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The use of radical acceleration in cases of extreme intellectual precocity Author(s): Gross, M. Source: Gifted Child Quarterly, National Association for Gifted Children 1992 Vol. 36 This paper reviews the school histories of five extremely gifted children, of IQ 160-200, who have been radically accelerated. Prior to their acceleration, the children were retained in the regular classroom in a lockstep curriculum based on their chronological age and grade placement. They suffered sever intellectual frustration, boredom, lack of motivation, and social rejection by age-peers, and displayed significantly lowered levels of social self-esteem. A combination of grade-skipping and radical subject matter acceleration has given the children access to curricula commensurate with their academic achievement levels and the intellectual and social companionship of children who share their abilities and interest. The young accelerands are more productive social relationships, and display healthier levels of social self-esteem than do equally gifted children who have been retained with age-peers of average ability. Someone has said that genius is of necessity solitary, since the population is so sparse at the higher levels of mental ability. However, adult genius is mobile and can seek out its own kind. It is in the case of the child with extraordinarily high IQ that the social problem is most acute. If the IQ is 180, the intellectual level at 6 is almost on a par with the average 11-year-old, and at 10 or 11 is not far from that of the average high-school graduate. The inevitable result is that the child of IQ 180 has one of the most difficult problems of social adjustment that any human being is ever called upon to meet. " Burks, Jensen, and Terman (1930, p. 264) It is ironic that although the research of Terman and his colleagues is rightly credited with refuting the myth that intellectual giftedness is linked to nervous instability and emotional maladjustment (Tannenbaum, 1983; Grinder, 1985), the education community has largely ignored their associated warning that extraordinarily gifted young people are nonetheless at serious risk of social isolation and rejection by age-peers. In a comprehensive review of the research on the psychosocial development of the intellectually gifted, Janos and Robinson (1985) showed that the research findings most often referenced regarding favorable social adjustment emanate from studies of moderately gifted children. The few studies which have investigated the social and emotional development of the extremely gifted suggest that exceptionally gifted (IQ 160-179} and profoundly gifted (IQ 180+} children tend to have greater problems of social acceptance (Hollingworth, 1942; Gallagher, 1958; DeHaan & Havighurst, 1961; Barbe, 1964; Janos, 1983}. Hollingworth (1926} defined the IQ range 125-155 as "socially optimal intelligence." She found that children scoring within this range were well-balanced, confident and socially effective individuals. She claimed, however, that above the level of IQ 160 the difference between exceptionally gifted children and their age-mates is so great that it leads to special problems of development which are correlated with social isolation. Research both in the United States and in Australia has noted the decrease in motivation among extremely gifted children confined to the regular classroom (Janos, 1983; Silverman, 1989; Gross, 1989a) After many years of studying the extremely gifted, Hollingworth became convinced that enrichment alone was not a sufficient response to their academic and social needs. Putting the Research to Use Exceptionally gifted children appear in the population at a ratio of fewer than 1 in 10,000. Research has repeatedly found that these children differ quite significantly from moderately gifted age-peers on many cognitive and affective variables. Because of this, it is not enough to place them in part-time programs, such as resource room or pull-out, which are designed for moderately gifted students; they require full-time grouping with children closer to their own mental age and levels of socio-affective development. Research suggests that exceptionally and profoundly gifted students are best served by a program of radical acceleration incorporating a number of grade-skips appropriately spaced through the student's school career, supplemented with subject acceleration where it is required. It is important that the student is also provided with lateral enrichment at each stage. Radical acceleration provides the extremely gifted child with the intellectual and social companionship of children at similar stages of cognitive and affective development. Exceptionally gifted children retained with age-peers, or accelerated by only one year, are at serious risk of peer rejection and social isolation. She became a persuasive advocate of full-time, self-contained classes for exceptionally gifted children (Hollingworth, 1926, 1936, 1942; Hollingworth & Cobb et al.,1923; Hollingworth & Cobb, 1928). Terman and Oden (1947) argued forcefully that for extremely gifted children the more conservative accelerative procedures, such as a single grade-skip, are not sufficient; they advised radical acceleration through several grade-skips spaced appropriately throughout the student's school career. These recommendations were strongly supported by the subsequent research of Sheldon (1959), Janos (1983), and Silverman (1989) which suggested that the social isolation experienced by exceptionally gifted children is not the clinical isolation of emotional disturbance, but rather a condition imposed on the child by the absence of a peer group with whom to relate. When extremely gifted children who have been socially rejected by age-peers are removed from the inappropriate grade placement and placed with intellectual peers, the social difficulties disappear (Hollingworth, 1942; Silverman, 1989). The present study Since the early 1980s I have conducted a longitudinal study of the intellectual, academic, social, and emotional development of 40 children who have scored IQ 160 or above on the Stanford- Binet Intelligence Scale (L-M). The children live in six of the eight states of Australia and are presently aged between 6 and 16. This study has followed the children's development over several years and will continue until the youngest child graduates from high school. Aspects of the children's academic and psychosocial development have already been reported (Gross, 1989b, 1990; Gross & Feldhusen, 1990; Gross & Start, 1991; Gross, in press), and the early years of the study were reported in depth in my doctoral dissertation (Gross, 1989a). The study employs a wide range of qualitative and quantitative observation techniques, triangulated to increase the validity and reliability of the study (Kidder & Fine, 1987). The children take standardized tests