IQ Testing for kids

[BuzznBelle'smom]

If they don't skip him, they might have him pull out and work at grade level (i.e., in a higher grade) for certain subjects. We had discussed this with our school, but they didn't feel it was right to put a kindergartener in with the fifth graders, and I do see the point on that. We've also discussed her violin playing--for her to play with the orchestra (and I use the term loosely), she'd be grouped in wth the 4th and 5th graders next year. If she wants to audition, I will support her in that, but the school really starts violin in 3rd grade, and is hesitant to take on a younger kid. So far, DD is happy with her private lessons, so that's on the shelf, for now.

My DD7 goes to public school--she sees the gifted teacher 3X a week, and gets additional enrichment in reading, math, science, and social studies. The teacher doesn't make a big deal out of it, DD jsut gets harder books to read, harder worksheets,etc. Ironically, her favorite subjects are math and art. Art? If there's one area where she's painfully average, it's art! But hey, I'm glad she enjoys expressing herself.

 

[FlightlessDuck]

IQ tests are a waste of time and don't accurately represent intelligence.

 

[Magpie]

IQ tests are a waste of time and don't accurately represent intelligence.

I agree completely that IQ tests don't accurately represent intelligence. Cultural differences, learning disabilities, interpersonal conflicts and illness can throw them off. They also don't measure all kinds of intelligence (such as musical talent). That's why my kids will never get to see their test results.

However, IQ tests are NOT a waste of time if they get your child access to resources in the school system. They are particularly helpful in identifying bright underachievers, who might benefit from enrichment, but who wouldn't get it on the basis of their grades alone.

And IQ tests can also be VERY helpful in pinpointing particular learning issues. One way of identifying a learning disability is by looking for an unusually large spread between Verbal and Non-Verbal scores.

An IQ test is a descriptive tool, used to look at a child's performance, in comparison to other children, during one specific period in time. If we recognize the limitations of what it is, then it can be a very useful tool, and hardly a waste of time.

 

[K and K's Mommy]

However, IQ tests are NOT a waste of time if they get your child access to resources in the school system. They are particularly helpful in identifying bright underachievers, who might benefit from enrichment, but who wouldn't get it on the basis of their grades alone.

I agree totally with this! There is no doubt in my mind that my kids get their intelligence from their dad. He was never tested and allowed to go through high school with Bs and Cs. He ended up getting a full scholarship to one of the state schools based on his SAT scores (and probably the fact that he was the first in his family to go to college). His parents are very loving and caring people. They just didn't know how they should have been pushing him to get better grades or pushing the school to enrich him.

 

[quasar4legs]

I don't consider IQ tests a waste of time as sometimes you need IQ test results for certain programs, schools etc.

Our son needed IQ results amongst other things (SAT scores, portfolio, interview etc) for early entrance to university.
It's worth keeping in mind that highly gifted children are best tested between the ages of 5 and 8 as they often start to reach test ceilings at an early age.

Good luck

 

[BuzznBelle'smom]

Well designed tests can have high ceilings, even beyond age 8.

When my older two were in 4th grade, they took the SCAT tests, which tests them againset kids 4 years older. To qualify as gifted, they had to outscore 70% verbal, 50% math, of those kids 4 grades ahead.

 

[StephMK]

I agree totally with this! They just didn't know how they should have been pushing him to get better grades or pushing the school to enrich him.

Exactly! I felt bad when we learned what we did about DS. Kind of like not giving him what he needed intellectually, kwim? It also explained why he was starting to act out in class.

He doesn't know his scores, I don't believe that is necessary. We just told him the school skip was what he needed and I've told him his brain is just programmed to pick things up quickly. I remind him that there are areas where he struggles too and he hates those areas - he loves chess but is not good at it. I point out that kids that play & study it more, do better.

I don't believe from what I've read that gifted kids usually even out with age. And testing is definitely not about bragging rights, it's about getting him the help he deserves to meet his educational needs. If a kid can multiply after 2 examples, how do you think it feels to be stuck in a class doing pages of simple addition. It would be like telling us that we can only read Dr. Seuss for entertaining books. He cried this year because he kept getting 100s on the spelling tests.

I don't talk about him to anyone IRL, they know he skipped but that's it about his abilities. I like what the pp said about it not being so easy, it is a struggle to find that balance. And when he skipped, I felt like we lost a year of his childhood. But it's what he needed for a start. Like most kids or more so, gifted kids want & need to learn & need those opportunities. So if you think your child needs to be tested, push for it so at least you will know what his needs are.

