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    Joined: Jul 2013
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    Thanks for all of the responses- good to know that I'm not alone. I've read that parental IQ is related to child IQ (inherited), but it's not necessarily a direct relationship. Gifted parents can have NT kids and apparently, NT parents can have gifted kids.
    My DH and I are both intelligent- maybe more than we know (we both had kind of rough childhoods). Our son is just "different' in ways that we've had some trouble understanding- beyond intense in drive, emotional responses, and intellectual interests. Neither my DH or I ever fit this category, although we probably slipped in and out of it. My father maybe, but he likely has some ADHD/learning issues that were never addressed.
    As I said, most of the time I take DS as he is and have adjusted to his intensity and constant questioning/thinking. It's when he develops passions that are so different from my own that I begin to wonder if I can keep up:)

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    I have a boy who is profoundly gifted specifically in math. I'm not gifted nor is their father. On both sides of the family, there isn't anyone who has had the abilities our son has in math. I'll be honest, it's been difficult and we have relied heavily on 1 specific tutor who works with our son evenings and weekends and then local chess club where there is a visiting GM who advises on this. But yeah, very difficult to bring up a gifted child in the current Common Core system.

    Kelsey

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    My best friend in college was clearly PG. He was one of the 4/6000 that ended up with a 4.0 in college, while simultaneously learning multiple languages, being president of two clubs, and having lots of fun at parties...

    His parents and this brother were all NT though. While my friend was contemplating particle physics, his brother had a job stacking shelves in a warehouse.

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    If there is a correlation between parent IQ and child IQ, it's not necessarily because the child inherited it. High IQ parents are going to provide a different environment for their child than parents that are more average. For instance, more books, more advanced language and discussions, more strategy games, more enrichment activities--because those are things they find important or interesting. IQ in children seems to be highly variable depending on the environment they are in. That being said, there seems to be a genetic component as well but the research out there doesn't show it to be the only thing when it comes to looking at the IQs of children. My two are completely genetically unrelated and their IQ profiles are strikingly similar. They both have PRI scores that are in the 140's and lower verbal scores. They both have processing speed scores that are signficantly lower. What are the odds that would occur if you randomly took 2 kids off the street and compared their scores? The similarities in their scores probably have a lot to do with being in the same environment. I gave birth to both of them, so there could also be a prenatal effect.
    The scores of older kids/adults seem to align more closely with what you'd expect to see in terms of genetics. A lot of people seem to forget that scores can change over time when kids are tested.

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    Originally Posted by blackcat
    If there is a correlation between parent IQ and child IQ, it's not necessarily because the child inherited it. High IQ parents are going to provide a different environment for their child than parents that are more average. For instance, more books, more advanced language and discussions, more strategy games, more enrichment activities--because those are things they find important or interesting. IQ in children seems to be highly variable depending on the environment they are in. That being said, there seems to be a genetic component as well but the research out there doesn't show it to be the only thing when it comes to looking at the IQs of children. My two are completely genetically unrelated and their IQ profiles are strikingly similar. They both have PRI scores that are in the 140's and lower verbal scores. They both have processing speed scores that are signficantly lower. What are the odds that would occur if you randomly took 2 kids off the street and compared their scores? The similarities in their scores probably have a lot to do with being in the same environment. I gave birth to both of them, so there could also be a prenatal effect.
    The scores of older kids/adults seem to align more closely with what you'd expect to see in terms of genetics. A lot of people seem to forget that scores can change over time when kids are tested.

    According to this WSJ article, genetics plays the major role in IQ when SES is at a level necessary to achieve self-actualization. Below that SES threshold, environment becomes the major determinant.

    Originally Posted by article
    Monozygotic twins raised apart are more similar in IQ (74%) than dizygotic (fraternal) twins raised together (60%) and much more than parent-children pairs (42%); half-siblings (31%); adoptive siblings (29%-34%); virtual twins, or similarly aged but unrelated children raised together (28%); adoptive parent-child pairs (19%) and cousins (15%). Nothing but genes can explain this hierarchy.

    But as Drs. Bouchard and Segal have been at pains to point out from the start, this high heritability of intelligence mainly applies to nonpoor families. Raise a child hungry or diseased and environment does indeed affect IQ. Eric Turkheimer and others at the University of Virginia have shown that in the most disadvantaged families, heritability of IQ falls and the influence attributed to the shared family environment rises to 60%.

