Breaking news! I have been reliably informed that Off the Charts, Asynchrony and the Gifted Child will begin shipping today.
Those of you who have already ordered your copies will have them soon—those of you who haven’t, can order them now, secure in the knowledge that they will show up soon. They can be ordered at www.rfwp.com
In case you missed earlier descriptions, this book—19 chapters from 14 authors—covers the phenomenon of asynchronous development in the gifted (there’s a chapter about asynchrony in adults and one about the asynchronous family) from many perspectives. In the twenty years since the Columbus Group brought the term asynchronous development into the field as a definition of giftedness from the inside, many people have written about it, many of them considering asynchrony primarily as the uneven development often seen in gifted children, or the “many ages” of gifted kids. But it is much more complex than that. It has to do with a fully outside-the-norm mode of experiencing life–a different quality of awareness. The gifted are not just different from those in the center of the proverbial bell curve—they are different from each other and may even, as they develop, become extremely different from earlier versions of themselves.
I’m one of the editors of this book (the primary editor is Christine Neville), as well as the author of two chapters and co-author of one with Michael Piechowski (another of the editors), and I have to say that it is one of the most important books you’ll encounter if you want to gain a greater understanding of the beingness of gifted individuals, and how that beingness (in interaction with their learning and living environments) affects their ability and motivation to achieve.
Even firm supporters of the talent development approach to educating the gifted need to understand the complexity of experience that lies behind the unusual specific abilities we call talents if they are to support and encourage their development. Giftedness and talent may not be precisely the same thing, but they are often inextricably combined.
The Deep End 
“…But it is much more complex than that.”
I’ll be quoting you tonight in a conversation with our school’s parents on asynchrony, and I look forward to finding my copy of Off the Charts in the mail!
I agree that giftedness is fundamentally a different quality of awareness. I think this different state, so compelling to the gifted child, is one of the most important and least understood aspects of being gifted. Therefore, my radar always jumps when I hear advocates talking about the academically gifted, as though that is the main or most important manifestation of a quality of being that too often causes the most creative and highest IQ children to fail in school.
Becky Hein
http://iowntheworld.com/blog/?p=245184 so would this young man fit in this category?