In this diagnosis, I must consider a number of psychological and sociological factors that may contribute to John Doe's poor academic performance. This diagnosis will take into account personal, family and school-related factors, which will inform the school of the reasons why John Doe is failing to reach his academic potential and help it develop an appropriate intervention plan, which will reverse the trend of student underachievement. The ambiguous relationship between adolescence and underachieving gifted students must be considered. John Doe is 15 years old and in his mid-teens, this is arguably one of the biggest driving factors contributing to John Doe's underperformance. Research suggests that between the ages of 10 and 14, academic achievement declines (Compton, MF, 1982). Adolescence is a critical period for youth development; it is a transition phase that poses a great challenge to all students. The emergence of identity, relational needs, the need for success and autonomy play an important role in the student's learning during adolescence. However, this is arguably a more difficult time for gifted students. Cognitive development theorists in educational learning, such as Paiget, help to understand why some gifted students fail in adolescence. These theorists argue that gifted students have faster and more vigorous cognitive movements during this period of growth that involve higher stages of development and go beyond formal operational thinking (Cohen LM, 1993). For example, gifted students may have the ability to assimilate new learning more quickly, demonstrate greater emotional sensitivity, and understand complex concepts more easily than their peers. Such a facto...... middle of paper ......e. Social cognitive theories help provide meaningful understanding of gifted underachievement, as this particular theory asserts that motivation to achieve is determined by a series of personal and social contextual factors (Dai YD 1998). Emirick (1992) states that gifted students often devote their intellectual energy to other activities that are not part of the school curriculum and that they often do not perceive schoolwork as a central part of their education, because they find it which is taught irrelevant. in John Doe's case, because he believes that reading his own material and not turning in his work is more important than what is taught in class. Therefore, we can assume that John Doe does not feel challenged in class and is not motivated to learn because his cognitive abilities are far above program standards..