I read the article, the first sentence might be a hint that this situation is not typical/you couldn't rely on such an outcome?
I don't take away anything that helps me understand why his development soared "in later years" other than just not having access to the right environment/teachers etc.? Did anyone actually discourage him...did he have a hunger to learn and soar and schools/parents discouraged him or didn't give him the skills and enviroment he needed, or was it because all the elments hadn't just clicked yet? That makes a big difference with self-esteem and a person wanting to try.
I am aware of the concept of learned underachievement and am concerned about it for my daughter. My concern comes more from the fact that a child/young adult will learn this from not being challenged over a long period of time and getting lots of messages that they don't really have to try very hard at things, or (what I'm concerned about) is that when their school situation is miserable a parent sort of steps in an tries to comfort them but ends up making things too comfy for them because they feel bad.
I haven't even thought about repairing learned underachievement, except that I guess the longer a person is operating this way the harder it would be to "undo it".
