CHAPTER FOURTEEN CHILD K
Child K is a boy, born December 19, 1922. He first came to the attention of this series of researches in 1929 when his grandmother sought advice concerning his education from Leta S. Hollingworth. [1]
FAMILY BACKGROUND
K's paternal grandparents are English and Scotch-Irish. The grandfather is said to write poetry and the grandmother to compose music for the verses.
K's maternal grandparents are of Jewish origin, both born in America. The grandfather was a teacher, the grandmother was "in business." This grandmother was the seventh of twelve children. The youngest of these is said to be "a brilliant woman of executive ability." The eldest, at the age of 79, "reads all the papers, compares notes, etc." One of the brothers in this group was a physician, another a lawyer. A cousin of K teaches in Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was called during the First World War for special work in mathematics. This man's sister is an arch[a]eologist married to an archaeologist. Three of K's grandmother's sisters are teachers; another is an artist.
No mentally deficient or totally incompetent persons are known among the ancestors.
K has two siblings, brothers younger than himself. Both are reported to be "bright."
Father. K's father is an electrician, a graduate of high school and of Cooper Union. He was born in Antigua and was 32 or 34 years old when K was born. One of his sisters is a high school teacher in Brooklyn; another is a nurse; another, a stenographer.
Mother. K's mother is recorded as of American-Jewish origin. She was 30 or 31 years old when K was born. She is a graduate of high school and of Hunter College (A.B.), New York City, and holds a license to teach music in the New York City schools. At the date of records she was actively in service, teaching general subjects. She had taken three maternity leaves of absence.
EARLY DEVELOPMENT
K's parents rate him as a child with excellent health, sturdy but nervous. He may have had measles, but there were no other childhood illnesses except occasional colds. When tiny, he would wake up with "great imaginings." At a little older age he would cry "with high tension"; "he no longer does this."
According to parents, K cut his first tooth at 6 months. He began to walk at about 20 months and to talk at about 2 years. He learned to read at about 3 years. "While still a baby in his carriage he could read 'ice' and he would read the billboards. Before 3 he would sit down with a book and read."
At 5 years of age K wanted to discriminate in meaning between "bluff," "joke," and "fake." He is "untiring in his attention to books. He will sit with an American history, an English history, and Godey's History of American Beginnings in Europe (which goes into Greece and Rome) and the dictionary around him, and will work at these for hours."
At the age here reported K had no playmates. His younger brothers played by themselves. K did not like to play. His favorite recreations were reading and transferring pictures, and consulting almanacs and dictionaries.
He has a passion for accuracy. He has as yet made no collections, and has no pets. He has no imaginary companions and no imaginary lands.
MENTAL MEASUREMENTS
On April 10, 1929, K was brought to Teachers College, Columbia University, for mental testing. The Stanford-Binet and other methods were employed. He was then 6 years 4 months old and had not yet entered school. On the Stanford-Binet his Mental Age at that date was 9-1, giving an IQ of 143. But the examiner added a note to the record to the effect that: "It is predicted that this child will test much higher later, when examined under standard conditions, alone with the examiner." The conditions under which this test was taken are not recorded, but it was probably a class demonstration.
On March 26, 1931, at the age of 8 years 3 months, K was again given a Standard-Binet test by the same examiner. He was then in Grade 5A, although only two years before he had not yet entered school. This time his Mental Age was 14-8, giving him an IQ of close to 180. The earlier prediction of an increase in IQ at a later age was fulfilled, under standardized conditions.
Although K was in Grade 5A at this time, it is noted that "Writing is only about third-grade ability." In this manual coördination K's score was nearer to his Chronological Age than was his mental level. He was also given Trabue Language Completion Scale A on this date, with a score of Grade 6.5, a full year ahead of his actual, though advanced, school placement.
Of such cases the examiner commented as follows:
The little boy scored a Mental Age of 14 years 8 months. Only one or two eight-year-olds in a hundred thousand reach such a score. These children are so far beyond the average that schools are not equipped to handle them adequately. Experts in education do not know what the best procedure is in regard to their placement in school, but we hope to find out as time goes on. . . . I asked you to bring the little boy again for purely professional reasons—to learn how he is developing, how he conducts himself, and what his interests are. We want to find out how to educate these children. . . . Tell him I am sure he is going to have a good future if he learns to get self-control. (I mention this last because you spoke of his having emotional upsets.)
PHYSICAL MEASUREMENTS
At the age of 6 years 4 months, K's standing height was 48.2 inches and his weight was 50.5 pounds. (Norms 46.0 inches, and 44 pounds.)
At the age of 8 years 3 months, K's standing height was 53 inches; sitting height, 28.2 inches; weight, 62 pounds. In the two-year interval K had gained 5 inches in height and 12 pounds in weight. (Age norms 49.8 inches, and 54.6 pounds.)
LATER EDUCATIONAL PROGRESS
There is little record in the files of the subsequent career of this boy and no follow-up has been made possible. A letter from his mother, dated December 30, 1933, reports that K "is now just eleven (birthday this month) and will graduate from public school next month."
This would mean completion of the eighth grade at the age of 11 years.
There is also a letter from his mother dated December 10, 1937, at which time K was [nearly] 15 years old. In the following month he was to be graduated from Theodore Roosevelt High School, New York City. Plans were being made and advice sought concerning college. K had "gone through high school an honor student. . . . His high school record is outstanding. Regents marks, etc., exceptionally high."
[1] This chapter was written by H. L. H.