SPIRAL OF DISAPPOINTMENT - CASE-STUDY OF A MUSICALLY TALENTED GIRL

The view that patterns of development and scholastic performance of po tentially highly gifted children are as prone to disturbances as those of the less gifted is now widely accepted. The emergence of giftednes s and the unfolding of talent has been shown to be a developmental (dy namic) process, in which a variety of cognitive, noncognitive and ecop sychological preconditions are involved. Whether the developmental pat terns of a child are harmonious or not depends on what has been descri bed as favourable or unfavourable constellations of facilitating facto rs within a developmental network of interaction and communication. Th e case study of Melanie analyzes developmental experiences of an acade mically and musically talented girl until the age of 9 years and 10 mo nths. At the moment the girl is experiencing serious psychological pro blems with herself and the adults both in her family and at school, fr om which she probably cannot escape without patient and insightful psy chotherapeutic help.