 

[torinsmom]

I definitely talked to my DS about his IQ test results. His scores in different areas are so varied that one of the local brain development research places has called him in for several studies. For instance, in his last IQ test, his total IQ score was 126. However, in math fluency, he was at an 85. In applied problems, he was at a 109. That's a huge discrepancy. In reading, his passage comprehension was at a 5th grade level(in 8th grade), but his vocabulary was equivalent to a college freshman. He only scored an 8(very weak) on symbol search, but scored a 16(superior) on matrix reasoning. Every area has these huge GAPS that help to explain the differences in his IQ and his performance. In addition, he has the writing disability dyslexia and ADD.

Anyway, I sat down with him and showed him his strengths and weaknesses and explained that many of the areas he is very strong in don't really help in school. He was calling himself stupid and other not so nice words, and seeing the scores helped him understand that he is really bright in some other areas that he will probably use later in life. As Mel Levine once said "School is the only time in your life that you are expected to be good at everything."

Marsha

 

[Magpie]

Exactly! I felt bad when we learned what we did about DS. Kind of like not giving him what he needed intellectually, kwim? It also explained why he was starting to act out in class.

He doesn't know his scores, I don't believe that is necessary. We just told him the school skip was what he needed and I've told him his brain is just programmed to pick things up quickly. I remind him that there are areas where he struggles too and he hates those areas - he loves chess but is not good at it. I point out that kids that play & study it more, do better.

I don't believe from what I've read that gifted kids usually even out with age. And testing is definitely not about bragging rights, it's about getting him the help he deserves to meet his educational needs. If a kid can multiply after 2 examples, how do you think it feels to be stuck in a class doing pages of simple addition. It would be like telling us that we can only read Dr. Seuss for entertaining books. He cried this year because he kept getting 100s on the spelling tests.

I don't talk about him to anyone IRL, they know he skipped but that's it about his abilities. I like what the pp said about it not being so easy, it is a struggle to find that balance. And when he skipped, I felt like we lost a year of his childhood. But it's what he needed for a start. Like most kids or more so, gifted kids want & need to learn & need those opportunities. So if you think your child needs to be tested, push for it so at least you will know what his needs are.

They don't so much even out, as they get a lot less noticeable.

It's freaky to see a 5yo reading The Lord of the Rings. It's not at all interesting to see a 15yo reading any kind of book. If you talk to a three year old, and the child uses words like "evidently" correctly in a sentence, well, that makes you sit up and take notice. A thirteen year old who uses big words... meh. I know it'll be even less of a big deal when they are grown ups. All anyone will care about then is whether they can do their jobs, and be good to their family and friends.

It was a lovely surprise therefore, to take a trip to Upper Canada Village recently. My 14yo daughter asked a spinner about what she used to dye her yarns and got a short, general answer. "Cool," said my daughter. "But what are you using for a mordant?" I saw the spinner's eyes light right up. The next thing you know the two of them are deep in a discussion of fibers and I'm just kicking back and enjoying the show. Before we left the spinner asked my daughter how old she was, and then encouraged her to consider volunteering at the Village.

Yeah, nothing warms a mother's heart like seeing complete strangers get excited over your kids. These moments are rarer now, but all the more precious because of it.

 

[Magpie]

I definitely talked to my DS about his IQ test results. His scores in different areas are so varied that one of the local brain development research places has called him in for several studies. For instance, in his last IQ test, his total IQ score was 126. However, in math fluency, he was at an 85. In applied problems, he was at a 109. That's a huge discrepancy. In reading, his passage comprehension was at a 5th grade level(in 8th grade), but his vocabulary was equivalent to a college freshman. He only scored an 8(very weak) on symbol search, but scored a 16(superior) on matrix reasoning. Every area has these huge GAPS that help to explain the differences in his IQ and his performance. In addition, he has the writing disability dyslexia and ADD.

Anyway, I sat down with him and showed him his strengths and weaknesses and explained that many of the areas he is very strong in don't really help in school. He was calling himself stupid and other not so nice words, and seeing the scores helped him understand that he is really bright in some other areas that he will probably use later in life. As Mel Levine once said "School is the only time in your life that you are expected to be good at everything."

Marsha

My son has a similar profile, but I decided to stay more general in my explanation to him and I didn't get into the specific scores. I didn't think it would help him to know that when he was 8, he was in the 5th percentile for his age in motor skills but in the 99.6th percentile for verbal reasoning. Or that he tested at a seventh grade level in math, but only a third grade level in writing. I didn't want him to think he could coast in math, or that he'd never catch up in writing.

So I simply told him that his brain works a little differently from the other kids. It meant that there were some things he could do better than they could, and there were other things that he would have to work harder at.

And then, because I was afraid that he might think he wasn't as smart as his big sister, I also pointed out to him that his overall IQ was the same as hers - more than smart enough to do anything he wants in life. To my surprise, it turns out he actually thought he was smarter than her, so he was very shocked to discover that she was as clever as all that.

I think we managed to skip over the whole "I'm stupid" idea because we homeschooled him for the early years. He had started with a little of it in kindy ("My brain does bad things") but he stopped shortly after we took him out of school.

