IQ level and such things....

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I know the subject of IQ is probably one of those things most folks around here don’t talk about. I’m not sure, but perhaps quoting ones IQ is not as acceptable and quoting one’s SAT or PSAT or GPA scores, I don’t know. But please excuse me if it is not acceptable. You see, I have been trying to find some web site with such info for years, to no avail and now that I’ve come across this wonderful website with parents of remarkable children, I feel I’ve hit the mother lode.</p>

<p>I know, this site is mostly for college questions and so on. And I do have a child that is going to college, in two years, but she IS going to college, so I hope it’s still ok to post questions here. (she’s applying for a very nice school of science and math for her 11th & 12th years of HS now).</p>

<p>So, getting back to my question. Who here knows the IQ of their child? Obviously, the level of IQ is not something that is given to the parents of a child in school, UNLESS it’s a high level. My oldest dgter was very good in school, but they sure didn’t give me her IQ score, nor did I even have the thoughts to even ask. But in 7th grade, they told me my youngest dgters score as they were wanting her to take the SAT.</p>

<p>Could any of you on the board give me any ideas as to what is considered a high score, genius score, or just any info you can? I have looked on websites and have an idea, but still am not certain where she falls in. She is not genius level, but still high enough that she does exceptional work.</p>

<p>Web sites I can go to? Benefit of your knowledge and experience?</p>

<p>I know, IQ scores are not the know all, tell all of what a child will become. Also, some of the highest IQ scores are from people that don’t always achieve, and actually have some problems socially and otherwise…but over all, what does IQ scores really mean?</p>

<p>Thank you all.</p>

2

<p>I think the best resource on the Web on this topic is Hoagies:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/[/url]”>http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>I don’t know which test your school used (pretty often they just administer a group achievement test, and somehow estimate IQ from there). But anyway, here’s some info on levels of giftedness:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/highly_profoundly.htm[/url]”>http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/highly_profoundly.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>If you want to join a discussion group or mailing list on giftedness, here are some message boards etc.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/on-line_support.htm[/url]”>http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/on-line_support.htm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>salem,
I know what my oldest S’s IQ is, but that is only because we had him privately tested by an educational psychologist who specializes in this field. (We had him tested because of serious schooling issues.) According to what we were told, the #'s are >164=extraordinarily gifted, >180=profoundly gifted. The numbers cited by this professional are based on his/her research after many years in the field. The vast,vast majority of children described by schools as being “gifted” do not fall into these IQ categories, but may still be considered to be highly gifted.</p>

4

<p>There are a lot of misconceptions about IQ on many Web sites, because they don’t reflect the latest research. </p>

<p><a href=“http://learninfreedom.org/iqbooks.html[/url]”>http://learninfreedom.org/iqbooks.html&lt;/a&gt; </p>

<p>points to some resources that will help set the record straight.</p>

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<p><a href=“Shaw Communications”>Shaw Communications;

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<p>I know my daughters IQ because she was a premie and was part of a high risk follow up program at the university where she was born. Intelligence testing was part of the follow up and she was tested over the years
by a researcher at the UW who was part of studies of gifted children and also now is part of an early entrance program of gifted students at university .
The group administered tests that our district uses are quite different than intelligence tests and incidentally even though her intelligence was estimated to be say the same as Bill Gates- she didn’t qualify for her school districts gifted program .- that was fine- I figured that if she didn’t qualify based on their group administered standardized test- it probably wasn’t appropriate for her anyway :slight_smile:
Its just really a number and what was more helpful was actually how the subtests broke down and compared to each other as opposed to overall score</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.earlyentrance.org/[/url]”>http://www.earlyentrance.org/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

7

<p>I know the IQ of both my children. They were tested for and accepted into the gifted program in elementary school.</p>

