Would you have your 5 yr old IQ tested?

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That's it really - would you ever, have you ever and what came of it? Why did you do it?

To be fair, if a child's IQ is significantly higher than the rest of their class, then they will need more support in order not to get bored.

Also, perhaps they want to double check that their child is actually really bright, that it's not just them being proud parents.

I thought about getting it done because one of my children is a bit out there but talked like a four year old at age two (his twin didn't) and wanted to know if he was as bright as I thought he was or simply odd. The educ pych I spoke to said "you measure height and weight in a child so why wouldn't you measure intelligence".

Didn't get it done though as it was £1,000 a pop and also I'm self aware enough to know that turning up to school waving a cert of boffinism for my child was going to do neither of us any favours.

I don't see the point in children who are obviously bright and performing well in school. I would have thought testing cognitive ability could be very useful in helping to identify possible learning disabilities, though, as these would probably result in a very uneven profile - eg huge discrepancy between verbal and non-verbal IQ, or problems with a very specific area of learning. Maybe also of some help in assessing the possible contributing factors in some behavioural issues. The younger the child, though, the more inaccurate I would have thought the results are likely to be in all but the most compliant children (who are least likely to need an IQ test in the first place). I certainly, therefore, wouldn't assume an IQ "score" of a 5-year old child was a remotely accurate reflection of their genuine abilities - the child is far too young for that.

I was tested at 2. I had a speech delay which meant that I was saying huge long sentences but nobody had any idea what I was saying (apparently). They IQ tested me to see if I was 'slow' (Twas early '80s). I turned out to have an IQ age equivalent of 8, except that I couldn't tie my shoelaces on my own.

I think it can be useful to work out the underlying cause of a delay of some sort.

My parents had me tested at 4 - for no other reason than they knew I was bright, and in my family that's respected. The testers strongly recommended I go to a school for gifted kids - I only found that out a few years back! I am so glad they kept me at a decent state primary. I was denied a normal childhood because of abuse (which obviously they were unaware of) BUT I am really relieved to have had normal schooling as it kept me sane IYSWIM. My school differentiated brilliantly and I went on to grammar school.

Would I test my kids though? Probably not. Not if they were happy at school and being challenged. But if there was some problem then I would - if it increases the chance of getting help for a child struggling in some way, why wouldn't you? (cost allowing obviously...)

Only if there were SN which were not being met.

I used to do very badly at IQ tests when I was younger because I always tried to work out if there wasn't another way of grouping the material, another way of thinking that meant a different word could be the odd one out. Always was a bit of a rebel.

No.

My parents had me tested aged 5.1 as the teacher thought I had 'behavioural issues'. My parents were convinced I was acting up because I was clever and bored. According to the results they were right so they made my entire childhood shit by offering conditional love in exchange for academic success

Bratnav - an IQ test could not possibly have indicated that your parents were "right" in their belief that your behaviour at school was solely as a result of boredom which was as a direct result of your IQ. IQ tests do not test boredom thresholds, personality or teaching skills in the classroom. Nor do they give any help in how to make the most of the IQ they measure. That was just a poor conclusion on your parents' part, and poor parenting techniques, wasn't it?

Cognitive tests as part of an assessment of all aspects of a child's behaviour and development can be helpful in indicating possible contributory factors to particular types of behaviour, but nothing more, surely? Your parents just took out of the assessment what they wanted to and acted upon it in the way they wanted. That's why IQ tests can be problematic if used in isolation.

Rabbit I really appreciate that you are trying to help but I have so many issues relating to this that I don't know where to begin sorting it out. Rationalising their behaviour and explaining why IQ tests are dangerous are very relevant to te thread but I think I am going to bow out and go and sob quietly and rock.

Bugger it. I am really sorry for dragging my personl mess onto the thread. Something just exploded in my brain and my heart when I saw it

Oh dear. .

Oh bratnav :( sorry you're feeling so bad x

Thanks to you both. I think I need some help with this, it's been bothering me for a while :( apologies again for derailing the thread. Cautionary tale anyone?

No, no need.

I remember being taken out of class in the first year of primary school by two strangers and made to do all these odd tests with sentences and pieces of string and allsorts.

I had no idea what it was but the grown ups started to look at each other oddly so I started to get things wrong on purpose because I thougt that's what they wanted (no logic, clearly ).

Years later, I worked out it must have been some kind of IQ test so I asked mum what it was all about and she was FURIOUS! No-one had asked her - and she was a teacher in the same school at the time!!

Years on, as a contented teacher rocket scientist who drinks tinkers with the cure for cancer at the weekends, I think it is utterly pointless. Teachers are trained to differentiate across the ability spectrum. Only useful if seeking a diagnosis/statement, etc.

