<p>I personally think IQ tests are pointless. Seriously, what is the point unless you are testing for a disability? When I was in third grade I started getting bored in class and acting out. My teacher actually told me my IQ and that it was really high and that therefore I would have to act like someone with that IQ would act. Aside from the fact that IQ has nothing to do with conduct/behavior . . . I was mortified that I had to be perfect and actually started to do worse and act out more to the point of getting put in the “special” class for an hour a day!!! Luckily, the next year my family moved so I changed school districts and the problem just kind of resolved itself. But I wonder if other young kids have been told their IQ (whether low or high) by a poorly-trained teacher and then been confused like I was.</p>
<p>I guess my own D’s experiences cause me to question IQ tests. While my S’s scores have been relatively constant, my daughter, when she was much younger, tested about 30 points below where she tested in 7th and 8th grade. Why the big swing? Did she get smarter all of a sudden? That’s a pretty big swing. If her swing was so significant, shouldn’t I just question the validity of all the tests?</p>
<p>Of course one should question the validity of the tests. Do you have the subtest scores? Do they seem to make sense? My understanding is that the higher test score is more likely to be correct. </p>
<p>I tend to think that IQ tests show something - the scatter on my younger son’s subtests did reflect the difficulties he was having in school, while the overall pretty high score gave us the confidence that growing up might solve many of his problems. So far seems good. He dropped the 504 plan this year and is getting As and Bs in 8th grade. </p>
<p>Meanwhile my older son was never tested, though a well-known tester in gifted circles gave me her guesstimate over the phone when he was about six. (I didn’t have the $600 to get him tested - and the school all recognized he was precocious.) I still don’t know his IQ, but I’m guessing she was close. He was waaaay over on the right hand side of the bell curve of 7th grade SAT scores that CTY sends you.</p>
<p>No, I don’t question the validity of the tests at all, only the so-called professionals administering them. There is a 5-15% error margin, even with good testers; good evaluations should have very little difference between scores.</p>
<p>Most IQ tests require a certain reading level in the language of the test, most tests have thier bias for what type of intelligence(s) they are testing for, and most people would test differently on different days and even at different hours of the day.</p>
<p>I have known some brilliant people who could not find their way through a new city, or even find their slippers early in the morning…</p>
<p>What you test, how you test, and why you test are all related questions and what will you do with at test is equally important. If someone had told Tom Paine that his IQ wasn’t that high so he probably shouldn’t be writing provocative political pieces they would have been wrong.</p>
<p>I think the above question regarding knowledge vs. intelligence might be explained by comparing the two to a library…one might be to have a lot of books in their library, and another might be their ability to use those books for a purpose. The best situation is when intelligent people are also well educated.</p>
<p>Here are some other questions regarding IQ. If a person has a high IQ but spends their time watching cartoons all day is that like spitting in the eye of God?(for those who believe in a God/creator)</p>
<p>If you had to choose would you rather have a nice child or a smart one? and what does that imply? (of course we want both- don’t cheat the question!)</p>
<p>People who can’t find their slippers or their way through a new city may have less highly developed right brain function. They might still be brilliant, but more language based.</p>
<p>Also, there is no reading at all required on a valid IQ tests. There is some “school based knowledge” assessed,but it is now part of a supplemental test.</p>
<p>Disclaimer: the IQ tests one can take on-line are pretty bogus, and do not qualify as valid.</p>
<p>P.S. I want the happy kid, which is the most important attribute of all.</p>
<p>Thanks for the interesting comments in this thread. Keep them coming.</p>
<p>I probably should have said vocabulary level, as I do recall a verbal analogy being thrown in somewhere in the Stanford-Benet test.</p>
<p>My mom had me tested in second grade because she was curious and wanted to know, in her words, “what she was getting herself into.” I was then tested, upon arriving at a 7-12 school in 7th grade, from which I am about to graduate, because I was ‘bored.’ They would not believe me that I was bored and threw around accusations that I was ADD and using boredom as an excuse for an inability to keep up with the cirriculum, and thus made me take another IQ test. I guess I passed, because they conceded, but the moral of the story is my ‘score’ between second and seventh grades varied by one point! I really did not have much faith in the accuracy of IQ tests over time until my mom showed me the paperwork.</p>
<p>My first question is why does the school system not provide the testing, rather than send kids to independent practitioners? I think I have heard of parents challenging school results, and that is when they look for a professional who administers the Wechsler series, the Stanford-Binet, the Kaufman, or some other individual test of intelligence. Parents should know that there is statistical error in all scores (regardless of the skills of the examiner), and that because of this and other variables, scores will seldom be absolutely static across time. Similarly, whereas scores on all of these tests are highly and positively correlated, it is quite unlikely that for a given child, the score on the SB will be the same as the score on the WISC-IV. If there is a “cut-off” score for some gifted program, it is necessarily somewhat arbitrary- (maybe they use a 90% or 95% confidence interval, which would be better and more likely to be consistent over time. Percentile ranks might also be better when the same test is not used for all children). The Weschsler Series provides numerous subtest scores, and as noted by a previous poster is quite useful in a larger battery of testing, including achievement testing. For example, if a child achieves a significantly higher score on the Wechsler Intelligence Series, relative to the Wechsler Achievement Series, this might precipitate questions regarding what is interfering with the child’s learning to his or her full potential. The Wechsler is lengthy and expensive to administer, and I would probably reserve its use for when clinical questions are involved. Maybe some school systems use it for placement. I would think additional variables would be considered in determining whether a child is placed in a gifted program. I guess people in general tend to focus on scores, whether they be IQs, SATS, GPAs, or whatever.</p>