Counseling Gifted Students

Component 9 of the Competencies Collaboration

SEVA Council of Gifted Administrators

Table of Contents

Pre-Assessment What is the role of the school counselor in gifted

education? Social-emotional differences in gifted students Effective counseling strategies for gifted students Family issues and parent support Counseling for courses, college, and careers School counselors should not say… Summary – how can counselors help? Resources

Note: Although this module is geared towards school counselors, classroom teachers will also find useful information and insights.

Reflection Question

How is counseling gifted students different from counseling other students?

Reach for the stars! The images in this presentation are pictures of galaxies taken by the Hubble telescope.

Role of counselor

The role of the counselor is to be an empowering agent of change, who is:

Non-judgmental Empathetic Validating Respectful And who is an advocate, a cheerleader, a persuader, an educator, an

observer, and a guide.

The goals of counseling are to: Use counseling expertise to assist students in dealing with challenges Help students solve problems or accept situations that cannot be

changed Help students gain an understanding of their situation and

experiences

The counselor’s role and goals are the same for gifted as for general education, but the strategies and focus will need to be different.

Effective counseling strategies for gifted students

A counselor can be most effective if he or she: Uses vocabulary and and concepts appropriate to the

student’s intellectual reasoning capabilities (‘talking down” to these students won’t work)

Uses a dynamic approach instead of a passive or nondirective approach (analyzing, clarifying, paraphrasing, prioritizing, and summarizing techniques can be effective)

Engages the student in questioning and challenging, without being defensive

Engages the student in a collaborative effort to determine goals and resolve issues

Helps the student manage stress when the student cannot control a situation

Is honest, realistic, and not overly optimistic – these students can see through a “fake” response

Uses appropriate humor Is self-reflective

A counselor should also: Have a basic understanding of giftedness so that she

does not misinterpret typical aspects of gifted behaviors or allow herself to be manipulated by the student

Take students’ issues seriously and know when to refer– while some students may exhibit mild depression related to their giftedness, others may have serious depression that needs to be treated clinically

Help students understand that developmental anxieties are normal. Some gifted students may not share their concerns with parents because they assume that if they are smart, they should be able to “figure it out” for themselves – and revealing fears could lead to a loss of image.

Social-emotional needs of gifted students

Gifted students are generally as well adjusted as the general population, but there are some characteristics inherent to gifted students that can cause distress if not addressed.

Gifted students’ behaviors and issues can be exacerbated by an inappropriate educational setting; sustained gifted services along with appropriate counseling support and interventions can be critical in meeting their needs.

Potential counseling issues for gifted students: Underachievement Defiance, rebelliousness Extreme sensitivities interpreted as overreactions Peer relationship difficulties, social difficulties Poor self-concept Perfectionism Depression Asynchrony of skill development Frustration due to lack of educational challenge Anxiety Introversion, deliberate self-isolation Lack of motivation Feeling isolated, misunderstood, or out of place Misdiagnosis – is the behavior due to giftedness? ADHD? A learning disability? Boredom?

Possible problems related to giftedness

Strengths Possible Problems Acquires/retains information quickly Impatient with others; dislikes basic routine

Inquisitive, searches for significance Asks embarrassing questions; excessive in interests

Intrinsic motivation Strong-willed; resists direction

Enjoys problem-solving; able to conceptualize the Resists routine practice; questions teaching procedures and

abstract, synthesizes assignments

Seeks cause-effect Dislikes unclear/illogical areas and relations (e.g., traditions or feelings)

Emphasizes truth, equity, and fair play Worries about humanitarian concerns

Seeks to organize things and people Constructs complicated rules; often seen as bossy

Large vocabulary; advanced, broad Information May use words to manipulate; bored with school and age-peers

High expectations of self and others Intolerant, perfectionist; may become depressed

Creative/inventive; likes new ways of doing things May be seen as disruptive and out of step, not following directions

Intense concentration; long attention span; Neglects duties or people during periods of focus; resists

persistence in areas of interest interruption; stubbornness

Sensitivity, empathy; desire to be accepted by others Susceptible to criticism or peer rejection

High energy, alertness, eagerness. Frustration with inactivity; may be seen as hyperactive

Independent; prefers individualized work; reliant May reject parent or peer input; nonconformity; does not function well on self with group work

Diverse interests and abilities; versatility May appear disorganized or scattered; frustrated over lack of time

Strong sense of sophisticated humor Peers may misunderstand humor; may become "class clown” for attention

Adapted from Clark (1992) and Seagoe (1974) Source: ERIC Digest #E527

Asynchrony

What is asynchrony (or asynchronicity)? “Not synchronized” Gifted students are asynchronous in that their physical

development (chronological age), intellectual development (intellectual abilities or mental age), and social/emotional development (social behaviors) do not develop equally at the same time. A seven year old gifted student in second grade may have an intellectual ability equivalent to a 10-year-old, and be able to read on a fifth grade level, but may behave like a six year old at times.

