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I grew up in a small town, and when I was younger (somewhere between grade 6-8) I had my IQ tested to see if I was gifted. They wanted to assess me after I got in the 99th percentile on my math portion of my CAT tests. I got 126. My sister is diagnosised with dyslexia and has an iq of 127, bringing up the same issue as I have now. Now my high school use to let me go into seperate rooms on tests and things like that. It was simply cause I asked, and being from a small town they didn't mind making the exception. I was never formally tested for any kind of learning disaiblity because of my IQ score. I am now in my first year of University and am taking engineering. After my first sets of tests i realized that I really can't write in a room with other students. I have the tendency to talk to myself when I am doing things, such as homework and assignments. When I was in high school, this was not a problem as i was alone. Here though it was a huge problem, since you can't talk during you university finals. So, what I ended up doing was going to talk to the SRC (student resource center) to see if I could maybe get special accomdations. Now, they started to ask me questions of why I wanted this/needed this. As I explained more, and answered more of their questions, they started to get more and more interested in what I was telling them. I told them about my previous IQ tests, and the fact that when in school they wanted to test me for bipolar disorder and depression as i had trouble controlling my emotions and would go through periods in which everything would be fine, and then everything wouldnt be. They asked how I learned in school, if I ever had difficulty with anything. And the fact is, in school, I always got it or i didn't. And people would try and teach me the stuff i didn't get, and i still wouldnt get it. It was like something just wouldnt click. Usually it was the easy stuff. I would get stuff involving doing that particular thing to an answer (cause i seem to just skip certain steps), but that step by itself just never made sense. This didn't really cause many problems in high school, as it seems that they always put the harder stuff on the test, so the stuff I could do. So anyways, back on topic, they started to talk about me being twice exceptional. I was kinda confused at first, since I didn't understand how I could be gifted and have a learning disability, especially when my IQ was pretty high anyways, but not at the gifted level (132). What she tried to explain to me was that during my first test, more then likely everything was averaged out. So i would have 90th percentile in everything say, and then a 60 percentile in something else. Now, it would probably still be above average so if they weren't experienced with the idea of 2-e children, it would easily be missed, but the fact of the matter would be it would be 30 percentile below everything else you got, which isn't as normal. She said that could bring down my IQ score and everything like that, making it seem like i wasnt gifted if not properly looked at or assessed. She also said they should have warned me i was doing an IQ test ahead of time, instead of just calling me into the office (making me think i was in trouble) and then springing all the information on me about it. So now she wants me to get my old IQ test scores, so she can see. As well, she is sending me to get testing again. Do you think it may be possible that she is right? Or should the gifted part have shown up the first time I took it? I don't really quite understand it. As well, what could they do about it now that I'm in university? There isn't much they can do regarding changing my classes right? I get so bored in them, and most of my hw is done within the first two or three weeks of classes (when they give us the entire semesters worth in the itinary). I distract other people in my classes by talking cause I can't focus usually. although i do tend to hear everything they are talking about. Do you guys have any suggestions?
It is important to realize that an IQ score isn't exact and also that it is harder to get a definite number when you are toward the upper end of the range. It is less exact the further you get from the mean. I absolutely wouldn't use one IQ score of 126 as proof that you aren't gifted. It is awfully close and the counselor is right that lower scores often depress the overall score.
There is a way of figuring at least a child IQ test that drops parts of the test such as short term memory and processing speed if one or both of these #s are depressing the overall number. I'd say that it is worth considering especially if there are specific accommodations that the university can offer you that might make you a more successful student there.
I don't really know what the accomdations are. Other then letting me write in a room by myself. Even if I am gifted, what can universities do for that? Gah, I shoulda asked her more questions when I was there. I was just kind of confused after it, and had to look it up so I was more informed on the situation before I asked her. >< now we are on winter break. She is gonna try and get my testing done as soon as possible though. And if my old IQ tests scores show her what she wants, she'll give me my seperate room accomdations. i'm not sure what he wants to see on them, all i know is she said she wanted to look at the seperate parts that make up the test.
Hi Artemis, As Cricket mentions, capturing an IQ is more difficult as one falls further from the mean. Whether you are considered "gifted" by a certain definition or number, doesn't seem to be the real issue here, but rather, do you have a disability that is getting in the way of your learning or how you demonstrate what you know. Getting an IQ test is an important first step and I am sure that the evaluator will be looking at not only your absolute scores, but patterns of strengths and weakness and whether or not the difference between and among sub test scores are larger than what is "typical". Variations between subtest scores are often red flags for learning disabilities.
While you are being tested, I would also suggest that they consider other areas of cognition and academic achievement. Discrepancies between IQ and achievement tests are often used to diagnose disabilities.
Why is it important to gather this data? Because if you do indeed have a disability, you most likely will be covered by section 504 of the American's with Disability Act. This means that any public institution that accepts any federal money is obliged to give you the accommodations necessary for you to access the curriculum. This could mean many of the supports you have found successful: separate testing area, extra time etc.
Knowing that my son has dysgraphia has given us the ability to better target strategies for helping him learn new material, overcome roadblocks and seek the appropriate accommodations on tests, reports and classroom activities where the disability may unfairly affect the overall result.
This is why you should consider moving forward with more testing. Having a diagnosis isn't a copout for you to get out of doing things the way other people have to. It's about evening the playing field so that you can actually perform at your true ability once you've made accommodations for the disability.
Definitely. Standard IQ tests are multipart, and people generally score in a certain range, though nor exactly the same, over all the subtests. A significant suppression on one subtest will skew the final number, and should be a huge red flag (though in years past, they were ignored). For example, my youngest daughter's IQ put her in the gifted range-- but we don't know the exact numbers because she had an almost 50 point suppression in her verbal subtest...probably because of that pesky "autistic" thing.
