The first time I read the study on the relationship between IQ and cortex maturation was a long time ago - before my daughter was tested. Now I re-read it more carefully, knowing better what IQ group my child falls into.

1) that study implies that with her IQ of 134, her cortex probably peaks at around age 12 (which is now) and will start rapidly thinning only after that
http://www.bic.mni.mcgill.ca/~jason/reprints/Shaw2005Nature.pdf

2) another more recent article (2013) suggests that "Cortical gray-matter thinning is associated with age-related improvements on executive function (EF) tasks"
http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1878929313000467

So if cortical thinning in the highly intelligent doesn't start until 11-13, does it mean attention/executive function status in children is related to IQ, and for the smartest the onset of EF maturation only occurs after 11-13?

A study on a group of gifted children shows 26 points of difference between VCI and PSI (statistically) and the WISC-IV normalization data shows 13 points. Does it mean that it is not that the gifted children are average in WMI/PSI, but it is just their EF only matures later and catches up with the other scores?
http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.508.8089&rep=rep1&type=pdf

If the gifted group scores low on PSI/WMI, then I assume there must be a group that scores high on those but more average on the rest, proving the point that children with more average IQ mature faster and therefore have a much more robust EF compared to more intellectually gifted at a certain age?

How can IQ scores be stable over time if the FSIQ includes EF measures and it might change so significantly between IQ groups? A very recent study shows a much lower test/re-test correlation between PSI/WMI scores (0.69) compared to VCI/PRI/GAI (.88), even going as far as suggesting that GAI is more stable over time than FSIQ. They also showed that only 57% of children scored in the same error band for PSI or FSIQ after two years, compared to almost 73% for GAI.
https://archive-ouverte.unige.ch/unige:39021

Does anyone have older gifted children here who have seen a child improve visibly in terms of EF after the age of 11-13?

I keep hoping that all my daughter needs is some support now and she might grow out of the inattention issues on her own. Do you think there is a reason in these studies to think that? Any input would be great!

Sorry if it is long!

Last edited by Chicagomom; 05/12/16 05:13 PM.