Low iq

[Gorta]

Does an iq lower for children with global difficulties ( mental retardation) as they get older. For example for a child of five who was diagnosed with an iq of 70 go on to have a significantly lower iq of 50 as a twelve year old. Is this normal or does the lack of intervention make a different in the long term outcome?
I hope this makes sense!

In theory IQ should remain static so no a child with an IQ of 70 at 5 would be expected to still have an IQ of 70 at 12. However my child scored an IQ in the moderate Learning difficulty range ( between 50 and 70) at 7. Recently he scored in the average range (between 90 and 110) in everything except processing speed. The EP the first time said she wasnt sure if the score was accurate or not and I believe that she wasn[t able to access his IQ accurately at that stage. I also believe that the circumstances were not ideal for tesing either. Amongst other things, it was his birthday and he was consumed by the prospect of his party that evening.The EP this time round said that she seldom sees such a dramatic change in a set of results and she checked the results over and over again to make sure they were correct. I think the first set of results were not accurate rather than his IQ now being higher. He did receive extra support and I think this has facilitated his IQ being able to be correctly scored. He now has a spiky profile which is common in children with ADHD/ASD. He is currently being assessed for ASD.

Meant to say DS was recently tested at 10.5yrs

I saw one of your other threads where you said about below 50 being moderate. I think you are possibly referring to the US scale. I believe the ranges used in the UK are as follows:
90 to 110 average
80 to 89 - dullness
70 - 89 - borderline
50 to 69 - moderate LD
below 50 severe and profound

IQ scores often drop for children who have quite low scores to start with. This occurs when their rate of progress is relatively slower than those with no learning difficulties. IQ tests for younger children measure tend to assess more concrete learned skills, such as word naming and colour matching, whereas older children will be tested on more abstract concepts. Some children do not make the step towards more abstract reasoning so their IQ appears to fall, but does not mean there has been any loss of skills.

AFAIK IQ tests for young children aren't reliable.

Also I believe IQ isn't the whole story. interventions will help a child - without necessarily improving their IQ. 2 people with the same IQ will do very differently in school and in life.

Scatterguns post regarding the difference between IQ tests for older and younger children makes sense. My DS was older doing his first test and then did the same one again recently as it was for 6 and over, so we were comparing like with like . Although my Ds' score at 7 may not have been a true reflection of his capabilities, the fact was that he was struggling and unable to show his true potential in a mainstream classroom setting. So removing him and placing him in a smaller unit allowed him to flourish.