Leta Hollingworth's unfinished legacy: Children above 180 IQ

Abstract

In 1916 Leta Hollingworth was a young professor at Teachers College, Columbia University, where she taught a course in the psychology of exceptional children. As a class demonstration she tested Child E using the newly released Stanford‐Binet Intelligence Scale. Much to her surprise, this 8‐year‐old child scored 187 IQ, and perhaps changed forever Leta's research direction. Over the next 23 years she found 11 other children who tested above 180 IQ. At the time of her death in 1939, she was completing a monograph describing their development. Children Above 180 IQ, finished by her husband Harry after Leta's death, is a landmark study. This article discusses the importance of this research in historical context, as well as its enduring value to the families of highly gifted children today.