It is my understanding that there is nothing about being gifted which means a child will struggle socially.
However some children are twice-exceptional (gifted and also presenting with a learning difference or learning disability such as ADD/ADHD and/or Autism Spectrum Disorder(ASD)) and may need or benefit from direct teaching of social skills as a result of their disability. As these children may present with social difficulty and/or behavior problems, these issues may be addressed with an IEP/504. Depending upon what you are seeking, Wrightslaw may be a source of information.
If you are seeking lists of recommended books and/or courses/lessons which parents have found helpful, there are threads which discuss these resources. These would be based on individual experiences - anecdotal evidence.
If you are seeking to review literature which documents research "experiments" on human subjects (empirical evidence), some may find a controlled study on children's social development a bit unethical when it comes to creating a control group of children selected to NOT benefit.
My two cents: a recommended learning environment for a child with social skills deficits (whether the child is gifted or not) would be an environment in which the teachers have knowledge of disabilities and direct-teaching of social skills, with an approach of affirmation and validation (as opposed to shaming). The website
Social Thinking includes a webpage of
published peer-reviewed papers.
On the other hand, if a gifted child is a social isolate simply because same-age classmates are comparatively behind in humor development, reading, vocabulary, well-rounded interests, and making connections between various ideas/concepts... then the preferred learning environment for the gifted child's continued social development may be among intellectual and academic peers, such as:
- a multi-age classroom in which pupils are cluster grouped by readiness and ability,
- single subject acceleration (SSA),
- whole-grade acceleration,
- weekend, after-school, or summertime special interest activity groups.
Teachers with an understanding of giftedness, and an approach of affirmation and validation (as opposed to shaming) would be key.
These thoughts about social inclusion mirror the research by Miraca Gross, discussed in this
old post.
If you could be more clear about what you are seeking and your purpose, possibly more members could post helpful replies.