 

[laceemouse]

I don't consider IQ tests a waste of time as sometimes you need IQ test results for certain programs, schools etc.

Our son needed IQ results amongst other things (SAT scores, portfolio, interview etc) for early entrance to university.
It's worth keeping in mind that highly gifted children are best tested between the ages of 5 and 8 as they often start to reach test ceilings at an early age.

Good luck

Yes, but in public school if an IQ test is NEEDED to get into a certain program, like gifted, the school will do the testing. There is no need to spend the $$$$ to do it. Also, and I know what I am talking about because we moved many times before we started to homeschool, every school district uses different tests, and different criteria, to get into their gifted program.
There are different IQ tests for different ages, preschool through adult. Also, IQ tests do NOT measure what a person knows, but their ability to learn. So, you can have a kid who sounds like a professor because he has been TAUGHT a lot but he may not score "gifted" on an IQ test.
I also agree that IQ is only part of the story. My oldest is my brightest child (MENSA IQ) but most of her school career she has been lazy and unmotivated. Now, all of the sudden, she is motivated and is whizzing through college. She will have a bachelor's degree at 19

 

[Magpie]

Yes, but in public school if an IQ test is NEEDED to get into a certain program, like gifted, the school will do the testing. There is no need to spend the $$$$ to do it. Also, and I know what I am talking about because we moved many times before we started to homeschool, every school district uses different tests, and different criteria, to get into their gifted program.
There are different IQ tests for different ages, preschool through adult. Also, IQ tests do NOT measure what a person knows, but their ability to learn. So, you can have a kid who sounds like a professor because he has been TAUGHT a lot but he may not score "gifted" on an IQ test.
I also agree that IQ is only part of the story. My oldest is my brightest child (MENSA IQ) but most of her school career she has been lazy and unmotivated. Now, all of the sudden, she is motivated and is whizzing through college. She will have a bachelor's degree at 19

Actually, that's not true here. The schools will do a general screening for gifted or LD, but they won't do any kind of advanced testing. Lots of kids slip through the general screening for any number of reasons that have nothing to do with giftedness, so their parents are told to have them tested privately.

The other benefit to private testing is that because the WISC (for example) is a more precise tool, it travels from one school district to another. So you don't have to have your kid tested again. (Could be different in the States - I don't know.)

Ideally, IQ tests shouldn't measure what a person knows, but sometimes they do. For instance, my daughter blew the Mazes portion of her test right out of the water when she was four. Why? Because I had bought her a book of mazes for Christmas, and having been through occupational therapy as youngster, I told her the game was to finish the maze without touching any of the walls and without picking up your pencil from the paper, or stopping.

I didn't know you got extra points for all these things. I didn't even know mazes would be in her test! The tester ended up excluding that portion of the score, because it was just so far outside the norm.

On the flip side, a friend of mine once got slapped with a "mental delay" label, thanks to a kindergarten screening that asked him to - among other things - identify an umbrella and describe its use. He was living in a trailer and had never seen an umbrella in his life! His mother homeschooled him for a year, and the next year the school told her that he was "gifted". She just laughed. (Although I do think the gifted label was probably fair, as he is a very smart man.)

Congrats to your daughter on her success in college!

 

[laceemouse]

Actually, that's not true here. The schools will do a general screening for gifted or LD, but they won't do any kind of advanced testing. Lots of kids slip through the general screening for any number of reasons that have nothing to do with giftedness, so their parents are told to have them tested privately.

The other benefit to private testing is that because the WISC (for example) is a more precise tool, it travels from one school district to another. So you don't have to have your kid tested again. (Could be different in the States - I don't know.)

Ideally, IQ tests shouldn't measure what a person knows, but sometimes they do. For instance, my daughter blew the Mazes portion of her test right out of the water when she was four. Why? Because I had bought her a book of mazes for Christmas, and having been through occupational therapy as youngster, I told her the game was to finish the maze without touching any of the walls and without picking up your pencil from the paper, or stopping.

I have to add, it didn't travel from district to district here. When our older girls tested gifted in Florida they used the WISC, a one on one test. Then we moved to a small town in Illinois which used a different test and teacher observations (they didn't care what the WISC said.) Then we moved to the Chicago area and they used the CoGat, and a district specific test. Again, that oldest is MENSA and second is in the very superior range in IQ didn't matter, they used different criteria.
I think in Canada since things are more nationalized it is easier to move from school to school. Here each district makes it's own rules, picks their own curriculum, etc. It makes moving very hard.

I didn't know you got extra points for all these things. I didn't even know mazes would be in her test! The tester ended up excluding that portion of the score, because it was just so far outside the norm.