    In other words, hygienic, well-fed life enables people to maximize their genetic potential so that the only variation left is innate. Intelligence becomes significantly more heritable when environmental hurdles to a child's development have been dismantled.

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    That's really interesting, Dude. It certainly confirms what I've long suspected must be true.


    Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.
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    Originally Posted by Dude
    Originally Posted by article
    In other words, hygienic, well-fed life enables people to maximize their genetic potential so that the only variation left is innate. Intelligence becomes significantly more heritable when environmental hurdles to a child's development have been dismantled.

    This effect has been shown conclusively for physical growth, both at the level of the individual and at the level of populations. You know how people tend to be taller than their parents? Interestingly, it's also been shown that each generation can only gain so much height --- gains are physiologically constrained at the population level.

    People have examined linear growth in populations dating back to the early 19th century by using data from conscripts. They find that average height increases with each generation in societies that are relatively wealthy and healthy. Wars and famines cause drops that are then "caught up" when the problems end.

    I suspect that eventually, this same general pattern will be found for cognitive ability. It's why I been known to rave occasionally about what I believe is a very important need to provide nutritious food and good healthcare to people of low SES.

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    Originally Posted by Val
    I suspect that eventually, this same general pattern will be found for cognitive ability. It's why I been known to rave occasionally about what I believe is a very important need to provide nutritious food and good healthcare to people of low SES.

    Right on! Cognitive subsistence level nourishment and support are a painful hurdle that must be overcome for all SES.


    What is to give light must endure burning.
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    Because of a variety of health issues my children have I have gotten seriously into nutrition for the last 18 months, the somewhat obsessive way (y'all know what I'm talking about I'm sure). I am beginning to get very worried about the public health effects the over consumption of sugar, grains and processed meats and fats including the flavourings and colourings necessary to make these foodstuffs palatable is having. Not just obesity and diabetes and the usual suspects, but I am sure it is also depressing iq and attention levels, destabilizing mood etc. I think I've read it might be a reason for the slowing down/reversal of the Flynn effect in the industrialised countries.
    To pick up the thread topic: none of the adults in our family has ever been tested, and DS7 is the very first child we have an iq score for, so take every assumption I am making with a grain of salt - and considering how floored I was by DS HG+ score! I am obviously not a good judge. But I know that while I may be verbally gifted, I am nowhere near in the math and science realm where DS is. I am not sure my husband is. But I am glad that at this point, whenever DS questions are beyond me and I haven't got a good way to find an answering me immediately, I can tell him to ask his father, and his father being a teacher, thankfully is home more often than some fathers might be. I am always very glad when DS shows interest in my strengths (he is currently on a geography binge, and that's right up my street) be cause I hear myself saying way too often "I can't tell you, you'll have to ask your papa" for my comfort or self confidence.

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    I was referencing the studies that show a low heritability in infancy and early childhood and then the it rises in adolescence and adulthood. So, it appears that parent IQ does not have much weight when you look at an infant or a 5 year old. The correlation is low enough that I assume this includes many children who have nuturing environments and have their basic needs met. Maybe what people are overlooking in the research is the fact that rates of maturation/development vary so much from one child to another in early childhood. So even a child who is in a nuturing environment may appear to be "slow" (for example), and therefore their IQ may be very different from their parents but become more similar later on. This is from Wikipedia:
    "Studies have found the heritability of IQ in adult twins to be 0.7 to 0.8 and in children twins 0.45 in the Western world.[35][48][49] It may seem reasonable to expect genetic influences on traits like IQ should become less important as one gains experiences with age. However, the opposite occurs. Heritability measures in infancy are as low as 0.2, around 0.4 in middle childhood, and as high as 0.8 in adulthood.[50] One proposed explanation is that people with different genes tend to reinforce the effects of those genes, for example by seeking out different environments.[35] Debate is ongoing about whether these heritability estimates are too high, owing to inadequate consideration of various factors—such as the environment being relatively more important in families with low socioeconomic status, or the effect of the maternal (fetal) environment."

    At any rate, I was just pointing out that if a child is similar to a parent, or unexpectedly dissimilar, it is not necessarily just genes that determine IQ, especially when you are looking at children. There are many factors that go into it.



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