Yolanda Benito is the head of "HUERTA DEL REY" educational and psychological Center, which is internationally known and prestigious. She has been member of the organizing and scientific committee of several international conferences. She has participated as lecturer and teacher at more than a hundred courses, seminars and conferences in Spain and different countries, invited by the corresponding Ministries of Education, or local governments or state institutions.
She is the head of the editorial board of "Ideacción", the Spanish Language Magazine on Giftedness. Author of the only existing trilogy on gifted students in Spanish language: Problemática del Niño Superdotado (1990) - (Gifted children's Problems); - Desarrollo y Educación de los Niños Superdotados (1992) - (Gifted children's development and education); - Intervención e Investigación Psicoeducativas en Alumnos Superdotados (1994) - (Psicho-educational implementation and research on gifted students), all them edited by Amarú Ediciones, Salamanca.
Her doctoral dissertation of Psychology was defended in 1996, University of Nijmegen (The Netherlands) under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Franz J. Mönks, from Nijmegen University and Prof. Dr. P.G. Heymans, from Utrecht University and it dealt with this work, which came out in the present publication.
This is a remarkable book. When special education is dealt with or written about, it is mainly referred to children who are working at a low intellectual level. However, this book deals with children who learns at a faster pace, who learn more in a shorter time. From their early age, they develop their own, particular cognitive strategies to perceive and process information as well as to solve problems in a creative way. They are also individuals who become unhappy if their need for learning is inadequately met or they feel unsatisfied regarding this one. Undoubtfully, the present empirical study -the first one in Spain due to its magnitude and accuracy- will have a great influence to better generate a deeper understanding of gifted children's developmental needs.
