Reasons Why Gifted Children Sometimes Underachieve
Profiles: Belinda; Craig; Steven; William.
Profiles: Steven
A well-spoken, verbally fluent boy, Steven was highly perfectionistic, performing in the high 90s for PATs. Teachers assumed Steven was over-confident and brash, describing him as intense and easily upset. He acknowledged he was highly competitive, constantly comparing himself with others, usually unfavourably. He was not a risk-taker socially because he feared rejection. He was afraid of making mistakes, and afraid of revealing his imperfections. He admitted that he expected too much of himself and others, and that he experienced a lot of stress and anxiety over his performance. Steven's grades, by year 9, were slipping to predominantly Bs and Cs and given his frustration and perfectionism, were likely to continue their slide if he gave up.
The thing most likely to frustrate and upset Steven was his making mistakes because "others had given him the wrong information". Throughout his primary and intermediate schooling, his teachers acknowledged that Steven was very bright, but he was increasingly reluctant to commit his work to paper. He had a self-professed struggle with spelling, and his handwriting was untidy. He observed he could think much faster than he could write, and that fear of making mistakes slowed him down even further. As a result, he lost his train of thought and commented that he often finished up writing almost gibberish under timed test conditions. Steven was capable of holding extremely mature, adult-level conversations, yet frequently was very fixed in his thinking, and often unable to "read" social signals.
Pathway
Referral for full educational assessment by an educational psychologist.
Referral result
Steven's full scale score was >99th percentile on the WISC III, indicating that not only was he in the "very superior" range, he was off the scale, and to assess his true ability, further tests would be needed. However, that was not the issue. What was glaringly apparent was that in spite of this score, Steven scored well below average for coding, although on all other tests he scored very highly. Coding indicates the speed at which new tasks are learned, visual memory, motor coordination, perception, and persistence.
Steven's spelling was equal to his age level – evidence of the asynchronous development of an exceptionally gifted young man.
Outcome
A full, clear explanation of the findings was given to Steven, along with some specific counselling on handling his perfectionism. Exploration of exam conditions proved worthwhile for Steven. His marks improved immediately, and he could see the value of the use of his computer to develop skills that would enable him to achieve high quality product. Steven sustained his improvement, became much more settled in class and amongst his peers, and was less inclined to become distressed. His parents reported a significant change in behaviour at home as Steven became an autonomous learner.
Like many other gifted students, Steven was also loaned a valuable resource, The Gifted Kid's Survival Guide: A Teen Handbook by J. D. Galbraith (1996), along with Perfectionism: What's Bad About Being Too Good by M. Adderholt-Elliot and Goldberg (1999). These books are also good for parents to share with their teenager.
No ray of sunshine is ever lost but the green which it awakens into existence needs time to sprout. And it is not always granted for the sower to see the harvest. All work that is worth anything is done in faith.
- Albert Schwietzer