A Counselling Framework for Meeting the Needs of Gifted Students in Malaysia 45 Abu Yazid Abu Bakar and Linda E. Brody Contents Introduction ..................................................................................... 992 Psychological Risk Factors ..................................................................... 993 The Need to Belong ............................................................................ 995 Special Schools and Programs ................................................................. 996 Gifted Education in Malaysia .................................................................. 997 Counselling Initiatives at the Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth (CTY) ............. 999 Counselling Strategies at the PERMATApintar™ College, UKM ............................ 1002 Conclusion ...................................................................................... 1005 Cross-References ............................................................................... 1006 References ...................................................................................... 1006 Abstract Gifted education has yet to be considered as one of the mainstream paradigms in the Malaysian national education system. Even though local initiatives for gifted learners were in existence in Malaysia as early as the 1960s, such efforts were short-lived due to a lack of a clearly defined curriculum, as well as limited training, leadership, and resources. Recently, however, interest in promoting programs to serve the learning needs of students with high academic potential has been reignited. In particular, the collaborative effort that begun in 2009 between Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia and the Center for Talented Youth (CTY) at the Johns Hopkins University, USA, resulted in the development of a A. Y. A. Bakar (*) Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Bangi, Malaysia e-mail: yazid3338@ukm.edu.my L. E. Brody Johns Hopkins University Center for Talented Youth, Baltimore, MD, USA e-mail: lbrody1@jhu.edu © Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021 S. R. Smith (ed.), Handbook of Giftedness and Talent Development in the Asia-Pacific, Springer International Handbooks of Education, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-3041-4_47 991