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.