This paper is focused on the academic acceleration as one of the most
adequate option to reach an optimal match between the special
educational needs of academic talented students and the curriculum they
have to follow. Very often we see that the curriculum that schools
offer to the regular students is not challenging enough for those
children who can reason extremely well in some academic areas (i. e.
verbal and mathematics). Most of the time this can be harmful to these
kind of students sometimes causing them to develop poor study and work
habits and become lazy intellectually.
The educational system must offer different kinds of accelerated
options permitting those highly able students to be adequately
challenged and stimulated.
This work revises the most recent and meaningful studies in this field,
showing the effects of different kinds of academic acceleration.
The major concern of those people who are detractors of this academic
option is the possible problems of social or emotional adjustment
caused by the academic acceleration, but this argument can not be
supported on the research findings. Moreover, research clearly states
that when academic acceleration is applied to carefully selected
students it produces more benefits than negative effects and
constitutes one of the most adequate ways to nurture and develop the
academic talent. Javier Tourón, Felisa Peralta and Charo Repáraz
Key Words: Academic acceleration. Academic talented. Gifted students. Special educational needs.
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