Asynchrony and the whole child : what school can learn

Most educators agree that a gifted and talented child has the potential for unusually high performance but that not all gifted and talented students are successful. It appears that personality and environment can help or hinder the translation of potential into performance. However, the definition of giftedness as asynchronous development does throw light on the strategies that can be used to address it. With this definition there is more focus on the quality of the whole learning environment in which the child's self-concept is formed.