftedness. Furthermore, correct classification rates among gifted children were 93% for index scores and 97% for subtest scores. The findings of this study suggest that intelligence scores obtained from the WISC-IV have a diagnostic utility and provide valid and reliable results in identifying gifted children.

Anadolu-Sak Intelligence Scale (ASIS) is the first intelligence scale developed and normed in Turkey. In this study, the concurrent validity of the ASIS was investigated. A total of 98 gifted and 232 average students were administered the ASIS. Gifted students’ mean IQ (135) on the ASIS was found to be above the traditional cutoff (130 IQ). ASIS general intelligence index was the best predictor of giftedness, followed by the Fluid Reasoning Index, the Crystalized Knowledge Index and the Memory Capacity Index. Correlations between the ASIS indexes and academic achievement in math, science, language and social studies for average students were high, ranging from .50 to .83. The General Intelligence Index had the highest correlations with academic achievement in all the subjects with a mean correlation of .81 at the fourth grade and .75 at the fifth grade. Results provided strong support for the validity of the ASIS in relation to academic achievement and giftedness.

Focusing on the dominant intelligences of individuals from their early ages will be beneficial for them and the society in terms of improving their talents. When this situation is considered for gifted and talented children, we believe that there is a need for detailed analysis for Turkey beginning from the early years of children. Hence, in this study, it is aimed to investigate the multiple intelligence domains of Turkish gifted and talented students studying in science and art centres (SACs) across the country via a survey research. This paper presents the results gained from 12 SACs. Those SACs were selected according to the socio-economic development index (SEDI) of Turkey as declared by Ministry of Development (MD) which considered the country to consist of 6 regions. Two SACs from each of those six regions were included in the study. Thus, the sample consisted of 390 middle school 5th grade students. A Likert type multiple intelligence test which included 80 items related to eight domains of multiple intelligence was utilized as data collection instrument (Demirel, Başbay & Erdem, 2006: 155). Descriptive statistics and non-parametric statistics tests were conducted in order to analyze the study data. The results indicated various differences among multiple intelligence scores of the participants. Key words: Gifted and talented students, multiple intelligence domains, science and art centres.

In this article, the concept of giftedness in children of different ages, its types and characteristics, the basics of diagnosis and methods of development of factors contributing to intellectual abilities were studied. In this context, quite a lot of opinions and worldviews of thinkers of different historical eras, including Plato, Confucius and others, were analyzed regarding the definition of the concept of giftedness in children. The neurophysiological features of mental thinking were also investigated. It was concluded that giftedness is a unique combination of abilities that are the result of neurophysiological processes, which is a prerequisite for achieving certain successes or certain achievements in a certain activity. Thanks to such unique features, the child differs from others in a certain way. Giftedness is some unique feature of children, which is determined by the neurophysiological features of the body's development. The relevance of such topics is extremely imp...