DS was tested at 5 well very nearly 6. His is very high and was part of an assessment for Autism (now confirmed ASD). He can be very disruptive and in his first school they thought he was remedial and put him in a special group for children who were behind. At home he was reading at a good level and writing. At school they said he wasn't mark making! His current school is fantastic and in part because of his IQ he is being exposed to a broader curriculum to help with potential boredom leading to disruptive behaviour. He does come home with funny stories though like 'Mummy how come when you finish a maths sheet you have to run around the school building twice before you do the next bit of work'? I can completely empathise with his teachers because he is really full on and self absorbed.

All such things need taking with a bit of salt and I wouldn't have paid for an assessment or pushed for it but in this instance it does appear to have helped with diagnosis and ongoing support.

Bratnav have you thought about counselling or psychotherapy? If it's bothering you that much. Or just writing an angry letter to your parents...

You should start a separate thread actually you could probably get advice from others who've been through the same thing.

Hi, bratnav. Is it your relationship with your parents that is the problem, or that and the way they've made you feel about yourself? Anything we can do to help??? Or better to avoid the subject from now on?!

I am trying to get counselling via my GP at the moment. No contact with my parents for a while now which helps by itself. Thank you, when I feel a bit stronger I might start a thread or join in stately homes instead of lurking.

probably not as i think it would pigeon hole him / her

Would be a waste of time for dd. At 6 she's already certain she knows everything

I found it useful to have DD tested at 4, it's fairly common where we're from and parents use it to pick up on potential problems as well as to target tuition and approaches.

She wouldn't have been identified as SEN but she does have some weaknesses which I was able to support, rather than fumbling through different methods by trial and error. I know other parents who have really struggled with their childrens difficulties because teachers simply aren't able to spot the more subtle weaknesses and differentiating the curriculum for 30 children is always going to be difficult.

She was tested again recently at age 12 and the levels have remained quite stable, so I'm not sure it's true that the tests aren't valid at the younger age. Her Educational Psychologist says that levels do tend to remain stable in her experience (and she's been working in the field for three decades).

I would still argue that the levels are more likely to remain stable for children who are relatively compliant... you aren't going to get a valid result from a child who does not want to be there doing tests the point of which they don't fully understand and to which they don't want to be submitted in the first place. In some young children, therefore, you might well pick up "problems" that don't exist or which will resolve themselves in the next year or two if you aren't careful (or miss problems altogether, because you are too reliant on the data from the test, missing out other types of observation and getting too complacent later on, because an earlier "test" indicated there should be nothing to worry about). I agree, though, that the tests can be useful in indicating possible reasons for genuine difficulties - but only as part of a much larger picture of the child as a whole. I still think an IQ test taken in isolation is a waste of time - it does not tell you anything very useful about a child's likely future success or likely attitude to and experiences of education, as these are just as or more dependent on mental and physical health, personality and life chances.

also please remember that the tests were designed by middle class white people... so the kind of skills that a certain culture values is what is tested. plenty of other useful intelligences and skills are omitted.
i agree that an iq test as one piece of the jigsaw can sometimes be helpful. the problem is that it tends to override all the other pieces.

I know people who did this for their 9 or 10 yo kids back before the secondary transfer moved to an equal preference system.

For people who lived in an area with one or two selective schools and several reasonably good non-selective schools, the stakes were pretty high. All hte good but not outstanding schools insisted on being put as first choice, so if you applied to a selective school and your child didn't get in, you'd be allocated a school miles away that no-one else wanted to go to.

So before taking a gamble on their child passing the 11+ quite a few people had them tested to see whether they were realistically likely to get in, or whether to go for the safe option.

Which seems like a perfectly sensible use of an assessment to me, but obv redundant now that you can apply to loads of schools that have to consider all applicants equally regardless of preference.

Maybe school is complaining about her child and you are unaware that she is having this issue. My ds seems like an extremely bright child to everyone who meets him except for some reason his school teachers. I had constant complaints from his teachers from nursery on. Suggestions that he would not pass the year (always made in the first few weeks). Ds always did extremely well on standardized tests, but teachers seem to view this as a fluke. I had him tested with a whole battery of tests when he was 8 as I needed to understand where the gap in perception lay. I think many of my friends were surprised that I was having this testing done as they were not really aware that I was having so much trouble with ds' teachers. If I had had the money and the experience that I now have, I would have had the testing done much earlier so that I could have a weapon to fight the teachers with. Ds was diagnosed as a genius with a few learning differences and it is the learning differences that give the teachers the idea that he is slow.