The Under-Achiever - A Checklist of Characteristics

• Anti-school

• Orally good while written work is poor

• Apparently bored

• Restless and inattentive

• Absorbed in private world

• Tactless and impatient with slower minds

• Friendly with older pupils

• Self-critical

• Poor social relations with peers and teachers

• Emotionally unstable

• Outwardly self-sufficient

• Tendency to continually set standards too high

But also:-

• Creative when motivated
• Quick to learn
• Able to solve problems
• Able to ask provocative questions
• Persevering when motivated
• Given to abstract thought
• Inventive in response to open-ended questions

A child of high ability who adopts an unsatisfactory behaviour pattern is indicating that his needs are not being met.

National Association for Gifted Children 1989