Some questions about IQ/verbal reasoning/schools/grammar schools specifically?

[scarylooker]

OK I'm new to mumsnet so be gentle with me if this is the wrong place or if I ask a daft question .... I just have some ideas in my head and would appreciate opinions.

Ds1 (just finished year 2 and aged 7) just had a neurodevelopmental assessment at a hospital (long story, but he was premature and thought to have been braindamaged before his birth - he wasn't, but is now part of a long-term study into prematurity and brain development).

He saw a developmental psychologist for about 2 hours, and she's provided us with a report which says they used a WISC - IV test to give him an IQ score of 132 and that he's advanced for his age (but not gifted LOL!). She also said when we were in the test that it tested "raw" intelligence and not stuff that could be learned.

I sat in on the test and a lot of it seemed to be verbal reasoning and puzzle based. DH and I would really like him to go to our local grammar school, which apparently uses verbal reasoning tests to assess.

Now, the question .... I thought you couldn't "learn" or improve your IQ, yet many of the children ds1 is at school with will be having tutors for the test (based on playground chitchat) which tbh we just can't afford. Are all verbal reasoning tests similar - can you "learn"/improve how you do on them? And I thought IQ was meant to be constant, so if it's based partly on verbal reasoning then is ds1 going to miss out by not having tutoring?

You can probably tell I'm a bit worried I'm letting ds1 down, I can obviously home tutor to the best of my ability so he knows what to face as and when but am finding the whole situation very confusing. Should I be doing more for him at this stage?

There is some evidence that suggests that tutoring improves individual performances but that position/rank is maintained across a cohort. The maximum benefit is gained from nine months tutoring followed by exam familiarisation. You could do this yourself provided you have a good grasp of the material and there are various forums online to help nearer the time. Start collecting past papers now and you'll have a few to go on . In the meantime encourage reading and enrich his vocabulary.

VR is only one form of testing. There are Non Verbal and English/Maths too. Did the EP breaks down the IQ scores as you may find peaks and troughs within that overall score ? Check out Bonds Assessment papers site for some examples of each - they do a progressive scheme from age 6 up if you want to invest now. It is more about practising the style of questions asked at 11+ so they can be completed without too much hesitation than raising IQ as such.

Ah, thank you all. We're in (north) Bucks and it looks like it's verbal reasoning only (found an 11+ forum that says this). Very difficult to get any information from his school at this stage, as they are apparently not allowed to prepare the children for the test. They've just said he's got great potential and did well in his SATs, so whatever we're doing keep doing it.

Yes, there were four elements in the test, he did better with verbal reasoning and perceptual reasoning, above average with working memory and processing speed but not quite so well as the first two elements.

Just read my post back and I think I'm overthinking this at this stage. Someone tell me to get a grip!

Goodness no, not that early - 28 weeks! He was exactly 34 weeks - the risk of brain damage though was not due to prematurity but due to problems in the womb if you see what I mean, ie he was delivered early to save him from further risk of brain damage rather than it being due to his being born early. I had an MRI scan of his brain before the birth which is very very rare, so he's effectively the control for the researchers (they're trying to pinpoint the critical stages when things go wrong).

The study he's part of is at Imperial College, they're doing amazing work there and it's so heartening to me that we can help in a tiny way with their research.

How very frightening for you. No, not my first, I've dabbled a bit in health and pregnancy (just had ds3) but mostly lurking. I just picked scarylooker though after watching Horrible Histories with ds1 yesterday - apparently a genuine Victorian name!

I think the idea of tutoring for the verbal reasoning side of the 11plus is so kids become familiar with the format.
It's not the kind of thing that kids learn at school and the test can be quite daunting if you don't understand it.

My dad went through old papers with me and I breezed it - many years ago.

Hope the same for my kids!

A lot of people I know have found a tutor a waste and that it just adds more pressure on the kid.

Hope that helps :)

We don't have the 11+ in this area as there are no grammar schools but ours did CAT's when they started secondary. If your DS has the potential I don't think he will have any problems with the 11+. Don't worry if you cannot afford tutoring however, I would get as many past papers as you can beforehand and let him have a go at them. Simply because all the competition will have been practising for years and therefore familiar with the concepts.

When ours did CAT's I had never heard of them so they went into the tests never having seen a paper beforehand, which I assume was the whole point.

Pixie surely your'e not up the duff, so to speak, again??