Social and Emotional Needs of Gifted Students

The Challenges of Being Gifted

Some research tells us that social and/or emotional challenges come from within and without. “Challenges from within include being, by nature, highly perceptive, highly involved, super-sensitive, and perfectionistic. Challenges from without come from conflict with the environment.” (When Gifted Kids Don’t Have All the Answers, Jim DeLisle, Ph.D., and Judy Galbraith, M.A.; 2002)

The authors go on to describe highly perceptive as being more aware of stimuli – sensory description and/or intricate details. Where an “average” child would see a pile of fresh raked leaves being a great place to jump and play, the gifted child might see the poetic journey of each leaf as it descended lazily from it’s residence high above the sleeping earth.

The highly involved child tends to not let an issue rest – it continues on. When he sees a great movie, the film doesn’t stop when the credits roll. The musician continuously hears melodies in his brain while the poet is forever interpreting the world around him as an abstract!

Steven, who was so concerned about global warming, is the super-sensitive child. He is concerned about moral and ethical issues way beyond his years. His peers definitely do not understand him, nor do they care to communicate with him on these issues!

Perfectionism

How can a child who wishes to turn in work of the highest quality, with few to no errors – as close to perfect as possible – be considered at-risk? Perfectionism must not be mistaken for the pursuit of excellence. A true perfectionist will avoid completion of assignments, will shut-down at times, has a low opinion of herself, and procrastinates. The truth is, the child knows perfectionism can never be attained, but – this inner drive keeps pushing!

All this brings us back to asynchrony – that uneven balance between the intellectual abilities and the emotional responses. If a gifted child is exceptionally strong in one area of the curriculum and lacking in another, the frustration level can be unbearable. After all, he is perceived as smart and should excel at everything! Your gifted learners may also be extremely disorganized, may not possess good study skills, and may be very forgetful!!

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What can we do to help our gifted students build on the positives and alleviate the negative behaviors and unnecessary stress? In an article written to address this issue, Arlene R. DeVries states that many ordinary classroom situations may cause unnecessary emotional stress for gifted children and may be a barrier to working up to potential. Her article explains that parents and teachers must work together to assist in, “. . .the healthy educational and personal development of the gifted child." She makes it clear that the learning environment, the approach to curriculum and its delivery, and a well-connected home/school situation are all components required to accomplish this goal.

An awareness of the different factors associated with gifted learners, how they perceive themselves, their personal expectations of themselves as well as their response to others’ expectations of them, their ability to work far ahead in some areas and yet, be needy in others all add to the delicate emotional balance. DeVries shares some strategies and ideas on how both parents and educators can help the child bring this all together, cope, and succeed!

For more information, visit Appropriate Expectations for the Gifted Child.