Just because a gifted student may have exceptional intellectual maturity does not mean that he always displays emotional maturity!

Stress points

Greatest stress points and greatest potential need for counseling:

Early elementary school when asynchronicity is most striking and full-time programs are not available

Early adolescence/middle school due to possible achievement/affiliation conflicts

Points of transition from program to program, or after a change in placement, especially when the new program is more challenging than the old one, or involves significant changes in peer groups

College/career planning, due to multipotentialities Highly gifted students in general education classes Changes in family structure, particularly with a new step-

parent who may not understand giftedness Girls in middle school who may begin hiding their giftedness

so as not to appear smarter than the boys

At-risk gifted students

Gifted students who may need more counseling support:

Highly gifted students in general education classes

Twice-exceptional students Underachievers Gays and lesbians Cultural or ethnic minorities Students whose parents have limited

education Some researchers say that gifted writers

and visual artists may be more at risk for mood disorders (Neihart & Olenchak, 2002)

Underachievement

Gifted students can be underachievers for a variety of reasons, including: Wanting to hide their giftedness so as not to be different from their

peers or social group Different priorities than the teacher (“neatness” is generally not a

priority for gifted students) Frustration with lack of challenging material (“Why should I do this if I

know it already?”) Perfectionism Deliberately failing is easier than admitting you don’t know something,

because gifted students are supposed to know everything Not all gifted students get As. Not all straight-A students are gifted. Gifted students are not always gifted in everything.

For more information on underachievement, please see the social-emotional needs component of this project.

Issues with Self-Image

Gifted students may have a poor self-image or low self-esteem due to: Having an understanding of how little they do know compared to the

world’s body of knowledge – they know how much they don’t know Frustration that they cannot solve the world’s inequities and problems

(supersensitivity to injustice) Feeling out of place socially, intellectually “Things were easy before; now they are difficult, so I must not be as

smart as they said.” Fear of loss of image if they reveal fear or self-doubt Lack of validation from teachers (“If you are so smart, why can’t you

figure it out by yourself?” “You couldn’t have done this by yourself; someone must have helped you.)”

This can be extremely devastating to students!

Issues with Self-Image

Overly high expectations can be paralyzing (“There is no way I can get into Harvard, so I won’t even try”; “I would rather fail on purpose than try and then fail”)

Having to hide intelligence So as to not appear conceited or arrogant So as not to be teased: “teacher’s pet” or “know-it-all” or “smarty-

pants” or “nerd” or “geek” So as to fit in – you can’t use advanced vocabulary with peers who do

not understand it Cognitive dissonance – seeing but being unable to do anything about the

“way things are” vs. the “way things ought to be” Athletic honors are seen as more important/getting more recognition than

academic honors; academic honors are less (and sometimes not at all) valued

Intelligence is part of who you are… you should not have to hide your identity!

More Issues with Self-Image

Some teacher attitudes can have a long-lasting negative impact: Teachers’ determination to keep gifted students “humble” Teachers’ insecurity with having a student who knows more

than they do Teachers’ determination to show gifted students “they don’t

know everything” Teachers’ determination to make students “prove you are

gifted” Teachers who pick on gifted students when they make an error

or forget something, telling them “You must not be so gifted after all because you made a mistake.”

Teachers’ attitude of “you’re gifted, you don’t need any help” defeats students who do need some help or guidance

Yikes! Do you know a teacher with these attitudes? How do their students respond?

Automatic thoughts sometimes overrepresented in gifted students

Absolutistic thinking – experiencing or categorizing everything as two opposites with no “gray area” (good vs. evil, right vs. wrong)

“Imposter” phenomenon – worrying that own success is due to luck rather than ability; fear of being exposed as a fraud (not really being gifted)

Catastrophic thinking – worrying about irrational worst-case scenarios Perfectionistic thinking – believing they are worthless or a failure if

their accomplishments are not perfect Effortlessness of others – believing that other gifted students achieve

effortlessly in comparison to themselves; therefore they must not be gifted

Embarrassment about explicit learning – believing that if they are gifted, they should not need to study hard, although they do need to do so

Fixed vs. growth mindsets

Students (or teachers) with fixed mindsets may have difficulty moving forward when faced with challenging work; any criticism of the students’ capabilities or accomplishments becomes a criticism of the student’s self; rather than risk failing, the student may not even try

It is important to praise the work rather than the student (“your writing and ideas are excellent in this report”, not “you are so smart”)

For more information:http://michaelgr.com/2007/04/15/fixed-mindset-vs-growth-mindset-which-one-are-you/

Is ability something that is inborn and can be demonstrated, or something that can be developed?

