Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy To tell or not to tell....DS wants to know IQ

Bostonian, I don't see you addressing any of the reasons other posters have mentioned on this thread regarding why it might not be best to share that info, at least while the kids are younger.

Regarding the SAT and other tests used by CTY, that is somewhat self-selecting. The only kids they have to compare to are other kids who took the tests are part of the talent searches, and most of them are relatively bright. I think IQ is a much more "weighted" number in our society; many people have an idea that it is a fixed measure of intelligence that can't be studied for and is unchanging (although I think most of us know better on that second point!). The tests used by CTY can indeed be studied for, in spite of the fact that you can find a table online that supposedly converts it to an IQ score. Just because a table exists does not make it accurate, by the way.

Believe me, it raises eyebrows when I tell someone D15's SAT scores, which I have occasionally done when the situation warranted it (eg, when asking a teacher for a recommendation for THINK for her). But I would be much more hesitant to share her IQ scores with others; that, I think, would result in changes in how people treat her. In fact, we have some evidence of that from our experience with the 'leak' of her very high IQ score. It was mad gossip around school for a while (um, for years...), I can tell you! Whereas her very high SAT score is interesting to them, but I don't believe people are whispering and sharing it.