On the flip side, a friend of mine once got slapped with a "mental delay" label, thanks to a kindergarten screening that asked him to - among other things - identify an umbrella and describe its use. He was living in a trailer and had never seen an umbrella in his life! His mother homeschooled him for a year, and the next year the school told her that he was "gifted". She just laughed. (Although I do think the gifted label was probably fair, as he is a very smart man.)

Congrats to your daughter on her success in college!

That is so strange about the umbrella example, not fair at all!
We have lived in several school districts in the US and they all do the testing that THEY want to be done. You are right, they don't always do the best test or identify everything, but in most cases they will NOT accept outside testing, no matter what it shows.
We believe our son has a learning disability. Not IQ, but related to other things. The school did all kinds and testing and didn't agree with us (although many of his teachers over the years did.) We got private testing which said he does have an LD. The school said "sorry, he doesn't meet our qualifications to get extra help." We pulled all of our kids out to homeschool them and never looked back.
If someone buys IQ testing they need to know that the school MAY NOT just say "okay, this kid is certainly gifted." It may not be the test they want or an approved tester or whatever.

 

[laceemouse]

Also, it doesn't move with you here. Our oldest two kids had the WISC in Florida and when we moved the next school used some other test. They didn't care what the WISC said. And then we moved to Chicago and it was the CoGat and some district specific test. Things are not nationalized here at all.

 

[sl_underwood]

I have worked with many individuals who have a very high IQ but lack the ability to care for their very basic needs. For example, I worked with one family in which both the father and two of the children had IQ's that were off the charts. The dad could figure math equations in his head that would take most of us hours on paper but he could not manage his finances and keep a roof over his children's head. Each of my kids have had their IQ tested. My oldest scored very high with an IQ of 131. She has skipped two grades and is in college at 17 but she lacks common sense. I am still working with her on this. My middle child is easily distracted, can not remember to get her work turned in on time, but she also has an above average IQ of 110. My son has a variety of special needs. He is on the autism spectrum, has suffered a traumatic brain injury and has been exposed to a variety of substances in the womb but his IQ is well above average. He was placed in a special education program with an IQ of 124 because he cannot focus or function without constant feedback from a paraprofessional. I mention this because IQ does not truly measure an individual's intelligence. I do not feel it is a waste of time but I think parents need to be aware that a child's IQ can change and it is not the only measure of a child's intelligence. I have seen parents place such high value on an IQ test that they cause damage to their children when the kids do not meet the expectations of the parents or kids who exceed their parents expectations and are therefore treated as though they are einstein. IQ testing can be quite helpful if the parents take it at face value, look at it as a way to discover their child's strengths and weaknesses, rather than as a way to boast.

 

[shaylahc1]

I have worked with many individuals who have a very high IQ but lack the ability to care for their very basic needs. For example, I worked with one family in which both the father and two of the children had IQ's that were off the charts. The dad could figure math equations in his head that would take most of us hours on paper but he could not manage his finances and keep a roof over his children's head. Each of my kids have had their IQ tested. My oldest scored very high with an IQ of 131. She has skipped two grades and is in college at 17 but she lacks common sense. I am still working with her on this. My middle child is easily distracted, can not remember to get her work turned in on time, but she also has an above average IQ of 110. My son has a variety of special needs. He is on the autism spectrum, has suffered a traumatic brain injury and has been exposed to a variety of substances in the womb but his IQ is well above average. He was placed in a special education program with an IQ of 124 because he cannot focus or function without constant feedback from a paraprofessional. I mention this because IQ does not truly measure an individual's intelligence. I do not feel it is a waste of time but I think parents need to be aware that a child's IQ can change and it is not the only measure of a child's intelligence. I have seen parents place such high value on an IQ test that they cause damage to their children when the kids do not meet the expectations of the parents or kids who exceed their parents expectations and are therefore treated as though they are einstein. IQ testing can be quite helpful if the parents take it at face value, look at it as a way to discover their child's strengths and weaknesses, rather than as a way to boast.

I agree with this. I was a "gifted" child who graduated from high school at 16 and college at 20. I had never had my IQ tested until recently, I have Lupus and began having cognitive processing problems. My IQ tested in the average range I did terribly on the test portion that measures spatial reasoning (always been a deficit for me). I also did lousy on the academic portion since I haven't been in school for oh, 16 years I have to say I was surprised that I didn't score higher. Makes no sense for me to be so advanced as a child but test so poorly on an IQ test It has definitely changed the way I feel about and view IQ testing. I think we put a lot of weight on something that may or may not mean anything about "intelligence" in the grand scheme of things.

ETA my 9 y.o. has an IQ of 135 and has dyslexia and she's never done a single "precocious" thing in her life lol. She has always been very average in development and performance, and thanks to dyslexia she is delayed in the areas of reading and writing (which according to the IQ test score she should be very "gifted" in...). Makes no sense to me.

 

[KrazeeK120]

This thread is 8 years old. I’m guessing the OP has answers by this point.