Pressure…

Barbara Kerr describes her experience as a gifted student in first grade:

“The purpose of gifted education, we were told, was to prepare “leaders of tomorrow.” We were told in no uncertain terms that we were expected to work much harder than other students, to aspire to high goals, and to seek leadership positions in our fields when we were grown.”

That’s a lot of pressure on a first grader!

…and Fear

From a recent survey response posted by a gifted elementary student:

“I’ve been scared sometimes when I get something wrong.”

Why do you think a student might say this?

Dabrowski’s Theory of Positive Disintegration

Kazimierz Dabrowski, Polish psychologist Identified five personality characteristics or

intensities, which he called "overexcitabilities" or "supersensitivities," which affect the way a student experiences the world Psychomotor oversensitivity Sensual oversensitivity Intellectual oversensitivity Imaginational oversensitivity Emotional oversensitivity

These students may have: Higher than average response to stimuli Reactions that are over and above average in intensity,

duration and frequency Not all gifted students have overexcitabilities, but there may

be more people with overexcitabilities in the gifted population than in the average population

Children do not grow out of these supersensitivities. A child with intense emotional feelings will experience the same depth of emotion as an adult.

Emotional overexcitability is most commonly seen in gifted students

Emotional Overexcitability

The primary manifestation of this intensity is exceptional emotional sensitivity.

These students have great emotional depth and strong attachments to people, places, and things. There is a deep concern for others, but they may also have intense self-criticism and anxiety.

They may be accused of being melodramatic or overreacting, but these emotions are very real for them.

Telling an emotionally intense child to ignore teasing or not let the teasing bother him is impossible advice for the child to follow.

Emotional Overexcitability

They may have strong sense of responsibility, but that may also create stress and anxiety or feelings of failure and guilt.

These students may experience existential depression (depression over basic concerns about death, poverty, homelessness, war, diseases, etc.)

These students may have intense empathy for others, including animals, and may choose to be vegetarians.

They may have an acute sense of justice/injustice

“It’s not fair!”

Emotional Overexcitability

Extremes of emotion Anxiety Feelings of guilt and sense of

responsibility Feelings of inadequacy and

inferiority Timidity and shyness Loneliness Concern for others, empathy Strong memory for feelings

Heightened sense right and wrong, of injustice and hypocrisy

Problems adjusting to change

Depression Need for security Physical response to

emotions (stomach aches caused by anxiety, for example)

Counseling strategies for all overexcitabilities

Help students develop strategies for recognizing stress reactions and coping with stress

Help students understand their own behaviors and how their behaviors impact others

The emotions of these students are real. Your molehills really are their mountains.

For more information on oversensitivities, please refer to the social/emotional component of the competencies project.

Family issues

Parents of gifted children are often unable to talk about their experiences with parents of average ability children (“Your child gets straight A’s – why should you be worrying?”)

Parents may worry about common gifted characteristics including perceived bossiness, difficulties with peer relationships, intense dreams and nightmares, oversensitivity, or acute sense of social injustice

Parents need to share with other parents of gifted children to understand what is normal, and to get ideas on how to support and advocate for their children

Family issues, cont.

Parents may have concerns about “fairness” when one sibling is eligible for special programs and the other sibling is not; parents of twins may be especially concerned about inequalities

Parents may put intense pressure on gifted students to fulfill the parents’ dreams (“My brilliant daughter will be a brain surgeon!”)

Students may feel that their parents value them only for their giftedness, and consequently they become terrified of failing or making mistakes

Providing support for parents

Establish an environment where counselors or other facilitators can provide support, guidance, and information

Increase parents’ understanding of the gifted student’s emotional needs

Provide materials and resources as needed: Information on characteristics of gifted students Information on summer programs, competitions, and other

opportunities for gifted students Books, articles and brochures on parenting gifted students or

on gifted issues Organizations and websites with relevant information Referrals for professional help if needed

Encourage parental involvement in their students’ education and how to advocate for them effectively

Understand – it is not easy to raise a highly gifted child!

Counseling for college and careers

Multipotentialities! Gifted students tend to be good at many things, and to have many interests. This means that they may also have a great deal of difficulty in planning for their futures – art school or medical school? Archaeologist or engineer? These students may need to start their planning early, and leave in options for changes.

