How and why do children get IQ tested?

[bayesian]

In what likely situations did this Henrietta Barnett pupil of higher IQ than Hawkings get her IQ tested? My understanding is that children do not usually get an IQ test unless they have some learning issues. In what situations would children without learning difficulties/concerns get IQ tested?

When the parents pay for it?

i worked at a secondary school. We did a CAT test (IQ test by another name) on she whole of year 7 when they came in.

allowed us to pick up any possible Sen (primaries are not always on the ball), we could also check it against sats results.

Yes when the parents decide it’s advantageous for whatever reason. Including perhaps their own egos.

If they want to join Mensa?

I got mine tested as a young teen because I wanted to know what it was.

When I went to second school many moons ago, we were streamed on the basis of IQ tests and our parents were told the results. Is it all done on SATS now?

My neice had an iq test as part of an assessment with an educational psychiatrist.

It’s likely she would have sat CAT tests anyway, which approximate IQ up to a certain point.

Also if she’s extremely bright then she will have learning issues, just not the normal ones! Doing an IQ test seems useful evidence if you want to ask for special treatment.

”Our daughter’s very bright” is probably something schools hear a lot. Properly tested IQ of 160+ is not.

3 sets for DD all paid for by state schools.

First at 7 when they were working out why she couldn't read or write at all but had a very extensive vocabulary and was obviously clever. She has extremely high VR, NVR and spatial scores and exceptionally low working memory and is severely dyslexic.

Second set at 10 to support school applications.

Third set in Y8 as school gave them to all students as no SATs.

Lots of parents are just interested, but I suspect it is quite rare to have an IQ that high without some additional issues to contend with.

Had primary not paid for the first set, we would have done as she was obviously struggling and it wasn't clear exactly where the problems were.

Being gifted is classed as an educational need by decent schools and should be identified and tested for. "Outside the average range" for intelligence is below 85 or above 115 and any child outside those parameters will probably need a slightly different approach, but the vast majority of gifted children will not be anything like 161.

My dd had her iq tested as part of her educational evaluation when she was having stress at school. they also tested her academic development and aptitude across a variety of sub-skills. She had no learning deficits, but that didn’t mean there were no problems that needed to be addressed. Not being in line with your peers can be extremely stressful.

My DS did CATs at the start of year 7, but scores weren’t shared with parents. We asked for his when we moved abroad and were applying for schools, and needed as many grades and test scores as possible, but were just given a list of numbers with no context. It wasn’t presented as an IQ score. When DS and DD started at their new school here in the US they were given NVR type tests to see if they were eligible for the gifted and talented programme, but once again we weren’t given scores, only confirmation that they qualified as they were in the top 3%.

We had our pfb tested prior to starting school, because he was obviously very clever, and we thought it would be helpful to know.
The psychiatrist asked him the questions verbally, timed test and tasks.
Scored very high, I don’t remember the exact details fell within the genius category.

My sister and I had IQ tests organised by my mum in the 1980s just because she was curious. She wouldn’t tell us the results for 30 years though so we wouldn’t use it to argue about who was smarter

Did he then go on to get a maths degree at Oxford when he was 9?

My parents took me and my brother to an educational psychologist when we were younger because they were worried about my brother's school progress, and we both had IQ tests as part of the process. He was diagnosed with dyslexia.

Its often part of an assessment for things like autism, adhd and dyslexia. Some people with those have very high iqs. I guess sometimes they find that a high iq is the only 'problem'

Genius should only be attributed to someone who comes up with something brilliant and original for humanity. Einstein was a genius not because of IQ but he has the character of mind to form the concepts of special and general relativity. Shakespeare left school at 14 probably and didn't bother with university, we still study his works 400 years later. I think you need to look at someones legacy really....

It’s very difficult to get schools to do it! My DD finds it very difficult to learn, assessed as not being autistic, not looking to be ADHD. I keep raising a mild learning disability as something we should explore but they just won’t! They’re very used to parents being defensive and wanting it to be neurodivergence that they’re stumped when parents wonder if it’s something cognitive. She’s 4 years behind with an EHCP.

But why is that seen as the only way SEN testing in many schools? I understand for some SEN conditions, dyslexia etc you may spot them then but I wonder if you think about after that if staff are less likely to pick up or believe someone has SEN, if their CAT results are good? I know this isn't the point of the thread, just wondering what you think. I know because I was academic, getting 7-9s, some staff said I shouldn't bother looking into it, which I think is remicient of how academic issues are over prioritised, it was affecting my whole life and I was great at masking but still underpriotisied by school because I had good grades (thorough excessive study hours and lots of work).

I understand teachers need to focus on those whose SEN impacts passing GCSEs but I felt they ignored how my academics were affected my now diagnosed dyspraxia and ADHD (that were diagnosed in uni). Having a low IQ shouldn't be the main trigger to see and/or investigate whether a kid has SEN.

Low IQ wasn’t the trigger to investigate.

big discrepancy between cat test and sats results was the trigger to investigate.

@TheLivelyViperthats not the only thing they’re looking for, obviously they’ll do the usual observations of social stuff too. But what irritates me now is that SEN has become all about very academically able autistic people, and it’s neglecting people like my daughter who won’t ever be doing GCSEs, or those with Down’s syndrome, epilepsy, Tourette’s, mental health problems, learning disabilities, pretty much everyone who doesn’t have autism!

Educational psychologists do cognitive tests that might include iq tests when investigating potential issues in children, not just learning difficulties. My DD was tested when she was 5 because she had behavioural issues (though an iq test wasn't mentioned and all I was told about results was that she met average expectations in all areas except processing speed)

@bayesian Steven Hawking never officially had his IQ tested, and neither did Einstein - they are just famous clever people, with estimated IQs. 🙂

My son's state school routinely offers the IQ test to its most able students. It's very cheap for the school to do it in bulk once a year - they wouldn't do it otherwise. As a result, more than 10% of the kids at the school are (ironically) in the top 2% of IQ scores so are eligible to join Mensa. My own son was eligible - he joined for a year but it was very underwhelming (and very nerdy) so we didn't bother renewing.

Any child that has done verbal or non-verbal reasoning training for selective schools will have an advantage in an IQ test, so I'm not sure the test is objective. However, Mensa are a business and presumably need to sustain their membership through marketing.

I was tested because I learned much faster than anyone else in the class and, in fact, the whole primary school. The school curriculum was holding me back instead of moving me forward.