ABSTRACT
Early Development of Language Linguistic precocity is among the most researched domains of gifted performance in young children. The early
development of receptive and expressive oral language has been consistently documented as an indicator of verbal giftedness and has high predictive validity for continued linguistic aptitude (Tannenbaum, 1992). The linguistically precocious child might demonstrate advanced development in oral language, passing through the stages of spoken utterances, single word acquisition, and linking words into phrases both signifi cantly earlier and with greater rapidity than his or her age peers of average ability (Gross, 1999; Sankar-DeLeeuw, 2004). Based on longitudinal studies of gifted children, Gross (1993) reported that among 52 participants with IQ scores equal to or greater than 160, the mean age at which the fi rst meaningful word was spoken was 9.1 months. Barbe’s (1964) earlier study of children with IQ greater than 148 had recorded a mean age of 16 months at which participants were speaking in complete sentences. In another qualitative study of 11 gifted preschool children, parents recalled that their children had spoken their fi rst words between nine and 12 months of age, and spoken in sentences by 18 months (Hodge & Kemp, 2000). A longitudinal study involving 20 gifted children (IQ 130+) similarly showed participants to be distinguishable from their non-gifted age peers on a battery of assessments, including tests of language development, from as early as 18 months (Gottfried, Gottfried, Bathurst, & Guerin, 1994).
