Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Intro and ? about variation in IQ

Reading through these posts makes me so envious. I wish I had teachers and parents like you 50 years ago. Thank you for being so supportive. I found this forum searching �intelligent discussions on the internet�. You are helping make the world a better place.

I went to a small school with no programs for special needs students. I was very bored by second grade, so they put me in the corner with a 16 YO who couldn�t read or write so I could teach her. Third grade I wrote poetry. Fourth grade I spent in the corner with a developmentally disabled savant (16 yo, amazing engineering skills, but no emotional control) who was institutionalized a couple years later. I won the contest to read the most books. They mainstreamed me through middle school where I was again bored to frustration, getting good grades for minimal effort. HS was mostly independent study, and they mercifully allowed me to go to junior college the last year.
Recently I got a copy of my school records. My mother has no memory of me being a National Merit Finalist and I was wondering if I had a false memory about it. I never knew my IQ and was curious. Now I�m wondering if these test numbers were the reason my teachers threw up their hands and stopped teaching me. These numbers are from the California Mental Maturity test. In 1st grade I tested IQ 119. 2nd grade same test was 141. 5th grade back to 118. I�m trying to figure out this huge variation. Two possible explanations come to mind.
1- The tests are inherently inaccurate due to the high number of variables.
2) The more intriguing question: Is it feasible that somehow I intuitively learned that if I was too successful, they stopped educating me? The net effect of testing closer to average allowed me to be included instead of being ostracized. It�s too lonely to be smart.

I remember being very frustrated during the time they left me alone. I felt ostracized during the period of my life when I was supposed to be developing social skills. The punishment for being smart was to force responsibility on me for which I lacked desire or training to do correctly. They set me up to fail, but they kept us out the way, so they were successful. People ask me why I don�t have a PhD. It�s because I never fit into the conventional educational system and my contempt for that system lasts to this day.

I am very pleased to learn that now there are teachers and parents so committed to maximizing every student�s potential. Well done. Thank you.
Your thoughts are welcome.

I'm not sure about the variation other than to say that IQ scores aren't stable in kids until they are around 8 (or some would say even later, like 4th or 5th grade). The 5th grade score probably has the highest probability of being accurate, unless you think you scored low(er) on purpose. Obviously 118 is still a good score. I also don't know anything about that particular test and the margin of error. Maybe aeh (the test expert here) can tell you something.

Caveat before discussing the scores: the CMMT, though somewhat popular in its era, was not an exceptionally well-constructed test, with issues in range of difficulty, reliability, and specificity. In terms of your variation in scores, if we assume that the differences are not merely an artifact of poor test-retest reliability (which is a pretty big assumption, with this test) a number of factors might have been involved:

1. Your age at testing: young children generally do not generate stable scores, both because of their inherently inconsistent testability, and because of the rate, timing, and diversity of typical development in young children. This applies to both the 1st grade and 2nd grade tests.

2. Retest effects: current practice does not allow retesting with the same instrument in under 24 months (in the era of which you speak, one year was the typical standard for retesting), because of score inflation effects. These are likely to be even more pronounced in children of above average intelligence than in others. It seems likely that you are of at least above average intelligence, which makes it plausible that the 2nd grade test score may have included some retest score inflation.

3. Given what you have described, it seems more likely to me that your actual IQ is probably somewhere in the 120s or 130s (more than adequate for being bored in a very small school with limited resources, and also more than adequate for being an NMF and one-year-early entrant to college), but that a lack of access to appropriate instruction may have had some score depression effects on your 5th grade test. I tend to think that, rather than you dumbing down to fit in (though that happens with disturbing frequency in young GT individuals, it doesn't usually affect formal individually-administered cognitive assessments), it is more likely that the absence of programming at your instructional level limited the development of those concrete intelligence skills that are measured by the test. This, btw, is similar to the effects of educational neglect and academically-impoverished home environments on socio-economically disadvantaged children.

I'd feel more confident about your IQ, if you had been tested with a stronger instrument.

4. That you were tested with a resource-costly instrument (two hours of individual testing with a graduate-(probably doctoral) level examiner) three times during elementary school indicates that your teachers knew that they were not meeting your educational needs, and repeatedly attempted to find solutions. (Apparently without much success, from your account, until high school.)

I am sorry that your formal educational experience was so distressing; I hope you have found some life satisfaction since.

I just wanted to say kaliber that giftedness doesn't stop. There are a number of books on being a gifted adult that you might find interesting such as Gifted Grownups. Like aeh I hope you have gone on to find satisfaction but hearing your comments about your lack of PhD and contempt for the education makes me wonder.
Is there something you want to do or be which you feel you haven't achieved? If there is then there hasn't never been a time in history where opportunities have been so available via the internet. There are opportunities for study if you wished or perhaps writing? You are probably already aware of all of that but if not, have a think or a look around.
Being gifted brings challenges at any age as we seek to understand ourselves and our world.

Great point that giftedness exists throughout the lifespan. There are a few posts on the Age or Ability Specific Forums, specifically about gifted adults.

Thank you for your thoughtful replies.

Being self educated has served me well. I managed to conduct some meaningful interdisciplinary research on my own. I am acknowledged as an expert in my area of study, published in some journals with a BS degree in a different area, invited to academic conferences, invited to write some book chapters. I have had the opportunity to travel around the world lecturing. At first, I was smart enough to seek out co-authors with proper letters after their names. There is no shortage of tenured PhD�s who will trade their prestige for enthusiasm and creativity in the years of dotage before their retirement. It was mostly pro bono, but I am grateful to have done something meaningful. Some academics were hateful to me at conferences, but a supportive colleague explained to me that I was not supposed to be this smart with a BS and I intimidated them. He said I should take it as a compliment, and stop correcting everyone who called me �Dr.� because my body of work fulfilled the requirements of a PhD. But getting paid is really useful, so help your bright stars get through the maze and get the letters after their name so they can get the rewards they deserve. Academia has a lot of rot in it, too.

Yes, I've already ordered a book that I found through this site. I need to learn to be nicer to people who are willfully ignorant.

Thank you for your thoughtful replies.

Yes, I found some satisfaction filling the role of a PhD with a BS, only I didn't get paid. Learning how to self educate oneself is useful, but so is getting paid.

I ordered a book that I found through a link on this site. I do wish I could find more opportunities for meaningful conversation. The internet has really gone downhill. Science and logic are not currently popular