Gross describes how gifted children often hide abilities to fit peer culture, leading to identity conflicts, social isolation and emotional frustration. Case studies and poems illustrate early awareness of difference, moral development, camouflage strategies and the need for intellectual peers and interventions.
This report summarizes Australian research showing that children’s friendship conceptions develop through five stages—from play partners to intimate ‘sure shelter’—and that intellectual (mental) age, not chronological age, predicts stage. Gifted children reach advanced friendship stages earlier, raising implications for acceleration and ability grouping to reduce social isolation.
A longitudinal study of 40 Australian children with IQs 160+ found extremely gifted students retained with age-peers often experienced social isolation, underachievement, and low social self-esteem. Radical acceleration and ability grouping improved acceptance, moral development alignment, and self-esteem. Authors recommend radical acceleration, ability grouping, and individualized instruction for exceptional giftedness.