<p>Other than that, their IQ never comes up in converstation.</p>

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<p>I know the lower threshold of my son’s IQ only because he did the MENSA test for fun and passed. The only other test he did was the group IQ they do at school , but that wasn’t relevant because it didn’t test high enough for him. So we don’t have any exact nmber, and I don’t think it’s important enough to pay someone what it would cost to find out. He doesn’t even think it’s important enough to pay MENSA dues after that first year when he got the card once in high school!</p>

9

<p>I agree, IQ is never something I even bring up ordinarily, and I only check into it by myself online once in long awhile. My daughter did not even know her IQ until I mentioned it the other day, and I thought she already knew. True to her nature, it is no big deal to her, and it really shouldn’t be anyway. The girl that she is and the woman she becomes, the person she will ultimately be is what matters most. :)</p>

10

<p>My mom found out my IQ (and told me) because she’s a teacher in the school district I attended, and snuck my file out one time during the years I was in her building. :)</p>

11

<p>I, too, know both kids’ IQ’s bcos our school district offers a group IQ test for those intererested in the GATE program. However, there are IQ tests, and then there are IQ tests. 90 minute group tests, like the ones offered thru our school district, are reasonable at differentiating the middle group 70-130, but don’t do justice to kids at the high end of the scale. Twice or thrice gifted kids need different tests, usually offered by a professional who specializes in that field.</p>

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<p>“Knowing their correct size in a good pair of cowboy boots will make them a helluva lot more comfortable in life than knowing their IQ ever will.” Earl Doskocil, Muleshoe , Texas , Home of The Glass Ass. (World’s Largest Fiberglass Mule)</p>

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<p>Our high school does not give IQ tests. Instead, the kids take the ERB each year which has a lot to do with what you have learned, not just native intelligence. So don’t assume your school knows. Also, “gifted” is a relative term in that in a poor school district, a child with an IQ of 125 may be put in a “gifted” program. In a top school district 125 may be a very average IQ. IQ` also deos not measure creativity or artistic ability or musical genius so some of the great writers, composers, etc., while being bright, may not be at the top of the IQ scale.
If you truly want to know your child’s IQ, have separate testing. The kids who are routinely tested in schools are those with low IQs, in order to quality for mandated special ed.</p>

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<p>tokenadult - what do you think about IQ? </p>

<p>I only know enough to be afraid … very afraid.</p>

<p>beprepn</p>

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<p>

</p>

<p>Well, since you asked, I’ll gently correct one of the most persistent errors about IQ testing in the common understanding. (I used to think this same way, which is why I’ll try to be gentle when I correct the error.) Most people think of IQ scores as measurements. That is the one thing IQ scores have never been shown to be, rigorously. The long story about why we shouldn’t suppose that IQ scores are measurements of anything can be found in Joel Michell’s book [Measurement</a> in Psychology: A Critical History of a Methodological Concept](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521621208]Measurement”>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0521621208), which is a book written for a scholarly audience that is gradually gaining more attention among clinical psychologists. A more empirical and less subtle misconception about IQ scores is the common idea that a person has a fixed IQ score over life. In fact, all longitudinal studies of IQ, from Terman’s study in the 1920s to the present day, show that there is a great deal of variation in individual IQ scores over the course of childhood and into adult life. The most recent edition of the late Anne Anastasi’s textbook on psychological testing gives many references to this frequently replicated finding. A really great book with specific numeric examples of IQ change over the course of childhood based on Terman’s study is [Terman’s</a> Kids: The Groundbreaking Study of How the Gifted Grow Up](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316788902/]Terman’s”>http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316788902/), which should be available in any good public library, and is a very useful book for parents. </p>

<p>IQ scores are also not comparable from one brand of IQ test to another, which is one of the rough-and-ready hints that they are not measurements. Thus, an informed statement about someone’s IQ score would be along the lines of “Johnny’s IQ score on [brand name of test] was [IQ number] at [age].” </p>