Course counseling at the middle school level should focus on making sure that the student takes the most rigorous courses available, especially in math.

Middle school counselors should also make sure that students are clearly aware of the many options available to them in high school, and know what the requirements are for each option. Students must have the prerequisites needed for multiple options in high school (including AP, IB, and Governor’s School).

Counseling for college and careers, cont.

Course counseling at the high school level should focus on making sure the student “keeps doors open” in case interests change; in making sure the student is prepared for top tier colleges; and in making sure that the student understands that top tier colleges are a possibility (provide specific, extensive information on financial aid).

Choices such as Early College Scholars, dual enrollment, Advanced Placement courses, and Virtual Virginia courses should all be discussed, as well as Governor’s Schools and IB, to give students as many options as possible.

Counselors should also help students learn to “play the game” even when they are disenchanted or bored, because teacher recommendations and grades from high school can have a huge impact on the students’ opportunities later.

For more information, see the academically gifted student section in the College (Planning) Handbook posted on the gifted web page at http://www.sbo.hampton.k12.va.us/departments/gifted/gifted.html

A word on Governor’s Schools

Governor’s Schools in Virginia were designed to help meet the needs of gifted students. They can be truly life-changing experiences. (“There are other students like me, who think like I do!”)

Counselors should make sure the students have information about the Summer Residential Governor’s School programs as well as the academic year programs.

For more information, check out the tabs on the HCS gifted website at http://www.sbo.hampton.k12.va.us/departments/gifted/gifted.html

Start early to generate interest… “Someday if you get to go to Governor’s School, you will be able to……..”

Scheduling…

Gifted students may be reluctant to choose advanced level or honors courses for a number of reasons, including: Not wanting to be different from classmates, friends, or neighbors Middle school girls may not want to appear smarter than the boys Fear of failure – if the work was easy before, but will be harder now,

maybe I’m not smart anymore? Sometimes choosing to fail is easier than admitting you don’t know how

to do something Playing ball or video games after school is more fun than doing honors

homework General rebelliousness

These are not adequate reasons for opting out of advanced classes!

The schedule should fit the students’ needs–don’t keep a student out of an advanced math class or Honors English just because it does not conveniently fit the schedule. Make it work! It’s up to counselors to help keep these students in appropriate courses.

…and Overscheduling

Some gifted high achievers just want to take an overload of extra courses, and be on every team, and be in every club. They are passionate about everything.

Remember that gifted students need time to think, too.

College admissions officers are now often looking more for a student’s commitment to an area of passion than at well-roundedness. You may need to help students find an area of focus.

Multipotentialities again!

How can counselors help?

Have an understanding of the theoretical base and characteristics of giftedness

Understand asynchonicity and oversensitivities

Be aware of the support services available (organizations, bibliographies, support groups, online resources)

Ask for help or additional information if needed

Be mindful of personal value structures and tolerance when presented with “divergent” behavior

Be an advocate for gifted education

School counselors should not say…

This student belongs in the gifted program.

This student gets all A’s, so she should be in the gifted program. School divisions have very specific criteria for gifted identification. A student

may be a very high achiever, or show some evidence of giftedness, but may not be eligible for identification. It is better to tell parents “Your child has excellent skills in…. and you should consider referring the child for possible identification.” It is quite problematic when a student does not meet the criteria and the parent complains “But [ ] said she was gifted!” 

Since your student is bored in school, he should be tested for the gifted program. It is the responsibility of every classroom teacher to meet the educational

needs of the students, making the curriculum rigorous and relevant for everyone. The teacher should consider using various differentiation strategies to challenge the more advanced students. The gifted specialist can provide you with more information.

 

School counselors should not say…

The teacher says this student does not do her work, and she gets poor grades, so I don’t think she really is gifted. I will not send in your referral form. All referral forms MUST be sent to the eligibility committee. All eligibility decisions are

made at the division level, not at the school level. Not all identified gifted students are high achievers. Some students may be gifted in

very specific intellectual areas, such as quantitative or non-verbal reasoning. Gifted students may also be underachievers for a variety of social/emotional reasons. Your gifted resource specialist can give you more insight into the needs of these students.

Your child missed the eligibility cutoff by two points. Each point on an eligibility matrix is based on a range of scores, so a score of 8 (out of

10) on the matrix might indicate that the child was in the 85th percentile on an ability test instead of the 95th percentile, or that the teacher gave the child a rating in the bottom range of points instead of in the top range of points, or that the grades were below a “C” average, or a combination of these factors. If a student had scored at the 94 th percentile and needed a 95th percentile for eligibility, with all other criteria being at the highest level, we would certainly have given the student another test to make sure that our decision was appropriate! If you have questions about how to interpret the eligibility results, please contact the gifted director or your gifted specialist, or have the parent call to discuss it with us.

