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Advantages of IQ test

22 replies

frayedaroundedges · 21/10/2013 23:39

My six year old son is bright and happy and top of his (below average) class. His educational needs are not being met by the school. They are leaving him to coast, I suspect because he has already attained/ exceeded the levels required for the end of year SATS.

The school is hopeless in nearly every way, but I want to give it a go before making any drastic decisions. I wondered if I should take him to an educational psychologist as, if his IQ is above average, it might spur the school into paying more than lip service to adequate differentiation.

I have the following questions:

  1. What are the pros and cons of doing an IQ test?
  2. Has an IQ test made any difference to the way the school deals with your child, and, finally...
  3. Where do I find a good educational psychologist?
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Alad · 21/10/2013 23:48

IQ tests prove only that a person is good at doing a test. Results aged 6 are meaningless. Save your money & relax. Stressing is far worse for the child.

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frayedaroundedges · 21/10/2013 23:55

The school is an unimaginative school that is not adequately differentiating work for the more able children, including my son. They are unimaginative enough that they are more likely to take a piece of paper from an official seriously than to respond to the evidence of the (increasingly bored) children in front of them. At least that's my hope, and I'm very open to other suggestions/tactics.

I have mixed views about IQ tests - but in this case, it would be a means to an end (or that would be the goal - which is why I'm interested in other peoples experiences in this situation).

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bsc · 22/10/2013 00:01

Perhaps they don't diiferentiate because they are incapable? An IQ test result will not aid them with that!

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frayedaroundedges · 22/10/2013 00:16

Well, yes, BSC. You are right: they don't differentiate because 1) they don't really care that much (the focus is on trying to raise up the struggling end of the class to the pass mark) and because 2) the teachers are not that able (the school is in a bad way).

I thought about the IQ route as I have had some success previously in getting more attention for my son by asking for formal assessments from the school. This resulted in him being added to a secret list (I only learned about it from office gossip!) and a bit of encouraging noise, but no actual increase in challenging or interesting work. I think the school was just pleased to have it look on paper as if they were doing something for the more able students (they have been criticised repeatedly by OFSTED for not doing this).

I just don't want to face it: My son is happy in the school, because he loves his friends, but at some point his love of learning is going to be compromised by boredom.

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kitchendiner · 22/10/2013 06:03

You could try phoning Potential Plus for advice. My inclination is that the school won't take any notice of any IQ results and are more likely to take notice of his curriculum levels. If the school is really bad then I would be thinking of a move.

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claraschu · 22/10/2013 06:10

Sounds like a bad school. I doubt it will change radically enough to make a real difference.

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richmal · 22/10/2013 08:57

When dd was in year 4 all the children did VR and NVR tests. Dd scored 140 as she got 100% in both. This made no difference to their assessment of her ability which was by teacher assessment only.

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frayedaroundedges · 22/10/2013 13:10

What can I do? What should I do?
My son is happy at school because he loves his friends. But I have lost faith in the school. The teaching is unimaginative and poor and pitched below his ability. The school does not seem bothered by this, and it is in fact a systemic problem.
I was an unusually bright child. I was bored throughout school and switched off. I want to avoid that happening to him. At the same time, he has lots of friends and is happy because of it, while I was a disengaged and socially awkward little girl.
I can't get my son into other local schools (there are other local schools where I would happily send him). My partner has offered to homeschool three days a week, if I take my son for two, but I baulk at this because he really loves his friends and enjoys being away from his parents, living his own daily school life.
Any ideas?

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titchy · 22/10/2013 13:30

Yep - expand his breadth of work, rather than wanting school to do more depth. Learn an instrument, visit museums to kindle an interest that way, make one day a week a day, prepare and eat food from that country, google traditional costumes, find out about a day in the life of a child in that country.

Read to him and with him, get him to describe the characters in his books, get him reading non-fiction, poetry, kids newspapers, different genres.

Chill about school. He's enjoying it, that's what's important.

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frayedaroundedges · 22/10/2013 13:48

Thanks, Titchy.

We do all those things and more. He is a highly engaged child, largely due to my efforts.

I'd chill if I could. I'll try if I can. I think I resent sending my son seven hours a day to a school that is doing so very little for him. It's hard to see the point.

