Four gifted children, filmed over 12 months, feature in a documentary on RTE 1 at 10 p.m. tonight. Ahead of the Class follows Paul McDonagh-Forde (age four) in Sligo, Peter Gowan (six) and Amy Van Boxtil (11) in Dublin and Shane Carr (16) in Donegal.

Their families, their teachers and others in the education system discuss "their unique set of needs", explains Liam McGrath, the documentary's director. The young people themselves also talk about their dreams and frustrations, what they want to achieve and how they want to live their lives normally. According to McGrath and the programme's researcher, Christine Thornton, "all of the families involved have made huge sacrifices to help their children and this has sometimes resulted in turmoil and frustration for them too."