Children Above 180 IQ Stanford-Binet: Origin and DevelopmentHollingworth, Leta Stetter
Science
Children Above 180 IQ Stanford-Binet: Origin and Development
Hollingworth, Leta Stetter
Gifted children; Stanford-Binet Test
_Imaginary land_. From the age of about 4 years to about the age
of 7, D was greatly interested in an imaginary land which he called
"Borningtown." He spent many hours peopling Borningtown, laying out
roads, drawing maps of its terrain, composing and recording its
language (Bornish), and writing its history and literature. He
composed a lengthy dictionary--scores of pages--of the Bornish
language. The origin of the words "Borningtown" and "Bornish"
is not known. It seems possible that D's imaginary land may have
arisen out of the mystery of being born.
_Gift for music_. D has had piano lessons for several years, and
he has displayed remarkable ability to deal with the mathematical
aspects of music. A sample is shown of his musical composition,
illustrating his understanding of musical symbols and his ability
to interpret through this medium. He composed music before he had
any instruction in playing musical instruments. He read certain
booklets which came with Ampico and decided to compose. He can
compose music which he cannot himself play.
FIG 4. PART OF A COMPOSITION BY D AT AGE 8 YEARS 7 MONTHS.
[The composition is titled "Op. 1, Dog's Dance," in A Major,
with a "Tempo 75," "Moderato," in 8/8 time. The composition is
marked by 16th-note flourishes, eighth-note triplets, each stave
occasionally briefly changing from their original clef to
opposite clef (e.g., from treble to bass clef or vice versa) and
back again, a dedication ("Dedicaded [sic] to 'Brutus' my aunt's
dog,"), and the following directions to the pianist, mirroring
the dog's activity, appearing under the bass clef: "Asleep"
(1st measure), "Bell rings" (2nd measure), "Gets up" and "barks"
(3rd measure) "scampers" (4th measure), "scampers back" (6th
measure), "rests" (measures 7 & 8), "Hears footsteps" (9th
measure), "trots" (end of 10th measure), "Ball is thrown"
and "Scampers after it" (11th measure), "Ball stops" (13th
measure), "He foosle-woosles it" (14th measure), "Trots back"
and "Drops it" (15th measure), "Regrets it" and "Trots" (16th
measure), and "Drops it" (17th measure). There are very few
errors in notation for a hand-written composition of this
complexity; the errors that are made appear to be simple
oversights, such as using quarter-notes in a triplet instead of
eighth notes, using a half note when only a quarter beat remains
in the measure, and the like.]
_Gifts for form and color in drawing_. D's talent for color,
for drawing and design, has been marked from the time he could
wield a pencil. His drawings, paintings, and designs would fill
a book by themselves. A sample of his original work at the age
of 10 years is reproduced.
FIG. 5. DRAWN BY D AT AGE 9 YEARS 9 MONTHS.
[This is a drawing of a small bird. The beak is somewhat
elongated, the legs straight, and the eye quite large, appearing
similar to simplified / stylized animals on a crest.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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