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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]There is science to back this up -- studies that show that telling kids how gifted they are undermines their development.  Achievements are expected, and therefore worthless.  Kids stop trying after a while.  They feel like failures.  Kids in programs for the profoundly gifted rarely end up successful as adults.[/quote]

The research I've seen on the "praise for effort" issue doesn't exactly say that.  It says that kids praised for effort (or whose success is attributed to effort) will be more willing to accept a challenge framed as more difficult than kids whose success at the previous level was framed as a sign of their intelligence.  It's not that the latter feel like failures -- they feel that the only way to go is down (i.e. they can disprove the "smart" diagnosis).  Whereas the kids who are told effort is what matters will usually be willing to put more effort in.  So it's really results vs. process more than brains vs. effort.

I have not seen a study on this topic that compared the habits/performance/attitudes of  gifted-kids-who-know-they-are-gifted vs. gifted-kids-who-don't-know-they-are-gifted.  Did you have one (or some) in mind?

What's the basis for the claim that kids in programs for the profoundly gifted rarely end up successful as adults?  At face value, I'm skeptical because there aren't that many cases to study (e.g. rare kids and such programs are of relatively recent vintage) and much would depend on your definition of success.  Certainly programs like CTY claim lots of successes.  [/quote]

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