Weekly Objectives

In this week you will...

  • explore how social-emotional needs impact services provided for gifted students.
  • examine how acknowledging the gap that sometimes exists between students’ cognitive and emotional development can help you better understand their unique challenges.
  • familiarize yourself with possible problems that can exist because of gifted students’ characteristic strengths.

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Social and Emotional Needs of Gifted Students

Asynchronous development is the hallmark of giftedness and in a very real sense, as gifted children mature they “grow into” their intellect and become more balanced, more normal. The more extreme the intellectual advancement is; the more extreme is the asynchrony. Social and emotional development depends on the way we perceive and process information and therefore is profoundly influenced by our intellect. – Jean Goerss

For the complete article go to Asynchronous Development.

And, thus, begins our week on the social and emotional needs of gifted learners. Most research and development of programs focus on the academic/cognitive needs of the gifted. In order to best meet the needs of all we must nurture the whole child! Unfortunately, a gifted child’s emotional development does not always logically match his/her intellectual performance.

Asynchrony:   Chronological Age vs. Intellectual Age

Put yourself in an imaginary classroom. Steven has come to school early all excited about some new information on global warming. He knows if he catches you before class you will have time for him to share. This eight year old discusses the topic using advanced vocabulary properly, with appropriate emotional concern, and the two of you have a gratifying conversation. Two hours later you are at recess and Steven is chasing the girls, teasing them, and throwing sand at them. You call him over ready to admonish him with the phrase, “Steven, act your age!” when you realize – he is acting precisely like an eight year old boy! Steven becomes your prime example of asynchronous behavior in a young child.

A gifted child’s emotional development does not always logically match his/her intellectual performance.

Sharon appears to be extremely moody. She is excitedly chatting away with her friends about the homecoming dance, what she’ll wear, her date, etc – she appears to be your typical 15 year old student. In her writing class, however, all of her creative pieces are very dark and dreary.

When questioned by the teacher, her response reflects the tone of the horror of the current world events. She is concerned about topics way beyond the scope of her years. Asynchrony again, at the intermediate level.

These situations typically exemplify the gap between social and cognitive development and support the importance of looking at our gifted children in an emotional/social sense. What are some of the indicative behaviors? Do all gifted children have the same personality traits that cause this gap?