Ordinary records and histories are perhaps not well suited to disclose originality in childhood unless it is obtrusive. The child who devises a new way of tying his shoes, of arranging his books, of managing his pets, of sharpening his skates, may very easily get no clinical credit for these inventions. No one, indeed, except the child himself may ever know of them, and it may never occur to him that they are "creative." A boy who writes a poem, draws a steamboat, or devises a new game of checkers may immediately get credit for originality, while one who invents a technique of his own for shaving the back of his own neck may remain unheralded as a creator.
Our concept of "creativeness" has become standardized so as to suggest chiefly contributions to the conventional arts. It may nevertheless be instructive to review these case histories, looking in each for signs of activity that might in one way or another be construed as creative.
_Child A_. At 12 months he was classifying his blocks according to letter shapes. Before 16 months of age A tired of saying the letters of the alphabet forward and "guessed he would say them backward." He "made rhymes" of his own by the third year. He developed arithmetical principles unsuspected by either parents or teachers. He had an elaborate "imaginary land." He did not play well with other children because he always wanted to introduce new methods of playing the games. He devised elaborate schemes of his own for classifying events and objects. There is very little of the conventional interest in drawing, painting, poetry, mechanics, or music in this account, but it is clear enough that in his own way A had originality.
_Child B_. This child's early acquisition of the art of reading appears to have been untutored, and her passion for organizing clubs showed at least a certain type of initiative. But the record gives little evidence of other creative activity. Her chief distinction so far as noted was in the fields of excellent schoolwork and social adaptability.
_Child C_. This boy's earliest recognition was on the basis of what the teachers called his "phenomenal memory." But from early years his chief passion was for science, and his main interest therein was the possibility of discovering new things. There is, however, little evidence of ingenuity in the record, and C was chiefly distinguished by the mass and facility of his knowledge, learned chiefly from others.