<p>So if an IQ score cannot be proven to be a measurement of anything, and in any event can’t be expected to be constant over the course of life, what is it good for? What IQ tests were historically developed for by Binet, and what they still have SOME real-world usefulness for today, is estimating whether or not the standard school program might be appropriate for a particular child. A child with an unusually high IQ will probably be better served by adjusting his or her educational program in the direction of more challenging content and earlier introduction of difficult concepts. One reason I am a homeschooling parent is to attain the flexibility necessary to meet my children’s educational needs. I have been IQ tested as a child and as an adult, and two of my four children have been IQ tested (my oldest son in two different languages). Because the numbers don’t have any measurement characteristics and aren’t strictly comparable anyway from one brand of test to another, it’s not even clear whether my son is smarter or I am, but it’s clear enough that he has the intellectual capacity to be very advanced in his math studies and that he enjoys the company of other high-IQ (as I am told) children we know. </p>

<p>Parents whose children post really high IQ scores may desire to enroll them in the [Davidson</a> Young Scholars](<a href=“http://www.ditdservices.org/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=24&NavID=0_0]Davidson”>http://www.ditdservices.org/Articles.aspx?ArticleID=24&NavID=0_0) program, which has helpful support and resources for families and is based on a reasonably sound view of what IQ is all about.</p>

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<p>See this weblink for a different view:</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0740718584/ref=sib_vae_pg_38/002-5650748-9891253?_encoding=UTF8&keywords=iq&p=S01D&twc=25&checkSum=jkQRpEma1yAtfyTZ4aFeuhENvyDRZUkV8wqV7TGzCWA%3D#reader-page[/url]”>http://www.amazon.com/gp/reader/0740718584/ref=sib_vae_pg_38/002-5650748-9891253?_encoding=UTF8&keywords=iq&p=S01D&twc=25&checkSum=jkQRpEma1yAtfyTZ4aFeuhENvyDRZUkV8wqV7TGzCWA%3D#reader-page&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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<p>I’m a student.</p>

<p>I never had my IQ tested. At my private school, I was allowed to skip grades and classes based on the quality of my work and my maturity (for the skipping). I took the SAT out of CTY after scoring in the 99th percentile on a standardized test that is no longer in business.</p>

<p>IQ is nothing; what matters is what arises from it.</p>

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<p>I agree with tokenadult’s post.</p>

<p>I do know my daughter’s IQ at age 6 on the WISC-III – like others here, there was a specific reason we needed testing, in terms of educational planning. My son has never been formally tested but is very fond of doing the free online IQ tests (of dubious validity, of course) – but he does better than me on those things (and I know my IQ test scores on various measures from childhood) and does better than his sister on any sort of standardized test, so I figure that son’s IQ is the same or higher as his sister. </p>

<p>For what its worth we all test in the “highly gifted” range and I think its a load of bull. IQ tests measure the ability to score well on IQ tests, which in turn is highly influenced by our life experiences, and all are culturally biased by nature.</p>

19

<p>It is true that IQ varies through out life. In a sad chapter of our country’s history, children with IQs under 70 were routinely institutionalized until the late 1960s and given little to no education. BUT they had their IQs tested regularly. These IQs are all in the public record. Some of the children who were placed at a young age in the institutions because their IQs were 68 ended up later on testing at 98, totally normal, but their lives had been destroyed. There is a wonderful book on this called the State Boys Rebellion by Michael D’Antonio.</p>

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<p>My son’s IQ was tested because he was experiencing some learning differences beginning in elementary school; birth mother engaged in several behaviors that weren’t exactly conducive to a robust educational experience. We were told upfront that his IQ scores were essentially meaningless because his particular disabilities made them difficult to accurately measure.</p>

<p>My humble opinion in his case and those like his is that testing has done nothing but hamper him, because the system has tended to read too much into it. In not medicating him during testing to obtain one measure, the testing skewed other scores which gave a false impression of his abilities. These skewed scores were misused to limit the options open to him.</p>

<p>Numbers are just that, numbers. It’s what you do in life that matters. Numbers may be borne out, but they may not be. I’d never expose my child to their potentially harmful effects needlessly, for achievement is largely based on self image. It’s too easy to use these numbers in a vacuum…and that’s always a mistake.</p>