Children Above 180 IQ Stanford-Binet: Origin and Development

by Leta Stetter Hollingworth

On the maternal side, J. M.'s grandfather was first a teacher, then a merchant, who became very wealthy, and a mayor of a Southern town for eighteen years. The line of his descent was through Southern planters. The maternal grandmother was the daughter of a college professor, who in turn was the son of a physician and surgeon, coming from a long line of physicians. The mother of the maternal grandmother was descended from wealthy farmers. It is of some interest that for three generations at least, J. M. and her immediate progenitors were born when the parents were thirty years or older, in some cases being more than sixty years old.

The case of E. B. This child was described in 1924, by Stedman (22), as having "the highest IQ yet reported." Exception was taken some years ago by the present writer to this description, on the ground that the test by which E. B. registered an IQ of 214 was not first given to the child. She had been tested previously by Stanford-Binet, at the age of 5 years 9 months, earning an IQ of 175. When tested in the Psychological Department of the Los Angeles city schools at the age of 8 years 11 months, E. B. made the record of a superior adult, earning an IQ of 214 (S-B). The record is thus ambiguous, and will be included here only because we cannot say how much allowance should be made for "test wisdom" on second test. However, subsequent history points to 175 IQ as the more probably correct status for this child, since when she was tested at the age of 21 years 1 month, by Lorge and Hollingworth (16), using CAVD, Levels M, N, O, P, and Q, and other tests of cultural and specifically scientific knowledge, the result placed her among individuals who in childhood had tested between 170 and 180 IQ (S-B).

E. B. was born on September 21, 1913. When 4 years 6 months old she was placed in a convent school on account of her mother's departure for France. She was not enrolled as a pupil but was allowed to sit with the high first grade when she wished, because her chum sat there. In four months, at the close of the school year, it was discovered that she could read any page in the reader which had been used as a text, and any page in the public school first reader, which she had never seen before. Accordingly, though not yet 5 years old, she was "promoted" to the second grade.

At the close of the next school year she was promoted to the fourth grade, aged 5 years 9 months. Before E.B. was 6 years old she had read practically every book listed by the public library at Des Moines for children of the first six grades. At the age of 9 years 4 months she was doing eighth-grade and post-eighth grade work. Her favorite books at the age of 9 years include Barrie's The Little Minister, Sentimental Tommy and Tommy and Grizel; Hugo's Les Misérables; Dickens's Oliver Twist, Our Mutual Friend, and David Copperfield; Eliot's Silas Marner and Mill on the Floss; Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress; Hutchinson's If Winter Comes and This Freedom. . . . Until she entered the opportunity room, E. B. never had a child companion, and was unpopular with children. She was friendly but shy, and was unable to comply with the play standards of other children. In the opportunity room she made better social adjustments. She is cheerful, affectionate, and considerate to the point of self-denial. She obeys implicitly, but is forgetful in the commission of small duties, perhaps because engrossed with more interesting matters. She thinks along economic and political lines, and can hold her own even with many adults in conversing on these subjects. . . . Health is excellent. She has had the usual children's diseases, but has recuperated very quickly. . . . E. B. is of French, English, and Scotch descent. The father finished high school at 13, and was an A and B student at the University, taking gold medals for original composition. He is a writer and an editor. . . . The paternal grandfather is a lawyer, teacher, and author. The paternal grandmother has mathematical ability. E. B.'s mother entered school at 8 years, and completed high school at 15. She then entered business college, and completed the course in less than three months. She then entered college, working her way through with consistently A records. She was editor of a national magazine at 25, and at the time of investigation was an editorial writer on Screenland. . . . The maternal grandfather's history is unknown. It is thought that he was average; but the maternal great-grandfather was probably superior. At 21 he could neither read nor write, but just at this time a public school was established near his home. He entered, and finished the course for the entire eight grades in sixteen months. . . . E. B.'s mother states that E. B. first spoke words with meaning at 7 or 8 months of age, and that she walked at 10 months. When she was 3 years old her parents discovered that she knew the alphabet, which she seems to have learned by asking questions about printed signs. She has had very little formal instruction at home, for her mother has been active in newspaper work most of the time, usually working at night.

E. B. entered college in a large city at 12 years 0 months of age. The girls in this college are very highly selected for intellect, and E. B. did not do outstanding work among them. She encountered many difficulties, but graduated at the age of 16 years 9 months with a creditable rating. At the age of 20 years she married, holding also at that age a very responsible post in charge of cash for the metropolitan branch of one of the largest manufacturing and distributing companies in the United States. It is her aim to become a writer.

Verda. In 1925 Terman (26) reported two children not elsewhere described, with IQ's above 180 (S-B), Verda and Madeline [below], both discovered during the census of the gifted taken in California.

The occupational level among Verda's male ancestors has been largely in the professions and in business. Her father is a successful life insurance salesman, and shows musical, mechanical, and literary ability. He is of Scotch-Irish extraction. Her mother is of French and English ancestry, a descendant in direct line from Governor Bradford, of colonial New England, and is related to many notables. Verda has no brothers or sisters.

The child's first words were articulated at 7 months, and she talked in sentences at 15 months. She hummed a tune at 17 months' could name all the primary colors at 22 months; could count to 13 at 25 months. Her first poem (said in rhyme and meter) was composed at the age of 2 years 9 months. This was recorded by her mother. She did not herself put on paper her literary compositions until the age of 5 years, when she learned to print. After this the stories she composed were no longer recorded by her mother. Soon after she was 4 years old she brought a book to her parents and read to them. Up to that time she had had no formal instruction in reading but she had been read to.

Verda did not enter school until she was 8 years 7 months old, beginning in the high fourth grade.

Her IQ was first determined at the age of 11 years 1 month by an incomplete test, made as a demonstration before by an incomplete test, made as a demonstration before a group of teachers in the limited time of fifty minutes, and was calculated at 175. When at age 11 years 7 months she was fully tested in a standard situation, she passed every test provided on Stanford-Binet, proving at an IQ ("corrected" [2]) of 186. Through four years of high school she received an "A" grade in every academic subject, with the exception of one semester of French and one of biology, in which the grade was "B." She was graduated from high school at age of 16 years 9 months.