Concerned about a potential learning disability. Are IQ Tests a good idea?

[Maxium]

I'm wondering if anyone here has first hand experience with children who have learning disabilities. I believe my son (11 this year), is like his father in that he's very intelligent but not very motivated or he has ADHD. He's not reading as fast as the other children. I got him to take an online IQ tests that was designed by Jordan Peterson (He's the psychologist, right-wing sort of guy). He scored five points below the average at 95. I feel like its my fault for separating from my husband that he isn't interested in learning. Should I take him to an in person clinical psychologist? How do I get him to do his homework? Any suggestions would be appreciated.

no, don't take him to a psychologist. He is well within the range of normal, and academic intelligence isn't particularly important after school

Just support him with his homework and getting organised and doing the best he can academically

he certainly might benefit from seeing an educational psychologist (you would most likely need to go private) who would be able to do dyslexia testing (although i think some schools can offer this) as well as other tests to determine his learning style.
most 11 yr old's participate in education because they are generally people pleasers at this stage of their lives, it's certainly not because they have a deeper understanding of the future and world economics.
do you and your family value education? do loads of extra stuff (art theater sports) and relay how this enriches his life and will help him understand why he needs to engage more with school.

btw i'm not a fan of homework and forcing homework.

IQ tests are now regarded as pretty useless. Intelligence is spread over so many areas and an IQ test is very narrow.

You sound very caring and keen for your son to do well. This is more important than anything else. Encourage him and help him with his homework. Stimulate his brain every day with games and hobbies you can do together. Is there anything special he is interested in? If so that can be a sort of coat hanger to use to get him excited about learning.

Pay for an assessment with an educational psychologist.
it could be a range of things.
My husband is a really slow reader, but is in the top 1% of earners in the UK.
DS1 has a SEN, but is predicted A*AA in a levels.
DD is very academically average and also has ADHD.
DS2 did have a really difficult SEN but has mainly overcome it and is in top set for most subjects.

IQ tests are not the be all and end all. They don’t measure everything. And your son’s score on this one is perfect for his age - for most tests anything between 90 and 110 is bang on.

However, if you feel he is not reaching his potential, is showing signs of ADHD and needs support with homework, then you may need to look for help with those areas. Can you ask his school if they have any strategies in place, or if they can recommend anything or anyone to help?

100 is average, just 5 points below is well within normal range, 70 is the threshold for an intellectual disability. Far better to ne innovative and expose him to learning in different ways as not everyone learns well via books plus some are late developers - my dd went from failing year 6 literacy sats spectacularly to a*'s at a level.

It could be that he has slow processing speed in some areas. An educational psychologist would be the person you need, but private assessments don’t come cheap, unfortunately.

IQ tests are supposed to be reliable, so that they measure intelligence in a consistent way. But no matter what the test publishers have you believe you can practice them 'up'. You might not be able to exceed your own max level of IQ but the first time you take one probably won't be your best/actual score. They're also typically very culturally biased.

Online iq tests are completely unreliable and not indicative of anything serious.

You describe your child as very intelligent albeit they lack motivation which would imply that he doesn’t have a learning disability- has school reported any concerns?

he may have a learning difficulty such as dyslexia and again I wonder if school have mentioned anything? An educational psychologist could help with diagnosing these but you describe it as motivation and again that doesn’t necessarily fit?

adhd and autism are neuro developmental conditions that will impact on schooling and again I wonder what teachers say? I know to get an nhs appointment for adhd where I am the referral has to come from school (for good reasons).

I do wonder how much of this is your concerns about your son linked to your separation? How much do you read and spend time together on activities linked to learning! It doesn’t need to be a lot but the more you show interest and explore things together the more it will help but also will show why he is struggling? Eg with letters or with concentration or just practice?

but avoid the online tests they are completely pointless

I'm not sure if IQ tests are valid but I'm curious about it. If you don't mind me asking, what test did you try?

Many thanks for all the support. I'm feeling much more reassured having read your messages. I believe what he truly needs is a male role model. I've been hesitant to involve his father, as I have full custody, and I've read that children from broken homes fare worse than those without a male role model. In response to GallowayToday, the website was https://realiq.online. I came across it on the first page of a Google search and read some favourable reviews on Reddit.

Hi op. Your son sounds fine. Help him with what he needs and allow him to enjoy being a young boy. The world is a scary place at the moment.. so much anxiety around children's educational performances.. especially boys. It's very easy for a problem to become a problem

I have adhd and can remember (many years ago) having melt down like moments when having to do repetitive, boring jobs. I didn’t reach expected levels at school and struggled with memory work(eg foreign language) . Diagnosed now with adhd explains a lot. It’s def worth imv checking this out.