IQ testing in second language

[teaandtowel]

So we've just had our daughter assessed for IQ which was 135. English is our second language (we live in UK but speak another language at home) The assessor told us her verbal reasoning score would be much higher if she did it in her own language but more so if spoke one language only. Would you agree? Daughter is 6 years old.

Is she fluent in English? DS also has English as a second language but he speaks it fluently as he's been in nursery since 2 and it never occurred to me that this would affect his IQ score. He scored 131 (when he was aged 6). I'm now wondering weather to fork out on another assessment that takes this into account. Had to get one done for his special needs with an Ed Psyc and the report came as a surprise with the high IQ score.

She can get by in English but definitely not on the same level as her peers, understandably, as we don't speak it at home. It might be interesting to redo it in a few years' time when she's caught up with others a bit more, but if they can take bilingualism into account when figuring out the scores it would be so much better!

Why do you need the results?

Because we are thinking of moving to the US where they take IQ scores more seriously and this may influence her quality of education there.

From seeing stuff on an nternational fb group, I think 135 will get you into the gifted program in most states. Maybe check in your likely destination. I think taking an iq test in a non proficient language isn't advised, but I also don't know what the US states do with ESL kids and gifted programs. That might be worth investigating too.

It is certainly highly likely that bilingualism affects verbal understanding at a young age. It is corrected later because the child has all the cognitive benefits of learning two languages and the gaps have been filled.
"In the early stages of the acquisition of a second language, children hearing two languages can show some developmental lags relative to children who speak only one. However, bilinguals are not globally behind monolingual children in all areas of language acquisition, and the observed lags are typically small and do not last for long periods of time."
From: www.child-encyclopedia.com/second-language/according-experts/second-languagebilingualism-early-age-emphasis-its-impact-early

Thats an impressive IQ.
I think it depends on what she speaks and when. If she speaks the family language, her first language, at home, but learns and communicates with the outside world in her second language, then perhaps her score would be higher in her second language. Does that make sense?

Thanks for all your replies!
I think verbal is not just about what they do at school but the whole awareness of the language, hence maybe the lower score. I wanted to know as her non verbal was in the late 140s so maybe qualify for the Davidson's institute (99.9th percentile).

@lifeover40 thanks for the link, looks interesting, very grateful!

You're welcome. Davidson's might accept the non verbal score if they know she is bilingual.

It will have an impact but if she’s fairly fluent the vocabulary gap (which is where it will show up) won’t be too significant.

130 is the max required by any gifted programme I’m aware of in the US so I wouldn’t worry about the score per se for most schools.