This fourth volume of the Handbook of Special Education: Research and Practice deals with the nature and nurture of gifted and talented youth, issues affecting students with severe disabilities and children and youth at risk. Section one focuses on gifted and talented youth, their identification, practices to accelerate and enrich their learning, their socio-emotional adjustment, and special categories of gifted students. New federal legislation in the US, changing views about intelligence, and growing concern over quality of education, make this section timely and important. Section two concerns students with severe disabilities with topics ranging from how they can be served in regular school and community settings to the transition to work and living in the community. In section three the theme is children and youth at risk from poverty, limited linguistic competence, limited cognitive mastery, and family problems. The chapters highlight what action can be taken to solve the educational problems associated with these risks. Special attention is paid to the problems of education in the inner-city.