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Who offers professional counseling?

Professional counseling is offered by a number of different institutions. There are consultation services that offer specialized counseling on giftedness and other services that offer counseling on a wide range of potential challenges and also provide support for issues surrounding the developmental characteristics of a child. The first type includes specialized counseling centers for the gifted that are run by public, university, or private organizations. Another type is the parenting resource centers (Erziehungsberatungsstellen), where the focus is on providing guidance to parents, for example, with parenting issues. In cases where early school enrollment of the child is under consideration, the school psychology counseling services can also provide valuable support.

Finally, there are also professional consultation services where early childhood educators can find information on how to work with young gifted children on a daily basis. Some German federal states — in conjunction with their education and development plans — offer consultation services for this purpose. In some cases, the early childhood education organizations also offer these services as part of their staff support structures.