Evaluation of an interpersonal skills program in gifted children

Certain research studies report that a number of gifted children show social adaptation issues, as well as problems with social and interpersonal skills, while others consider that this does not occur. In this regard, Neihart, Reis, Robinson and Moon (2002) speaks of a resilience approach versus a risk approach. From the risk viewpoint, this paper presents the benefts of applying training programs in interpersonal skills as to prevent potential problems in gifted children. For this reason, we aim to evaluate the effectiveness of a training program for solving interpersonal problems in this population. Participants include 40 gifted children aged 7 to 13, divided into a treatment group and a control – waitlisted – group. Program application results show signifcant differences in direct assessment measurements in the treatment group. An increase in effect sizes between the treatment group and the control group is also detected, in favor of the former, and a relationship between the children’s learning potential and the benefts obtained is also confrmed. In short, the training program proves effective in interpersonal problem-solving skill improvement in children with high intellectual capacity.