IQ test score and occupation requiring that particular strength? It's Block design

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<p>What occupation requires a strong block design score on the Wechsler IQ test?</p>

<p>this is the subtest that is related to how well you put together puzzles.</p>

<p>But what occupation demands a strong talent in this direction? My kid got the top score (19) on the Wechsler when she was quite young. What job would demand this kind of talent? Any ideas? </p>

<p>Oh, she also got a relatively low 13 on Object Assembly, which is supposed to be highly correlated to Block Design, but not in my family for some reason. So there is that negative.</p>

<p>Anyone know?</p>

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<p>It has been a long time since I studied the WAIS, but I’d guess that fields requiring excellent visual-spacial skills would use that kind of talent. Engineering may be one. Architects, surgeons, and artists all probably also do well on BD.</p>

<p>My younger S’s also got the max score on BD when he was young. I thought he was headed to be an engineer. Ends up that despite finding math easy, he has no desire to be an engineer or anything similar. Instead, he’s interested in fields like psychology and education (but not interested in being a math or science teacher or prof).</p>

<p>Your D may have gotten a lower score on OA because of being tired or distracted during the testing. It’s not hard to get a lower score than one is capable of achieving.</p>

<p>Instead of relying on that old testing to help your D figure out possible careers, I suggest going to a counseling psychologist or even a college counseling center to have her take an assessment battery to determine careers that match her interests and talents. Often college counseling centers off such batteries for free or low cost to people in their local community.</p>

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<p>I agree with Northstarmom that this kind of question is best answered with more current information. My S1 is also a kid who “naturally” takes to the Block Design task on the WISC. He currently aspires to work in the software industry, taking computer courses in math and computer science.</p>

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<p>I don’t know what the subscores on IQ tests were for my son, but he was putting together puzzles for “8 and above” at a very, very young age. He is a computer science and math major, and spent a of time building and inventing things while growing up.</p>

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<p>Fighter pilot.F-1 driver.</p>

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<p>I guess I will check back periodically to see if anyone else responds to this.</p>

<p>I way overboard encouraged my daughter to read after 1st grade, and she read for hours a day, and all weekend. </p>

<p>Now she won’t stop reading, and has discovered wwwfanfiction.com where you re-write the endings to favorite novels.</p>

<p>Her college boards are pretty good–800 in reading, 700 in math, 670 in writing. then on the PSAT she got 75 in writing, 68 i math and 72 in reading.</p>

<p>She says she ‘doesn’t like math’ that much. Still, if you have a talent in math, isn’t it smarter to go into a math-based field in terms of job security? guess it is my fault for not encouraging the math instead when she was young. The only math she ever got was in school, no encouragement at home at all.</p>

<p>Thanks for all the suggestions. Interesting to see that so many with this talent went into computer science.</p>

<p>and my other daughter, who also got 19 on Block design, wants to be an actuary.</p>

<p>(the 13 on the object assembly was about right. Every one of my 5 gifted kids scored 4-5 points lower on object assembly compared to their higher block design score. so much for these scores being highly correlated, at least in my family!)</p>

<p>Thanks to all respondents!</p>

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<p>Your D’s interest in things like fanfiction remind me of my s, whose BD score and math talent (but lack of interest in a math related field) she also shares.</p>

<p>S had SATs of 780, 760, 650, and has decided to be a psychology major, music minor. Among careers he’s considering are psychologist and secondary school teacher. I know what it’s like to be a mom who sees a kid with lots of talent in areas that clearly are very lucrative, yet plans to enter fields that don’t pay well.</p>

<p>At the same time, however, I remember being a kid who also could have gone into science-related fields, but to my mom’s chagrin chose to go into psychology and journalism. I will never forget her disappointment when I decided that I didn’t plan to go premed!</p>

<p>Still, I’ve been very happy with my life, and money never has been what excites me about careers. I’m smart enough and talented enough in what I like to do that it’s not likely that I’ll ever starve due to lack of employment even though it’s also unlikely that I’ll become wealthy due to my job interests.</p>

<p>I doubt that your D is interested in reading because of your encouragement. It’s probably that you encouraged her and enabled her to do something that she loved doing anyway, so don’t blame yourself for your D’s interests.</p>

<p>Anyway, based on your D’s scores, while she is very talented in reading, writing, and math, she is most talented verbally. </p>

<p>When it comes to job security, probably the jobs that our kids will be doing as adults haven’t even been created yet. In fact, our kids may end up creating their own jobs. Due to the world’s rapid changes, I also don’t think that there ever again will be the kind of job security that our parents may have enjoyed. Even for our parents, job security may have existed. I remember well what happened to people in careers like engineering about 25 years ago when due to, I think, funding cuts in the space program, there was far less need for engineers, which had been considered a safe, lucrative career.</p>