Students Who Are Gifted and Underachieving: Why

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Students Who Are Gifted and Underachieving Why
What Can We Do?Victoria B. Damiani, Ed.D.,
NCSPDirector, IUP Center for Gifted Education
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Multiple Causes

• Inappropriate expectations
• Inadequate/Inappropriate educational programming
• Family factors
• Personal characteristics

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Inappropriate Expectations

• Incomplete assessments
• Assessments misread or not read
• Disabilities or emotional factors missed
• Program doesnt match assessment results

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Educational Programming

• Fails to challenge
• Not academic
• Study skills not developed
• Not enough time spent with other capable students
• Anti-intellectual climate
• Students interests ignored
• Crazy schedule

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Family Factors

• Disorganization
• Conflict (often between father son, but
  daughters can also be affected)
• Modeling underachievement
• Modeling devaluation of educational system
• UA a form of aggression against parent
• Parents take on too much responsibility
• Parents have inappropriate expectations

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Characteristics of Student

• Lack of motivation
• Negative feelings about school
• Poor study/work skills
• Inaccurate beliefs about self/school
• Fear of success/failure
• Poor concentration

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But, Most Common Factors Are

• Inability to self-monitor in learning
  performance
• Lack of motivation
• Emotional issues such as perfectionism and
  depression
• Inappropriate educational programming

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Intervention

• Begin with educational program
• Least intrusive
• Required by regulation
• Carries potential for prevention of UA in other
  students
• Most research available
• Expertise present among educators

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To assess appropriateness of program for any
student you must know at least

• Academic levels/skills in reading and math
  (Standardized curriculum based)
• Achievement history
• Study work habits
• Results of any full MDT assessments
• Adjust program accordingly/Share with student
  parents

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Move Next to Related Services that are
Educational in Nature

• Career exploration
• Real world experiences
• Study/organizational skill instruction
• Relationship with adult
• Exploration of student interests
• Educational time spent with other capable
  students
• Variety of extra-curricular activities

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Thirdly, fully evaluate self-monitoring, social,
emotional, family issues

• Depression
• Perfectionism
• Anxiety
• Family factors
• Students self-regulation self-messages

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Depression

• May present as disinterest
• May present as anger/rebellion
• Will be evident in other parts of childs life
• Is treatable
• Requires careful psychological assessment that
  can be done at school
• Will most likely be treated outside of school,
  but a school component is essential

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Perfectionism

• May begin work but not complete
• May do one part of assignment well and others not
  at all
• Pattern usually evident over time
• May be familial connection
• Interventions can be done at school if symptoms
  are not too severe

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Anxiety

• May be related to one subject only
• May be related to one activity only, such as
  testing
• May coexist with perfectionism
• Can appear with or without a history
• Can be addressed at school if focused and not
  generalized
• If addressed outside will need a school component
  as well

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Family Factors

• Accurate information about students strengths
  needs may help
• May be related to family cognitions about
  giftedness
• Will often be evident if parents student are
  seen together
• May generalize beyond academics
• Can be addressed at school if focus is on
  school-related issues intervener is
  appropriately trained

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Student Self-regulation messages

• Cognitions regarding giftedness
• Self-reports of thoughts feelings when doing
  academic work
• Metacognitive interview (Rafoth, 1999)
• Time and materials report

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Cogntive-Behavioral Interventions

• Goal setting Tracking (teach to record their
  own behavior)
• Modeling (self-messages for organization)
• Organization (step by step through a project)
• Rubrics for self-evaluation

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Cognitive Behavioral Interventions

• Have student practice positive self-talk
• Teach relaxation techniques
• Teach self-reward
• Use self-report rating scales to get baseline
  assess progress
• Student participation in development of plan is
  essential