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Potential Causes of Underachievement Underachievement means there is a discrepancy between a child’s potential and his/her actual performance.  Students may underachieve due to issues such as a lack of motivation, boredom, a need to fit in with others, stress, or learning differences.  Underachievement needs to be addressed right away, so the student can live up to his/her potential. What Can Parents Do?   Determine the cause of underachievement rule out physical causes for underachievement such as vision or hearing problems, learning disabilities, nutritional/weight issues, or drug/alcohol abuse look for social and emotional causes  — is your child purposefully underachieving in order to fit in? are stereotypes affecting your child’s performance? are there stresses in your child’s personal life which could be contributing to underachievement?  (loss of a family member, divorce, feeling of being over scheduled, sibling rivalry) what about the school environment might be contributing to the child’s underachievement? Keep the lines of communication open let your child’s teacher know if there are physical issues which could be contributing to underachievement share with your child’s teacher stresses in your family which could be bothering the student speak honestly about how your child views the school environment use technology to address underachievement Reis, S. M. & McCoach, D. B., Underachievement and gifted students, in Neihart, M., Reis, S.M., Robinson, N. M., & Moon, S. M (Editors) (2002) . The Social and Emotional Theories| Characteristics|   Identification|  Instruction|  Social and Emotional

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