CHAPTER SIXTEEN SUMMARIES OF HEREDITY AND EARLY BEHAVIOR
It is of course obvious that no very general conclusions can be drawn from data relating to a dozen instances of exceptional mental endowment such as those reported in this monograph. Such data may, however, be added to information in process of accumulation from similar studies, the whole providing a respectable basis for judgment. The facts concerning the group of individuals presented in this book are, therefore, summarized in the form of the following brief review. [1]
FAMILY HISTORY AND BACKGROUND
The racial and national ancestry of the twelve children whose records have been presented in preceding pages may be chiefly a condition arising from the population in which they were found. Comparison with results from other population areas may serve to check certain implications suggested herein. All these cases were found and studied in New York City and about half of them in the public schools.
Among the ancestors whose origins are mentioned, in the endeavor to go behind the simple statement of "American parents," the nationalities are given as Jewish, 13; British, 9; German, 2; French, 2. In most cases the ancestors are individually compound— as Austrian-Jew, German-American, etc.
The activities of the more remote ancestors cover a wide range, from farming and small-town storekeeping to the learned professions, large business, and political activity. On the whole, the remote ancestors appear to have been fairly successful people, with the majority of them in the professions. No cases of mental deficiency or total incompetence are recorded among them.
A few of these children were from families in economic distress. These cases were largely instances in which the father was dead or incapacitated and the mother was struggling to carry on with slender resources. But on the whole, as in earlier cases cited from the literature of gifted children, the socio-economic status was moderate.
The father's occupations are in 10 of the 12 cases in the professions. They may be classified as:
Engineer 1 Lawyer 1
Army officer 1 College teacher 2
Accountant 2 Electrician 1
Journalist 2 Jeweler 1
Insurance 1
The occupations of the mothers, either before or after marriage, when stated, were:
Advertising 1 Teacher 2
Housewife 3 Secretary 2
Statistician 1 Dressmaker 1
Scientist (M.D.) 1
All but 2 of the fathers are known to be high school graduates; 5 went beyond this point in business or trade school; 4 are college graduates.
As for the mothers, all but 2 are high school graduates, and 5 hold college degrees.
Ages of parent at time of birth of child, when given, are as follows:
Father Mother
Below 25 2 1
From 25-30 3 4
30-35 2 2
35-40[+] 3 1
Median age of fathers, 31; of mothers, 28.5.
Of the 11 cases where the facts are known, 5 are only children; 4 have one sibling; 1 has 2 siblings and 1 has more than this. In 5 cases where the child in question is not an only child, he or she is the eldest sibling. That is, in 10 of the 12 cases the child is a first-born, so far as the records show.
In a few cases the IQ of the sibling (or siblings) is known. Such IQ's are invariably above 130, in most cases much higher but in no case so high as the 180 that would have been required to admit them to the group here considered. Otherwise, of course, they would have been included in the study.
Of the 12 cases here described, 4 are girls. It has already been noted that among the 19 cases cited from the literature of gifted children there were 12 girls and 7 boys. The total of 31 cases which this study now makes available comprises 16 girls and 15 boys—as equitable a division of the honors as an odd number makes possible.
PHYSICAL AND BEHAVIORAL DEVELOPMENT
No single item indicative of early developmental pace in physique and movement is given for all the 12 cases. For most of them records are given on walking, talking, reading, first tooth, height, and weight. Grip is recorded in 5 cases, weight at birth in 3 only. These data are summarized in the following table. Since height, weight, and grip were taken at varying ages on the different children, all that is indicated in these columns is "above normal" (##) or "below normal" (—).
AGE OF AGE OF AGE OF FIRST CHILD WALKING TALKING READING TOOTH HEIGHT WEIGHT GRIP (MONTHS) (MONTHS) (YEARS) (MONTHS)
A 11 3 ## ## ##
B 15 9 3 7 ## ## ##
C 15 16 3 9 — —
D 12 11 1.5 4 ## —
E 13 24 8 ## Normal —
F 14 12 4.5 10
G ## ## —
H 14 16 4 9.5 ## —
I 10.5 21 3 5 ## ##
J
K 20 24 3 6 ## ##
L 15 9 4 9 ## ##
Median age of walking, for the cases recorded, is 14 months—a wholly normal age for children in general. Median age of talking is 14 months—considerably earlier than the norm usually recognized. The range, too, is wide—from 9 to 24 months. First teeth normally begin to appear in the sixth to seventh month, and the median here is close to that. Median age of reading here reported—3 years—is earlier even than that found in the 19 cases cited from previous literature (3.5 to 4 years). All but one of the 10 cases for which stature is reported exceed the norms in this respect. Six are heavier than the age norm, 1 just at it, and 3 are lighter in weight. The records of grip tests show nothing unusual. In 3 cases where weight at birth was recorded, this was from 7 to 10 pounds. Health is generally reported good.
Talking and reading are the two developmental indices that most clearly differentiate these records from the norms. These activities, both involving the use and understanding of symbols, are the earliest clear expressions of mental liveliness. After they have appeared, the gifted child's characteristics appear in those traits called understanding, judgment, learning, discrimination, and in the interest in and capacity for such linguistic and abstract activities as are provided by schoolwork. It is, therefore, in the earlier scholastic activities and in social relations that these children most notably declare their quality under our prevailing system of child management.