Reasons Why Gifted Children Sometimes Underachieve
Profiles: Belinda; Craig; Steven; William.
Profiles: Craig
Craig presented as a gifted student with well-developed higher-order thinking skills. The scores on his Progressive Achievement Tests (PATs) were very high, and teachers found him enthusiastic, diligent, highly creative, and motivated. His written product was of a considerably lower standard than would be expected given his obvious verbal ability. He was an avid reader. Overall his grades were Bs and Cs with the exception of an A in drama. His French teacher observed his difficulty in learning and retaining French vocabulary from one day to the next. Closer enquiry from teachers revealed that Craig was frequently forgetful and somewhat disorganised. This was usually attributed to stress, as Craig was in high demand in a wide range of subject and extra-curricular areas. His parents had not expressed concern, but were grateful when the school expressed an interest in ascertaining whether or not Craig had any specific block holding him back. Craig himself expressed a frustration with spelling, and commented that he was not as quick in recalling his basic facts in maths as he would like.
Pathway
Referral for full educational assessment by an educational psychologist.
Referral result
The report confirmed Craig's very high ability and the fact that he did, in fact have some impediments to his learning. Overall, he achieved in the 96th percentile, with his verbal achievement in the 97th percentile. Craig's performance ability, though high at the 86th percentile was pulled down by his speed of processing which was at the 39th percentile.
He had difficulty in three major areas:
- Coding: the speed at which new tasks are learned, visual memory, motor coordination, perception, and persistence (his scores were in the 16th percentile).
- Picture arrangement: planning ability, sequencing information, foresight, social intelligence (street smarts), and understanding of subtleties of relationships (his scores were in the 50th percentile).
- Symbol search: speed of processing, controlled attention, and memory scanning abilities (scores in the 63rd percentile).
Of these three, coding was the most significant learning block. Craig would have enormous difficulty getting work down on paper, especially under timed test conditions. Memory for new work is hindered by poor visual memory; such students are often disorganised, "forgetful", and struggle to remember information that needs visual memory for recall, such as spelling, and foreign language vocabulary.
While his latter two scores are of middle average ability, given the speed at which Craig's brain works in other areas, they are still a source of frustration and comparative "lack".
The psychologist pointed out that Craig's profile exhibits some dyslexic characteristics and his spelling accuracy does not reflect his "exceptional oral English language ability".
Outcomes
Craig was unaware that he was gifted, and his sense of self was raised appreciably when he realised that his weaknesses were not of his own making. He became even more motivated to achieve, and to overcome the invisible obstacles before him.
Craig was already in some high ability classes, so curriculum adaptation to cater for his gifted needs was already underway. However, it was important that Craig's teachers were aware of his special learning needs. The classes already use laptops for much of their work, so production on a daily basis and for assignments was already being facilitated. Craig was given extra time in exams, taught how to function effectively with a writer, and encouraged to develop further his typing skills on the computer, so that he could become independent of a writer. Supervision of special exam conditions at Craig's school is the responsibility of a learner support teacher. He was taught strategies for enhancing his memory skills, particularly focusing upon his auditory ability, rather than his visual ability.
It is important to note that Craig, like the other students, was given a choice as to whether or not he pursued the options above. Student ownership of the "solutions" is crucial. Not all secondary students will accept special exam conditions, preferring to remain anonymous. They should be aware that though they may refuse an option, the door is open for them to pick it up at a later date.