Students who have problems with learning face a myriad of difficulties in accessing the curriculum in today's classrooms. These students often need intensive support to bring them 'up to speed' in basic skills such as reading fluency and the recall of number facts. Catering to the educational needs of these students poses a considerable challenge to classroom teachers. The research described here focuses on the role of automaticity in developing students' fluency and facility with basic academic facts. The program is described as a fourth-phase intervention. This follows the initial teaching of the content by the classroom teacher and subsequent attempts to address students' difficulties. The third phase occurs when the teacher receives collaborative support from a specialist within the classroom. The fourth phase refers to intensive focused instruction associated with the student being withdrawn from class for a number of periods a week over an extended time frame. The main aim of the QuickSmart research program is to investigate the effect of improved automaticity of basic skills on higher-order processes, such as problem solving and comprehension. One significant feature of the QuickSmart intervention is that it is directed towards students in their middle years of schooling where there has traditionally been a dearth of focused and intensive support available. The research program, conducted by University of New England's Dr Lorraine Graham and Professor John Pegg, and special education teachers, Ms Anne Bellert and Ms Jenny Thomas, has focused on students with learning difficulties in their middle years of schooling. Dubbed QuickSmart because quick in response speed and smart in strategy use is NN, hat the program encourages students to become, the initiative was funded during 2001 by federal Department of Education, Science and Training (DEST) under its Innovative Programs in Literacy and Numeracy scheme and is currently supported by an Australian Research Council (ARC) Discovery grant (2003-2005).

This is a study to develop an appropriate model to identify gifted and talented children in Sri Lanka. The study focuses on Grade Four students in primary level schools of Sri Lanka, with a special emphasis on identifying intellectually gifted and academically talented students. The objectives of the study are to: 1. identify the group of intellectually gifted and academically talented students from the selected sample by means of achievement test scores, and 2. identify the group of intellectually gifted and academically talented students, including gifted underachievers and invisible underachievers, from the selected sample by means of Raven's Standard Progressive Matrices (RSPM) test and dynamic testing 3. identify the group of intellectually gifted and academically talented students from the selected sample by employing Gagné's Peer, Teacher and Self-Nomination forms (PTSNFs). 4. identify the group of intellectually gifted and academically talented students from the selected sample by using Rogers' Parent Inventory for Finding Potential (PIP). 5. identify by means of above-level testing gifted and talented children, from the selected sample of Primary Grade level schools in Sri Lanka, who need further educational challenge beyond their Grade level. 6. to propose a model to identify intellectually gifted and academically talented students, appropriate for the Primary Grade level schools in Sri Lanka. About 450 Students from the Colombo district of the Western Province of Sri Lanka, from all school types and including children from diverse socio-economical backgrounds, were included in the sample. Achievement test scores, a non-verbal IQ test, Gagné's Tracking Talents Forms A & B (which cover teacher, peer and self nominations), Rogers Parent Inventory for finding Potential, an above level test, and dynamic testing (developed specifically for the Sri Lankan context) were the instruments and procedures administered in the study. The quantitative data were supported by qualitative data in the form of interviews of selected students, parents and teachers. The findings suggest that all the instruments and procedures, used in collaboration with parents, teachers and peers, are appropriate for identifying intellectually gifted and academically talented students, but that none of them separately would identify such a heterogeneous group of gifted and talented children as those identified in this study. The study proposes a 360-degree assessment and feedback model to identify gifted and talented children. The application of this model to identify gifts in other domains, and talents in other fields, and to identify gifted and talented children in other cultural and educational contexts, is feasible, but should be subjected to further research.