Abstract
The highly able can be expected to be expected to be at least as well balanced as any other children, but they do have special emotional problems arising both from other people’s reactions to their exceptionality and from inappropriate education. This was investigated in a British 14-year comparative study. Children labelled as gifted were found to be from different home backgrounds and to have different emotional profiles than others of the same measured ability who had not been seen as gifted. From this and other research it can be seen that expectations of highly able children can be confusing, for example that they either have poor social relationships or are natural social leaders. Teachers and parents may over-pressure pupils to excel at all times, or raise their all-round expectations for a child, even though s/he is only gifted in a specific area. Stress may also come from always having to learn at an unstimulating level, producing boredom, apathy and underachievement. Suggestions are made for helping the emotional development and improving educational provision for the highly able.
Résumé
Un enfant surdoué devrait être au moins aussi bien équilibré que n’importe quel autre enfant. Mais les enfants surdoués présentent une vulnérabilité émotionnelle particulière qui vient habituellement des réactions d’autrui aux idées associées à la notion de don, réactions qui peuvent être source de difficultés. Les expectations concernant ces enfants peuvent être contradictoires, soit qu’on s’attende à ce qui’ils aient des relations sociales pauvres, soit qu’on les imagine comme des leaders sociaux. Les enseignants et les parents peuvent exercer une forte pression à l’excellence, ou manifester des attentes trop générales alors même que l’enfant n’est doué que dans un domaine spécifique. De plus, le stress peut provenir du fait que l’enfant est soumis en permanence à des taches insuffisamment stimulantes, ce qui suscite de l’ennui, de l’apathie et des sous-performances. D’autres problèmes proviennent du style d’enseignement auquel ils sont confrontés en classe, à propos en particulier de la vitesse d’apprentissage et de l’approfondissement des connaissances, ce qui pose des problèmes d’organisation pédagogique à l’enseignant. Les enfants surdoué ont effectivement des besoins émotionnels particuliers: confrontation à des problèmes de leur age, sincérité de la communication, possibilité de poursuivre leurs intérêts et d’être acceptés comme des enfants.
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Freeman, J. The emotional development of the highly able. Eur J Psychol Educ 12, 479–493 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03172806
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03172806