IQ Tests For Kids?
Above: Creative activities such as turning a random paint blob into something are great for children’s development.
As parents we want the very best for our precious children, and that certainly includes making sure our kids are hitting their developmental milestones, as well as eating a healthy diet, getting exercise and the right amount of sleep. Of course those are just the basics, and the parent who truly wants to help their child have a joyful and productive life should be very on top of how their child is doing in school and know when certain situations may be red lights that need attention. It is never about “is my child smart?” but rather is my child able to make the most of his particular abilities, and is his schooling suited to his needs? A “genius” child can be a terrible student and vice versa a child who isn’t the smartest kid on the block can be an amazing student and even in the long run much more successful and well adjusted than the “genius.”
So yes indeed, educating our children and raising them to be the very best they can be isn’t simple and can require lots of patience and hard work for parents, as well as children. One really important factor to remember is that as a parent you should (and hopefully do) have the very best idea of your child’s talents and shortcomings. YOU are the one that has been given this precious soul to raise, and you are the one that, under all circumstances, needs to have your child’s best interests at heart. Follow your gut instincts and don’t ever let a teacher or school authority figure put your child down, or traumatize him/her with labels of any kind. Professionals, such as school counselors, teachers, therapists etc. do of course generally give very relevant and important assessments of your child, but don’t assume that they know everything, or that their evaluation is the end all. Believe in your child, make sure he/she is flourishing and developing as a person, and everything will work out, it just has to, after all of your hard work!
Wait a minute, isn’t this article abut whether to test a child’s IQ? Yes, I am getting to that, I just needed to set the stage with important information regarding raising children— information that is much more crucial than any IQ test. That said, IQ tests can be helpful tools to evaluate your child’s development and general skills, or lack thereof, but the results of an IQ test should NEVER be shared with a child, nor used to label that child in any way. In many schools, IQ tests are given to kids around 5th grade or so to select students with “high potential” for additional learning programs. Inquire as to when your child’s school might be giving such tests, and doing a little homework to get your child familiar with the kinds of questions that may be asked could be a great idea. Certainly doing this online is a good place to start. I would steer away from using the term IQ altogether, though, and simply talk about the tests as tools to see what kinds of subjects the child will enjoy learning the most.
An online IQ test, starting say with an IQ test for an 8 year old, may be a great way to start your search for answers regarding your child’s difficulties, or how to give your highly intelligent child the structure he/she needs for greatest developmental success. You may be wondering if your very verbal child who has troubles in other areas has a high IQ in which case maybe he/she is just downright bored with the classroom material, or any number of queries for which an IQ test evaluation may be helpful
While an online IQ test, whether free or for a small fee is not the end all in your search for answers, it certainly can be a first step, and like any test has the ability to bring to light any possible learning difficulties your child may have. Feel free to reach out to the administrators of the sight with questions which will give you a good idea of whether the site is legitimate, and check out some of the very helpful blog posts here, for great information. If you are blessed with very smart children who do well in school, and are just curious about your child’s IQ, that is fine too, just keep the information private, and don’t use the IQ score to determine what you expect from your child, because without a very thorough and expensive test, you really can’t make solid assumptions.
Professional testing such as Stanford-Binet test, the Weschler Adult intelligence scale and so on, are typically thorough tests designed to assess various and different abilities via different types of tasks. They are regularly revised and updated, and typically have to be administered by a trained professional in specific conditions. They can also be very costly, as they are actually scientific tools. If you decide to invest in such a test, certainly an inexpensive online test may be a good way to get a child familiar with the kinds of questions that may be asked, or give the parents a head’s up to specific areas that you may want the professional tester to highlight.
What is the takeaway of this article? IQ tests can be helpful, but should never take the place of the individualized and all-knowing guidance of a loving parent. AND intelligence can change as a child develops, so low test results for a child may not mean a bleak future, only that the child needs YOU more, because you are the one that can always make a difference! Here’s to raising well-adjusted happy children who go on to make their very own special contribution to the world, whatever it may be!
