IQ is More Than Just a Number
Parents often have questions about the IQ scores and IQ testing which are required as part of admissions to gifted programs and gifted schools. Some want to know what to do to help their child prepare for the testing. Others are afraid their child will not “pass” and still others think the score is a bragging opportunity. While most schools have a minimum full-scale IQ score for enrollment of 125/130, this number only tells a small piece of the whole picture. It is valuable for parents to understand the pieces of IQ testing and what they mean when educating their gifted children.
IQ tests should be given by a psychologist who works with gifted children. They are not an academic skills test. It is an observation of how your child’s mind works when dealing with a variety of stimuli. No test preparation is needed. Most gifted kids love taking the test! What could be more fun than “playing games” one on one with an adult? The child should not feel like there is any pressure to achieve, since the goal is to learn more about how he thinks rather than the achievement of a certain score. I’ll let you in on a secret…most of the time when a parent has reached the point of having a child’s IQ tested, the result is that the child is gifted.
At Vanguard Gifted Academy we do a visiting day before the testing. By the end of the visiting day it is usually evident whether the child is gifted because of how he fits into our gifted community. If it looks like he is not a good fit it gives us a chance to talk with parents before he is tested. The testing usually confirms our determination of giftedness and gives us information that will help us best serve the child’s learning needs.
The Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children Fifth Edition or WISC-V is most commonly used for testing children from ages 6 years 0 months to 16 years 11 months. It provides primary index scores that represent intellectual functioning in specified cognitive areas. Next to each index I have included a note indicating how that index relates to the child’s learning.
Verbal Comprehension Index: ability to interpret and apply words in instruction and directions and verbally communicate ideas through words
Visual-Spatial Index: ability to interpret pictures and create a mental picture of information, often filling in missing aspects
Fluid Reasoning Index: ability to think beyond the facts by making connections to prior knowledge or applying common patterns or rules
Working Memory Index: ability to retain and use small pieces of information as needed, while completing a project or task
Processing Speed Index: rate at which information is translated into knowledge that can then be applied in learning
The combination of these assessments forms the composite score representing the general intellectual abilities or Full-Scale IQ (FSIQ). At times, when the cognitive indexes indicate an inconsistency, sub-tests can be given. These sub-tests evaluate different cognitive areas within the more general indexes and may be used to clarify the child’s abilities.
The important thing to note about testing is not each index score in isolation, but how the scores relate to each other, because conceptual understanding requires multiple cognitive abilities. When reading the test results from a teaching perspective, if the scores are all pretty close, within 10 points of each other, it means the child has a nice balance in how his brain manages information. If there is a score that is significantly higher or lower than the others, more than a 15 point difference, it indicates an area of strength or challenge within the child’s thinking processes. When teaching gifted children you want to use strategies that make the most of their strengths to lessen the impact of their challenges. Here’s an example.
If a child receives a relatively high score in the visual-spatial index, it indicates to me that her mind processes information in pictures more than words. If the same child has a relatively low score in working memory, it means the child has a harder time retaining multiple ideas while in the midst of completing a multi-step task. The task can be organizational such as gathering the supplies needed for an activity, or academic such as completing long division problems.
In teaching this child I would offer the opportunity for doodling notes. Making pictures/symbols to represent the pieces of information the child needs to recall makes the task more brain-friendly. At first the child can quickly refer to the doodling notes when working through a process. Doodling notes give the child a strategy she can use into adulthood, should they be needed. Other times, doodling notes are only needed for a short time until the process is internalized. For example, a repetitive process like doing long division may be internalized more easily when the picture-oriented brain has visual symbols to link to the process.
I want to take a minute to clarify what a relatively high or low score is. These scores are considered high or low based on the other scores in the child’s testing results. So a 75th percentile score may be relatively low if the other index percentile scores are above the 95th percentile. A relatively low score, 75th percentile in this case, may be high when compared with age-level peers scoring at the average 50th percentile, but it is significantly lower than the other scores in the child’s testing battery. Extreme differences in scores, more than 20 points, may be an indicator of a learning disability that requires further attention. It is important to know about and serve the disability as it will hold back the gifted child. Gifted children with learning disabilities are often referred to as twice exceptional. It is good to be aware of any disability as you look for the best learning environment for your gifted child.
If you want to learn more about IQ testing there is a great book called, Parent’s Guide to IQ Testing and Gifted Education by David Palmer, PhD.