Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy IQ test at 7:30AM

Sorry to disagree with you on that! If I were given an IQ test at 7:30 AM, I would probably score the equivalent of a person with no brains at all. I am a productive member of society and do possess brain functions in the hours that I am fully awake.

I've read the opposite, at least about the sleep thing. I remember reading once that getting no sleep at night makes your IQ go down by 20 points.

Lack of sleep will definitely affect IQ test results! First of all lack of sleep in children causes adhd-like symptoms. Secondly, there have been many tests/studies that lack of sleep literally affects IQ points (you get them back once you start getting rest). Lack of sleep can wreak havoc!

We haven't "tested" the lack of sleep theory with an IQ test, but my ds was accidentally "tested" on an achievement test - when he was in first grade his teacher gave him a DRA assessment the morning after he'd stayed up really really late because we were out doing something fun as a family and it was a one-time special occasion - so he was up probably 2 hours past his typical bedtime - which is late, he's a kid who has never needed a lot of sleep. I had no idea there would be a reading assessment the next day, and to be honest, the family stuff is really more important to me than the DRA ever was anyway. When I picked ds up after school the next day his teacher pulled me over with a big smile on her face telling me how she had given ds a DRA assessment that morning and how amazed she was at how high he had scored. When she told me the level, I had no clue what it correlated to in terms of actual books and I didn't really care - ds was reading college level textbooks at home at that point. I did, however, laugh and say "Oh Geez! I wish I'd known that because we kept him out past midnight last night and he didn't get much sleep!". The teacher right away felt horrible that she'd tested him when he might have been tired, so she retested him without telling me the next day - and his DRA level went up by quite a few grade levels.

Anyway, I think it's just a nice courtesy for a teacher to inform students before an achievement test that is going to be used for placement and for progress measurement - let's be honest, don't teachers typically tell students before big exams?

Re the IQ assessment, I also think the parents should know when it's scheduled, but realistically that isn't how it's worked out in our school district re this type of testing. Part of the reason I feel strongly about the notification ahead of time is something that happened to my ds when he being tested for IEP eligibility - the tester pulled him out of a special unit in school that was a one-time only thing that he'd been looking forward to ALL year. DS was soooo upset about missing it!

FWIW, ds also had a horrible headache on the morning he had that IQ test because he'd fallen while ice skating the night before - a fall so bad he will still not, to this day, go ice skating! He didn't like taking medicine, so he went to school that day with a headache and no pain killers. His IQ results, in spite of headache and complete annoyance - still came in within the range they always come in, so I feel like the test was valid - but it's not just the validity of the test results that matter re notification. Some of it just seems like common courtesy.

polarbear

Your school has an early start time but hopefully your DS is really used to it by the end of the year. Actually, it is far more common to test students at/near the beginning of the school day than at any other time. At least, that has always been the case with my three kids. I inquired about this practice years ago. The collective wisdom appears to be that the most kids test the best when they are fresh in the morning. I can see how this trend may be true. Even though I happen to have night owls, testing in the morning has been fine.

It is my understanding that schools need written permission from the parents to conduct IQ testing but that they do not have to notify the parents of the date/time and in my experience, they never do. I guess that is one major difference between testing by the public school and private testing.

Yes. Schools absolutely need written parental consent for IQ testing and most individualized achievement testing (meaning testing that is specific to a particular child, and not administered school- or class-wide). And no, most don't notify about the exact date, mainly because one can't always predict when it will fit into the day, as the same people who test often do crisis intervention and counseling as well. Although if a parent writes a note in the section on the consent form that asks for input which suggests that the child will do better under some specific circumstances, I generally call home and ask for details, which sometimes results in making appointments.

Another big difference between private testing and public school testing is that most of the private testers I know do the testing in a single all-day session (your testers may have different practices), whereas most of the public school testers I know will spread out elementary-age testing over several days, with shorter (under an hour) sessions each time. (Again, your schools may differ.) I'm assuming this simply has to do with the greater access school testers have compared to private testers, which allows for stopping when/if the child is fatigued, and waiting for a better time. With adolescents, I have even negotiated with them to test during preferred times and dates. (Although there's always that one kid who wants to be pulled out every day during their least favorite class!)

And lack of sleep definitely affects IQ test results, especially in working memory and processing speed. Just as you would expect from personal experience.