Counseling Gifted Learners

Beginning in the 1920’s, Leta Hollingworth at Columbia University investigated
characteristics of children who scored over 180 on the Stanford-Binet
test. Her study of twelve children (eight boys and four girls) suggested that
despite their overall adjustment, children who were highly intellectually
gifted tended to encounter three challenges not encountered by most other
children. The first was a failure to develop work habits at school because of a
curriculum paced for much less capable learners. The second was difficulty
in finding satisfying companionship because of their advanced interests
and abilities in relation to their age-mates. The third was vulnerability to
frustration and depression because of a capacity to understand information
on an adult level without sufficient experience to know how to respond
to it.
Hollingworth suggested that the problem of work habits could be addressed
by a combination of acceleration and enrichment. The problem of
loneliness could be solved by training gifted children in social games—such
as checkers or chess—that could be played by people of any age, and the
problems of frustration and depression by careful adult supervision and patience.
Research has tended to confirm that the problems Hollingworth
identified often need to be addressed, not only in cases of extreme precociousness
but, to a lesser extent, in the lives of many people identified as
gifted.
If underachievement by a gifted child has its source in an unchallenging
or otherwise inappropriate educational program, the recommended action
is to assess strengths and weaknesses (a learning disability may be the problem),
then design a more appropriate program or place the child in one
that already exists. If the source of underachievement is low self-esteem, the
home environment may be unlike that found by Bloom to nurture talent. In
this case, family counseling can often reverse underachievement.
To help a gifted child with peer relations, group counseling with other
gifted children can be particularly beneficial. Not only can group members
share their experiences of being gifted, but they can establish and maintain
friendships with those who have similar (or sometimes quite different)
exceptionalities. Group sessions can be both therapeutic and developmental.
At least some of the emotional challenges facing gifted children develop
from their emotional sensitivity and excitability. Because parents and siblings
often share these characteristics, the stage is set for conflict. What is
surprising is that conflict does not create unhappiness more often. In the
main, gifted people report satisfaction with their home lives. If tensions in
the home arise more often than average, the parents of gifted children and
the children themselves may need to develop more effective conflict resolution
strategies and higher levels of self-understanding. Developmental counseling
can assist parents and children in making these changes.