Between 2 kids there have been 5 IQ tests, I was in the room for the first two, listening from the next room for the next two and not present at the last one (which incidentally was the worst result for that child). The tests were I was listening from the next room I didn't pick much up, but that round of testing was the most positive experience for both my children (both in terms of scores and coming out positively buzzing with happiness)...

I think one of my kids in particular behaved better with me not directly in the room BUT for the other test of that same child, where I was in the room, there were issues with her performance that the tester either would never have discussed with me OR which she grossly misinterpreted my DDs behaviour and what it might mean about the resulting scores. For example in the coding subtest DD did exactly two of each type of question (100% accuracy) and then, having proved mastery (in her own mind at least) she put down the pencil and watched the timer for the remaining half of the available time. Now she could have been 1) in pain, as we now know she has a handwriting disability 2) bored witless, it's a mind numbing test 3) completely unable to comprehend at 4 yrs old why more than 2 correct samples of each one should be necessary to prove mastery, there are various other possibilities too, but "Too anxious to continue" or "Did not know what to do" (the tester's suggestions) are so wrong it's funny.

We also would have missed out on hearing the tester mutter "Never seen that before..." as the same DD completed one of the subtests, it certainly didn't make it to the report. And thus we would not have known that her 17 on that subtest was actually a hard ceiling for her age - she completed the whole test perfectly in the available time but could not score more than 17 because of her age. And we would not have know that this tester could not be that experienced with HG kids if she had truly never seen that before, because my DD is NOT that far out there.

Oh and we would also have missed the tester telling DD "That doesn't usually work" and stopping her from continuing a method of problem solving before her time was up. Maybe it wouldn't have worked, but still she deserved the opportunity to use the time she had and after that she stopped trying so hard in the rest of the items for that section.

So, two edged sword having the parent there...