Ten Rimm Canons of Achievement for the Gifted
By Sylvia Rimm, Ph.D.
CANON 1: Children develop confidence and an internal sense of control if they are given power
in gradually increasing increments as they show maturity and responsibility.
CANON 2: What adults say directly to children as well as what they say to each other about
children within their hearing (referential speaking) dramatically affects children’s behaviours and
selfperceptions.
CANON 3: Children are more likely to be achievers if their parents join together to give the
same clear and positive message about school effort and expectations.
CANON 4: Children become oppositional if one adult allies with them against a parent or a
teacher, making them more powerful than an adult.
CANON 5: Children will become achievers only if they learn to function in competition and
collaboration.
CANON 6: Children will continue to achieve if they usually see the relationship between the
learning process and its outcomes.
CANON 7: Overreactions by parents or teachers to children’s successes and failures lead them
to feel either intense pressure to succeed or despair and discouragement in dealing with failure.
CANON 8: Parents should avoid confrontations with children unless they are reasonably sure
that they can control the outcomes.
CANON 9: Deprivation and excess exhibit the same symptoms. Children feel more tension
when they are worrying about and avoiding their work than when they are doing it, and they only
develop selfconfidence and resilience through struggle.
CANON 10: Children learn appropriate behaviours more easily if they have effective models to
imitate. Parents can be good role models and are most frequently available to children.
Making a Difference: Steps to Reversing Underachievement
Sylvia Rimm, Dr. Sylvia Rimm Ph.D., Director, Family Achievement Clinic, North Olmsted, Ohio
Del Siegle, Head, Department of Educational Psychology, University of Connecticut, Mansfield,
Connecticut
D. Betsy McCoach, PhD Associate Professor, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
Presented at the NAGC 2013 Convention
Concepts that Affect Underachievement
 Expectations from others- Too high or too low
 Work Ethic
 Competitive Resilience
 Disabilities/Mental Health Problems
 Appropriate Curriculum
 Peer Environments
 United Positive Parents
 Parent Support for Schools
 Appropriate Role Models
 Reasonable Balance Between Achievement and Affiliation
Too Much of a Good Thing
 Children develop an identity based on what the adults in their life tell them. If gifted children are
constantly told how smart they are or how good they are at something, then they feel that they
have to live up to those expectations. This can ultimately lead to underachievement because they
are afraid they will not live up to the expectations. When speaking to gifted children, do so with
expectations they can live up to. For example, do not call them a genius or perfect.
Perfectionism/Anxiety
 Some gifted underachievers learn that anxiety can bring them attention or they can use it as
avoidance.
 Perfectionism can lead to anxiety and avoidance.
Creativity
 Gifted students should be taught a balance between creativity and conformity. If children always
have to be creative, they can become oppositional.
Relationship Between Effort and Outcome
 Underachievers do not connect hard work with outcomes.
 Do you not say: “If you work hard you can get all A’s.” Some students will be afraid that if they do
work hard and then fail to get all A’s then they will disappoint others.
 Gifted students with a fixed mindset have a fear of challenging tasks because it questions their
“giftedness”. They can develop an “Imposter Syndrome” and procrastinate or avoid tasks.
Boredom
 Give some responsibility to the child if they are bored and think they know everything. Put the
task on them to find a way that would make it more interesting to them.
Control and Choice

Power (control and choice) should be matched with responsibility. Children should have more
power when they are in high school and college. They should not have as much
control/choice/freedom when they are younger.
Counsel students that you do not have to be the smartest to be smart. The first one done with a task does
not make them the smartest.
Act counter intuitively with underachievers. (e.g., toughen up on students who are anxious/cry, work
together and talk with students who are loud/abrasive)
Dr. Sylvia Rimm
Bio (http://www.sylviarimm.com/)
"Dr. Rimm is a welcome voice of calm and reason— someone who offers practical advice,
with almost immediate results. She’s a guardian angel for families who need a little or a lot of
guidance." — says Katie Couric, former NBC Today show host.
Dr. Sylvia Rimm’s nine years as a contributing correspondent to NBC’s Today Show and as a
favorite personality on public radio make her a familiar child psychologist to many audiences.
Dr. Rimm is a psychologist, director of Family Achievement Clinic in Cleveland, Ohio, and is a
clinical professor at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. Families come from all over the
United States for help.
She has authored many books including How to Parent So Children Will Learn and Why Bright
Kids Get Poor Grades, both 2008 National Best Books award winners from USA Book News. In
addition, Dr. Rimm has written Growing Up Too Fast: The Rimm Report on the secret Lives of
America’s Middle Schoolers, Keys to Parenting the Gifted Child, Raising Preschoolers, See Jane
Win®, How Jane Won, and See Jane Win for Girls.
See Jane Win®, a New York Times Bestseller, was featured on the Oprah Winfrey and Today
shows and in People Magazine. Her book, Rescuing the Emotional Lives of Overweight
Children, was a finalist for the Books for a Better Life Award. Many parents and educators seek
Dr. Rimm’s help through her books, tapes, q-cards, and newsletters.
In her parenting column, Dr. Rimm answers hundreds of letters each year from parents and
grandparents in her nationally syndicated column with Creators Syndicate.
Dr. Rimm speaks and publishes internationally on family and school approaches to guiding
children toward achievement, parenting, and the lives of teenagers. She is a dynamic speaker
who fascinates audiences, speaking on many topics, tailoring her educational talks to the special
themes of the audience.
Dr. Rimm draws experience and inspiration from her wonderful husband; her very successful
children: 2 daughters and 2 sons, and their spouses; and 9 vivacious grandchildren.
Dr. Rimm's expertise on gifted children, parenting, families, teens and tweens, and many more
topics, makes her an excellent psychologist, author, columnist and speaker.