The following is a letter from his aunt, describing his home education:
At the age of three he learned his letters untaught by anyone apparently, and was spelling words. It was felt that this would interfere with his learning to read later on, so he was taught to read by the phonic method. This was done with no more time and personal attention than any first-grade teacher, with ordinary numbers of pupils, could give to each one, provided she were generously supplied with different books, and not limited to one or two sets—state series or otherwise. A few months after his fourth birthday he was reading with independence and an almost perfect power to recognize new words. His only noticed failures were such foreign words as "Chevrolet" seen on billboards, and unusual words like "aisle," used without context, which he pronounced "alicie." His ease in reading was, of course, made possible, or at least greatly facilitated, by the fact that an effort had always been made to use an extended vocabulary in talking to him. Even at two, he would surprise acquaintances and strangers with expressions which meant no greater effort to him than a child's baby-talk; such as, "Oh, the spider has attached his web to the board."
This ability to read opened a new world, for he read car-signs, billboards, newspapers, magazines, and books. His books and magazines were carefully selected. His access to newspapers, especially the funny sheets, had the most questionable results. But The Child's Garden of Verses and others proved a veritable dream world—as real as the everyday one. He once asked his mother, "Does Robert Louis Stevenson know when I'm naughty?" At another time he wrote a letter to some of the characters in another book. At the age of six he read Swiss Family Robinson and Champlin's Cyclopedia of Common Things—the two books which have been and still are his favorites. Other books which he read before entering school at seven years were: Overall Boys, Brownie Book, Kipling's Just-So Stories (read over and over for two or three years), Swift's Gulliver's Travels, Kingsley's Heroes, Aesop's Fables, Tolstoy's Stories for Children, Grimm's Fairy Tales, Arabian Nights, Barrie's Peter Pan and Peter and Wendy.
He entered school at seven and a half years and was put in the B1 (beginner's) class. In the two days he was kept there, he developed a distinct aversion to school since nobody discovered he could do anything and the class confinement and need for sitting still (coupled with the fact that he did not find the toilet for over a week) made school most disagreeable to him. On the third day a member of the family intervened and the teacher very reluctantly allowed him to enter the second grade. She insisted that he could not do the work, as he did not know his sounds. Of course he did "know his sounds," but perhaps he refused to do such baby-work, although he never expressed his unwillingness at home, and seemed quite afraid of displeasing his teacher. In the second grade he was forced to sit for 20 to 25 minutes, studying a reading book, which he could have read through in that time. At home he was told to take some work to school, but the teacher refused to let him read in school, even the Cyclopedia of Common Things. At the end of a week and a half he was in absolute rebellion and was taken out of school.
The family then took this child to a teacher of fourth grade, who was personally acquainted with him, and asked her to examine him for proper placement. This resulted in a more appropriate adjustment. By February of his first year in school he had reached Grade 5A in school placement, and had had thirteen different teachers, including those for special subjects such as music, nature study, and the like. His initial aversion to school lessened, but he found no positive joy in attending. Root describes the temperament of the boy as "somewhat irascible." This case illustrates in extreme degree the maladjustment to school which is characteristic of children testing above 180 IQ (S-B).
Twins A and B. In 1922 Gesell (10) reported the case of twin girls, both of IQ 183 (S-B). Gesell was interested but incidentally in the IQ ratings of these girls, his main interest centering in the condition of twinning. Measurements were taken with a view to comparing twins, and therefore many details that would be of interest for our present purpose—for instance, those of family history—are omitted from the report.
A and B were born by Caesarean section, somewhat prematurely, weighing 4.3 pounds and 5.3 pounds, respectively. Notwithstanding their premature birth, in six months A was able to rise spontaneously to a sitting posture in her mother's lap, and very soon thereafter B did likewise. At 11 months both had begun to walk, and to talk in sentences. At the age of 3 years they began the study of French, and in less than a year from that time they were reading elementary English, French, and Esperanto. At the age of 4 they could distinguish parts of speech. They entered the third grade in school at the age of 6 years, and at the time of report they had achieved the seventh grade and were engaged in junior high school work at the age of 9 years.
They are not prigs: they are attractive, animated, sociable children, with a bubbling sense of humor. They are popular with their playmates. They can take charge of a gymnasium class in which most of the members are two to four years their seniors, and preserve excellent attention and discipline. They speak mature but not pedantic English, and they speak French with the fluency of a native. They have read the Book of Knowledge in its entirety in French; and a year ago embarked on Russian. They play duets on the piano, but not with rare distinction. They swim; they ride horseback; they write jingles; and they read by the hour. Their school work does not tax them; they do not worry about it; and they are far from fastidious in regard to the form of their written work.
A complete family chart of the twin sisters, A and B, would show evidence of superior endowment in the immediate ancestry on both the maternal sides. Scientific and linguistic ability of high order and physical energy are some of the traits which are found in the two immediate generations. The trait of twinning likewise has a hereditary basis in this instance, for the mother also bore two boys, twins who died in infancy.
Measurements of physique show A and B to be slightly smaller than children of their age in good private schools, but very well nourished. The children have no living brothers or sisters.