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The intellectual and social abilities of young precocious children and the effects of educational interventions on these children are examined in this third year report of a longitudinal study of the developmental patterns of unusually precocious children. The report focuses on several studies conducted with preschool and elementary school age children during the 1977-78 granting year. Included are a brief overview of the project structure; test performance results for the 1977-78 year, (including cognitive, social, and personality factor data); descriptions of 3 educational intervention programs studied, and a report on the current status of the longitudinal study's focal group of "extraordinarily precocious" children. The appendices which comprise approximately half the documents contain program information and related letters and brochures as well as 3 papers describing the identification of intellectual precocity in young children, social development in intellectually advanced children, and the tenets of the Early Entrance/Optimal Match Program. (Author/SE)

This study was designed to examine the predictive significance of different types and degrees of precocity in preschool children and to assess the effects of participation in a model preschool-kindergarten program operated in conjunction with the study. Extraordinary precocity is defined for this study as performance at the norm for children twice the age of the target child (e.g., third grade reading skill at age four) or performance four or more standard deviations above the mean on a test which permits such estimated scoring (e.g., a Binet IQ of at least 164). Parent questionnaires were also used to identify precocious children. The first section of this report contains a brief history of the project, a first-year progress report, and plans for the future course of the study. The next section includes a description of the sample cohorts, changes in procedures, and data management. Some preliminary findings are presented in the final sections on test-retest reliability, levels of performance, long-term prediction, effects of participation in the model preschool program, patterns of precocity, and school experiences. Extensive appendices describe specific research projects undertaken within the context of the longitudinal study. (JMB)

This document presents curriculum ideas and procedures developed by the Child Development Research Group at the University of Washington for a model preschool program designed for intellectually advanced children 2 to 5 years old. The program was designed to offer teacher- and child-structured learning situations that provided instruction in language arts, science, mathematics, social studies, art, music and drama. Activities that develop physical and social skills were also part of the program. Chapters cover the identification and screening process; the planning of a program for intellectually advanced children; planning for the learning of social and physical skills; and the curriculum goals, sample lesson plans, and references for the mathematics, science, language arts, social studies, and art curricula. Appendices include reports on creative dramatics and mathematics programs for intellectually advanced children; sample parent questionnaires; and sample final student evaluation forms. (SB)