of achievement in several academic subject areas, and their tested levels of achievement are compared with the levels of work they are permitted to undertake in class. This enables the researcher to judge the degree of "fit" between the children's demonstrated achievement and the programs provided for them by their schools. In addition, since Australian schools generally communicate with the parents of students through written reports on the child's academic progress, the children's school reports from different grade levels are examined to analyze their teachers' perceptions of their levels of ability and achievement. Many educators and psychologists studying the gifted and talented have emphasized the significance of a positive self-concept in the realization of intellectual potential (Hollingworth, 1926; Carroll, 1940; DeHaan & Havighurst, 1961; Feldhusen & Hoover, 1986). Self-esteem, an affective aspect of self-concept, is largely derived from the positive or negative feedback individuals receive from significant others about the value or effectiveness of their actions (Foster, 1983). Particularly in a society such as Australia, where the highly egalitarian social ethos is based, in large part, on "cutting down the tall poppies" (Ward, 1958; Goldberg, 1981; Start, 1986), there is the danger that extremely gifted students will receive deliberately misleading feedback about their abilities and potential not only from classmates but also from teachers. The Coopersmith Self-Esteem Inventory (SEI) is used in this study to measure the children's general self-esteem and their self-esteem in social relationships, relationships with family, and in their academic work. Surveys of the reading interests of extremely gifted children reveal that they often read, with full comprehension and enjoyment, literature written for young people 5-7 years older (Burks, Jensen, & Terman, 1930; Hollingworth, 1942; Gross, 1989a). At 2-year intervals, surveys are made of the hours each child spends daily in voluntary reading over a 21-day period; the title, author, and subject classification of all materials read; the books which the children class as current favorites; and their reasons for preferring these particular books. Regular surveys are also made, over several weeks, of the nature and extent of television viewing, computer usage, hobbies and play interests, and interest in or participation in sports. Developmental and demographic data have been acquired from many sources including questionnaires, medical records, parent diaries, and family documents. Semi structured interviews are held, at regular intervals, with the parents of each child and with the children themselves. These interviews follow up, clarify, and expand on the material gathered through the questionnaires, the achievement and personality testing, the school reports, and all other sources of information. The interviews also elicit the parents' opinions on more sensitive issues, such as the children's educational program, their relationships with teachers and classmates, and their social and emotional development. Similarly, the student interviews illicit the children's own views on their progress at school, their feelings about their school experiences, their social relationships, and their perceptions of themselves and their own abilities. Of the 40 children in this study, a minority has been recognized by their schools as being young people of truly remarkable intellectual potential. In the considerable majority of cases, however, the children's teachers have remained unaware of their extraordinary intellectual potential or, where psychometric evidence of this has been made available, the school has refused, on ideological grounds, to develop any form of differentiated curriculum for the gifted child (Gross, 1989a). The majority of the extremely gifted children in this study have spent, or are spending, their elementary school years working through a lockstep curriculum in a heterogeneous classroom without access to other gifted, even moderately gifted, students. However, 9 of the 40 children in this study have been radically accelerated and are undertaking part or all of their schooling with students 3 years older. This paper reports on the school histories of 5 of these children and discusses the factors that have contributed to the success of the individualized programs. The names by which the children and their families are identified in this paper are pseudonyms chosen by the children themselves. It should be noted that the Australian school system is based on the British system. Accordingly, Australian children enter preschool or kindergarten at age 4, and formal schooling at age 5, one year earlier than their American counterparts.

In every case, the students who have been radically accelerated, and their teachers and parents, believe strongly that they are now much more appropriately placed, both academically and socially. These students display higher levels of motivation, they report that pressure to underachieve for peer acceptance has significantly diminished or disappeared completely, and, although the curriculum which they are offered does not completely address their academic needs, it provides a challenging and stimulating intellectual environment when enhanced I with ability grouping, enrichment, or mentoring. The radical accelerands have positive attitudes toward school and believe that they are warmly regarded by their teachers. They have a greater number of friends and enjoy closer and more productive social relationships than they did prior to their acceleration. They have significantly higher levels of social and general self-esteem than do children of equal intellectual ability who have been retained with age-peers or grade-skipped by a single year. Prior to their acceleration, many of the accelerands displayed the negative attitudes and behaviors which still characterize the extremely gifted students who have not been radically accelerated. These children display disturbingly low levels of motivation and social self-esteem, are more likely to report social rejection by their classmates, and state that they frequently underachieve in attempts to gain acceptance by age-peers and teachers. Several of these children are required to work, in class, at levels 7 or more years below their tested achievement. In Australia, as in the United States, many teachers argue that acceleration may jeopardize the child's social and emotional development. This study finds no evidence to suggest that social or emotional problems arise through well-planned and carefully monitored programs of radical acceleration and suggests that we should concern ourselves rather with the maladjusting effects of prolonged educational misplacement. Accelerating exceptionally or profoundly gifted children by a single year is no more effective than retaining them in the regular classroom with age-peers.