The purpose of educational resilience is to understand why some students from adverse environmental backgrounds and communities succeed while others from equally adverse conditions do not. Resilience must not be regarded as an exclusive attribute of students but as the intertwined relationship between children's abilities and the abilities of individuals within their family, school and social contexts. This proposal of an ecological risk/resilience model in special education is derived from the resilience perspective and is based on Bronfenbrenner's (1994) ecological model of development, and contributions in the study of resilience (Rutter, 1993). This proposed model lays the foundation for specific assessment/intervention program development focused on altering the way special education students interact with different people and within different contexts, in order to promote resilient behaviors in the actors involved in their academic achievement and adaptation, and educational inclusion. A special emphasis is made on early intervention, when children start schooling and may face academic risks due to their special educational needs. The basis for this model, the dynamics of implementation and the main results are described.

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Identification of gifted children in Mexico has been limited. This population may be thus considered at educational risk, requiring that programs to enhance the development of their potential be implemented. Social validity will make it possible to learn to which extent procedures, goals and outcomes of implemented interventions are relevant and accepted by participants, in order to promote future interventions that serve as a protective factor for these students. The purpose of this study was to assess the educational significance, the acceptability of procedures, and the social effects of a creative and cognitive enrichment program for gifted children, their parents and teachers, based on the ecological risk/resilience model. In this descriptive non-experimental mixed-method design study, 15 children, 16 parents and 3 teachers participated, responding to different questionnaires. Results were analyzed quantitatively and qualitatively. Quantitatively, no statistically significant differences were found in responses of fathers and mothers regarding educational significance, assessment and intervention procedure acceptability, or social effects. Children, parents, and teachers considered their participation in this program to be useful, since they were provided with comprehensive assistance that not only enhanced the development of the children's potential, but also promoted interaction between school and family settings. The social validity of the creative and cognitive enrichment program based on the ecological risk/resilience model shows the development of resilient behaviors in children, parents and teachers that encourages the stimulation of these children's potential.

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