Children probably have a LOT of confidential information that is relevant and important to them as people-- medical, financial, etc. that they aren't emotionally ready for when they are young children.
I didn't know my own SB-IQ score until I was in high school. Until then, I was "gifted" and that was enough information. I mean, I was 'gifted enough' that it was always highly self-evident anyway.
It's very hard to HAVE that number and keep it from a PG child, however; I found my information, I wasn't told.
I also remember the 'gee-whiz' IQ testing that my enrichment class did when I was about a freshman in high school-- my score was high enough that the teacher initially (very obviously) assumed that I was "cheating" somehow, or had done that precise assessment before. (I hadn't-- I just thought all those nifty logic puzzles were a hoot, YK?) I definitely didn't like feeling like a circus freak in front of my peers, and that number (in the 150s) set me apart from the other kids in that classroom for the next three years. Not a happy place for an adolescent.
Anyway. DD has a long history of ferreting out medical information and other data that she decides she wants (like our state tax statements, our mortgage payment, medical test reports, etc... ). This is a large part of the reason that we haven't HAD her tested. Because it seems improbable that we could keep the number from her... and also because I don't want her to experience what I (and my own father) did as a direct result of how remarkable that number seemed to others. She's an obviously HG kid, but she's a lot more than any number on any one day. I prefer that the other adults in her life see HER and not the number-- and this includes her teachers and school administrators.
I certainly don't want her feeling beholden to that number or entitled by it either one. When you are an adult-- nobody really cares about the number anyway. It's just a tool.
Now, we do talk about LOG, so that she has some idea why radical acceleration isn't necessary for a lot of OG students, and why "school is easy and fun" applies to optimally gifted people more than HG ones, etc.
Last edited by HowlerKarma; 04/21/11 01:56 PM.
