Mythology of gifted: A case study on the impact of labeling on self-knowledge

As there is debate over whether students within gifted education programs realize benefits from their educational labels (Berlin 2009, Moulton et al 1998), we aimed to explore the formation of self-knowledge in light of a gifted label and explore some positive social and academic adjustments contingent on this self-knowledge. Most of the participants with a single label, “gifted”, (1) spoke of a social mythology that led to pressure to perform and internal dissonance around “being gifted”. Of note, there was a marked difference in experience for those who had concomitant special learning needs (SLN) labels. Those students articulated a strong sense of self-knowledge with regards to their SLN label and spoke of direct, explicit supports, accommodations and therapies offered to them by supportive adults with specialized knowledge which contributed to positive behavioural, social-emotional, and learning adaptations based on their SLN label. We propose that several pedagogical changes need to be in place in order to help students build a stronger sense of self-knowledge. For example, specialized training in gifted education and inclusive teaching practices will help educators and parents understand the special learning needs of this population, which will aid in breaking down the myths surrounding the gifted label.