Evidence of skills emerging unusually early

The literature on child prodigies (see, e.g., Feldman, 1980, 1986; Fowler, 1981; Freeman, 1990; Goldsmith, 1990; Gross, 1993a; 1993b; Hollingworth, 1942; Howe, 1982; 1990a; 1993; 1995; Radford, 1990) abounds with accounts of extraordinarily precocious development in the earliest years. Very early language skills are described by Fowler (1981) in a boy who was said to have begun speaking at five months of age, with a 50-word vocabulary a month later, and a speaking knowledge of five languages before the age of three. Feldman (1986) describes a boy whose parents said he began to speak in sentences at three months, to engage in conversations at six months, and to read simple books by his first birthday. Hollingworth (1942) writes that Francis Galton was reputed to be reading in his third year.

In none of these cases, however, was the very early explosion of language skills observed directly by the investigator, and all the early studies were retrospective and anecdotal. Even the more recent studies have some of these limitations. The boy described by Feldman (1986), for example, was not actually encountered by Feldman himself until he had reached the age of three. Although the boy's parents claimed to be surprised by his swift progress, Feldman was astounded by their absolute dedication and "unending quest for stimulating and supportive environments" (Feldman, 1986, p. 36).

Fowler (1981) notes that the professed passivity of some parents is belied by their very detailed accounts. One pair of parents insisted that their daughter learned to read entirely unaided and claimed that they only realized this on discovering her reading Heidi. It turned out, however, that they had kept elaborate records of the child's accomplishments. Parents who do that cannot avoid becoming actively involved in the child's early learning.

Accounts of the early lives of musicians provide further anecdotes of the apparently spontaneous flowering of impressive abilities at remarkably early ages (Hargreaves, 1986; Radford, 1990; Shuter-Dyson & Gabriel, 1981; Sloboda, 1985; Winner & Martino, 1993). A number of prominent composers were regarded as prodigies when they were young, and in some cases there are reports of unusual musical competence in their earliest years. Mozart's early feats are widely known. It is reported that the Hungarian music prodigy Erwin Nyiregyhazi was able to reproduce simple songs at the age of two and play tunes on a mouth organ at four (Revesz, 1925). Again, however, most of the reports are based upon anecdotes reported many years after the early childhood events in question. Some of the accounts are autobiographical, such as Stravinsky's description of having amazed his parents by imitating local singers as a two-year-old (Gardner, 1984) or Arthur Rubenstein's claim to have mastered the piano before he could speak. The accuracy of such autobiographical reports is questionable considering that childhood memories of the first three years are not at all reliable (e.g., see Usher & Neisser, 1993). The early biographies of prominent composers have revealed that they all received intensive and regular supervised practice sessions over a period of several years (Lehmann, 1995). The emergence of unusual skills typically followed rather than preceded a period during which unusual opportunities were provided, often combined with a strong expectation that the child would do well.

There are also some descriptions of precocious ability in the visual arts, and Winner (1996) has collected a number of drawings by two- and three-year-olds that are considerably more realistic than those of average children. Amongst major artists, however, few are known to have produced drawings or paintings that display exceptional promise prior to the age of eight or so (Winner & Martino, 1993).

Date: 2014-12-29; view: 888