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titchy · 22/10/2013 13:58

The point is he enjoys it and he's socialising well. Worth sending him just for the social stuff isn't it?

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frayedaroundedges · 22/10/2013 14:06

I hope so. That's what I've been banking on so far. My question now (to myself) is at what point is the social stuff outweighed by the poor teaching. And, do I just have to accept that the school is crap - or can anything be done to galvanise them into actually doing their job.
I don't know the answer.

thanks for replying, btw.

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GooseyLoosey · 22/10/2013 14:14

Not sure it would make any difference.

Ds had an IQ test at 7 as part of an Ed Psych assessment and got a very high score - in the top 0.01%. School weren't interested at all and it wasn't a bad school (at least not in that respect).

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Judyandherdreamofhorses · 22/10/2013 14:14

Why don't you move him?

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frayedaroundedges · 22/10/2013 14:32

Can't get into other schools around here, sadly (packed catchments and most are state-funded church schools, and we don't qualify...). Otherwise, he would be out of there as of... now.
Maybe I'll try the head, again. Not sure what difference it will make as his teacher doesn't seem capable.
It annoys me as my requirements are actually quite small. He would be taught and stretched easily in any good school that felt an obligation to cater for those kids who are ahead of the average.

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richmal · 23/10/2013 08:04

I used to teach dd at home for 10 to 30 mins here and there. In about year 5 she wanted to do more at school and so that's when I took her out to home educate. She has just passed for grammar and so will be returning in year 7.
She does very much miss the social side of school but does not want to go back until secondary.
I have decided to get her to do GCSE maths next year so her level is not just teacher assessment.

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musicalfamily · 23/10/2013 16:16

I was in that situation for many years with my DD1. Combination of things; low ability cohort; some very disruptive children in that class; 2 very poor teachers (but 2 very good ones); lack of differentiation not just as part of the teachers' lesson but as an overall school strategy; I could continue forever!

We tried pretty much everything, although we did not go down the IQ testing route; what swung it for us in the end is my DD1 becoming very disengaged, sad and bored, and begging us to move her. However we only came to this by Y4. I kind of wish we'd done it a year earlier, saving all of us a lot of stress and heartache.

We took so much advice including doing loads of extracurricular and after school work. If anything this massively exacerbated the problems, as she was learning much faster at home and becoming more and more bored at school.

Also the extracurricular seem to drive a hedge between her and her friends as they did not share her interests and some very subtle bullying started to creep in (your instrument is boring, I hate people who do x, y and z, you are not cool). So much so she felt she had to hide her interests rather than share them. I noticed she stopped being invited to parties or round friends' houses. So really in the end there was nothing positive about school at all.

My DS1 in the same school though was much luckier; despite the same poor teaching and differentiation, a brilliant little cohort with some very bright boys, who also happen to share the same interests out of school; so much more of a balance and he managed to keep happy despite some boredom in class.

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chillikate · 23/10/2013 16:47

IF you go down the route of assessment I can highly recommend the PPUK High Learning Potential Assessment. Its more than just IQ and will pick up any problems too.

We are having more success with the school since DSs assessment, but i'm not sure if its the change in teacher too. My DS very much played down his abilities in school so that he didn't stand out - the report meant that they could see through that and as a result he has become more confident.

We took my DS for the assessment because he was NOT happy and although he loved school he came home highly frustrated and started having behavioural problems. Now that he is happier these have stopped.

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CreatureRetorts · 23/10/2013 16:49

Have you raised this with the school governors? The head teacher?

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ipadquietly · 23/10/2013 18:10

What levels is your ds working at?

P.S. SATs tests can be taken any time between Jan and June. End of year levels are decided by teacher assessment.

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ipadquietly · 23/10/2013 18:12

The school is judged by progress made by each individual child. It is unlikely with present Ofsted requirements that a child is left to 'coast'. A child entering year2 is expected to make a level's progress, whether that be from a 1c to a 2c, 1a to a 2a, or 2a to a 3a.

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lljkk · 23/10/2013 18:27

he has lots of friends and is happy because of it, while I was a disengaged and socially awkward little girl.

Your son is not you. If he's happy I absolutely would not look elsewhere. Yes I'm speaking from personal experience (my own & DCs). Yes my life was ruined by an IQ test when my parents moved me from a supposedly poor school to a supposedly great one.

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