it was not until the 1920s that she began to earnestly work with gifted children. she is known for coining the term “gifted” even though she primarily began her work with the “mentally defective”, coming to believe that most people were merely of average intelligence and that those with mental illnesses merely suffered from problems pertaining to maladjustment. giftedness however comes from educational and environmental factors and, as thus so hollingworth believed that there were certain ways to nurture giftedness and educate gifted children. “gifted children”, written by hollingworth in 1926, describes the results of her study in an attempt to quantify the family backgrounds, psychological composition, and temperamental, social, and physical traits of gifted children. it also includes her attempt to create a curriculum to benefit the 50 seven- to nine-year-olds with iqs over 155. the last of her publications was “children above 180 iq” in 1942, which was actually completed by her husband after her death, observed how many children with such high iqs often had adjustment problems that seemed to arise from both a lack of intellectual stimulation and a general parental neglect that stemmed from the parents leaving their exceptionally bright children to essentially raise themselves. proper resources and educational opportunities did not exist for them. the zeitgeist of the time was that, "the bright can take care of themselves." hollingworth was able to devise a method of working with such individuals that stressed the importance of maintaining and keeping contact with them every day. they needed to be identified early in their lives as being gifted, as well as not kept isolated from other children and peers. their needs were not being met by the average school systems, which needed to be addressed.