Gifted But Failing—a Case Study

Abstract

This paper is based on an assessment of an eight and a half year old girl who, although highly intelligent, was significantly underachieving in formal mathematics work. The paper discusses the way in which some of her cognitions worked against her expectations of success and how her expectations tended to make some simple tasks more difficult than other tasks which were, objectively, harder. The paper therefore presents an analysis of what might colloquially be called ‘a learning block’ in an intellectually gifted child.