I'm not sure how useful this is - but I think it's really important for us parents to know what IQ is before we talk to our kids about it.
IQ is on an ordinal scale, that means that a person with a 150 IQ isn't 'twice as smart' as a person with an IQ of 75. IQ only refers to the frequency of occurance in an average population.
How many of us send our children to schools with average populations? Very few, I would suspect. It's hard to even know what the school population is like, although economics and SAT scores can be made to stand in for estimates.
And just because it might be predicted that there are 2 other kids in your grade that have similar IQs doesn't prevent there from being 5 other kids in your grade or no other kids in your grade. What effect does school choice or homeschooling have on the school population?
Then there is the whole question of FSIQ being an average, and not a terribly useful average for many kids.
I'm also interested if there really is a difference between overall giftedness and early development. I know Ruf is firmly in the early development = giftedness camp, but for every late bloomer that we know as individuals, there is some kid who's IQ score is going to drop a bit, and look more normal when they are compared to that late bloomer. Statistically that just has to happen to some extent. Of course I just move my mental cutoffs downward a bit as the child grow us to compensate, but is there truly such a thing as an 'early bloomer?'
My favorite thing anyone ever told me about my IQ is: High enough that you can learn to do kind of job that interests you.
I would perhaps add to that pile of possible information that a child might be 'high enough' that they feel like they don't belong even in some groups that are specifically designed to meet the needs of gifted kids.
Or 'high enough' that they feel all 'uneven' inside because almost no one is equally advanced in ever single area, so that learning to be kind and patient with themselves and others is very important.
And of course, 'high enough' that we have to give you harder school work so that you have a change to develop your character in ways that lead to success in life, because no one gets to 'coast on their smarts.'
'High enough' that you are going to be much happier if you can figure out your work life to give you chances to solve interesting problems and met interesting people, who get your jokes.
Thanks for giving me this opportunity to think aloud.
Love and More Love,
Grinity