School counselors should not say…

The teachers in my building do not want the students to miss their classes in order to go to gifted classes, or to gifted art classes, so we are not sending in any referrals. Yikes! We are mandated by law to provide these services. Would you deny

mandated services to a special education student? Or tell Michael Jordan that he could not have gym class, or tell Yo-Yo Ma that he could not have music lessons? Please do not deny your students the services they need and/or may be eligible for!!

All children are gifted, and since we do not want to miss anyone, we will just refer all of the students. Although we do not want to miss any potentially gifted students, we also do

not want to put students through unnecessary testing, which can be quite stressful; nor do we want to mislead parents. Remember, we do look at every student in the division through the screening process. 

Help us find these diamonds in the rough!

There are many cultural differences in the way gifted students show evidence of their talents. We are looking for evidence of critical thinking, abstract reasoning, and intellectual creativity.

Does this student ask thoughtful questions? Does this student give creative, insightful, or unusual responses? Does this student provide interesting details or seem unusually

observant? Is this student good at seeing relationships, connections, and “the big

picture”? Does this student have a large vocabulary or just seem to know a lot of

information? Is this student ESL, but is learning English (and the nuances of the

language) very quickly? Does this student rarely do homework or turn in assignments, but still

seems to understand the material?

Refer this student!

Resources

Websites: VA Department of Education, Gifted Education and Governor’s Schools: 

http://www.doe.virginia.gov/VDOE/Instruction/Gifted/gifted.htm Virginia Association for the Gifted:  http://www.vagifted.org National Association for Gifted Children:  http://www.nagc.org The Center for Gifted Education, The College of William and Mary:  

http://www.cfge.wm.edu Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth:  http://www.cty.jhu.edu SENG – Supporting Emotional Needs of the Gifted:  

http://www.sengifted.org Hoagies' Gifted Education Homepage: http://www.hoagiesgifted.org Council for Exceptional Children (includes gifted) www.cec.sped.org Neag Center for Gifted Education

http://www.gifted.uconn.edu/parents/parentrp.html

Books: (a good source of books is Prufrock Press at

http://www.prufrock.com/

References

Boland, C. M. & Gross, M. U. (2007). Counseling highly gifted children and adolescents. In S. Mendaglio & J. S. Peterson (Eds.), Models of counseling: Gifted children, adolescents, and adults, 153-194. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.

Cross and Cross. (2011) Handb0ok for Counselors Serving Students with Gifts and Talents. Prufrock Press.

Devries, A. R. & Webb, J.T. (2007). Gifted parent groups: The SENG model, 2nd edition. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press

Mendaglio, S. (2008). Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration: A personality theory for the 21st century. In S. Mendaglio (Ed.), Dabrowski’s theory of positive disintegration, pp. 13-14. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press.

Moon, S. (2007). Counseling issues and research. In S. Mendaglio & J. S. Peterson (Eds.), Models of counseling: Gifted children, adolescents, and adults, pp. 7-27. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.

Moon, S. M. (2002). Counseling needs and strategies. In M. Neihart, S. M. Reiss, N. M. Robinson, & S. M. Moon, (Eds.), The social and emotional development of gifted children: What do we know?, pp. 213-222. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press

Neihart, M. (2002). Gifted children and depression. In M. Neihart, S. M. Reiss, N. M. Robinson, & S. M. Moon, (Eds.), The social and emotional development of gifted children: What do we know?, pp. 93-103. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press

Robinson, N. (2002). Introduction. In M. Neihart, S. M. Reiss, N. M. Robinson, & S. M. Moon, (Eds.), The social and emotional development of gifted children: What do we know?, p. xi. Waco, TX: Prufrock Press.

Webb, J.T., Amend, E. R., Webb, N.E., Goerss, J., Beljan, P., & Olenchak, F. R. (2005). Misdiagnosis and dual diagnosis of gifted children and adults. Scottsdale, AZ: Great Potential Press.

Counseling the Gifted Student. Pam Clark, Ph.D., LMFT. Converse College.

Reflection and Discussion Questions

How is counseling gifted students different from counseling general education students?

How will your counseling strategies change as a result of what you learned in this component?

How are gifted students like galaxies?

Post-Assessment

What are three things you learned about counseling gifted students?

What are two ways you can connect these ideas and strategies to your existing professional ideas and strategies?

What is one burning question or need that you have?