However, I also think that an assumption that the highest score is the most accurate sounds like the wishful thinking of an overly competitive parent.
FWIW, none of these parents struck me as unusually competitive and the ones with kids similar in age to mine seemed to have reasonable reasons for believing their kids to be HG/good proof. With very young kids, I'm always hesistant to say for sure, but it didn't seem like a group of people who were making stuff up or who were totally off base.
OTH, being in CO, we are close to the GDC and they do often state the general same thoughts I was hearing last night: if the parent thinks the kid is gifted, he probably is; if you live in a neighborhood where 20% of the kids are ided as gifted, it is likely due to the demographics and not overidentification; the highest score you get is the most accurate, etc.
I tend to agree with whoever said that IQ scores may be depressed by poor environmental fit, but the innate ability isn't likely to actually decrease and that may be what this other parent was getting at. None the less, I also believe that IQ scores obtained during childhood are subject to change over time. I do believe that a score can be higher than is innately so due to enriched environment especially the younger the child. I guess that I don't want to believe that you can actually significantly diminish innate ability through poor educational fit b/c dd11 has never had a stellar educational fit and that would cause a lot of guilt!
FWIW, re another assertion I heard a lot, the main reason I don't believe that most parents are accurate in their assessment of giftedness (again not this group in particular) is b/c, while I do believe that parents generally don't want to place their kids so inappropriately educationally that they are stressed out, I also do believe that the majority of GT classes aren't designed for gifted kids but rather hard working kids. Then again, if these other kids with whom we were hanging out last night are PG or close, maybe I'm just judging GT classes off of my oldest who I've never considered more than slightly HG and maybe I'm wrong with her. She seemed pretty similar to these other teens. The GT classes she's been in are not designed for her by a long shot and she stands out like a sore thumb.
