Isn't also a phenomenon of kids with really IQs at 5 losing 20 points by grade 7th or the reverse?
This does happen, but it only happens rarely. It's important to remember that IQ scores are always inrelationship to the whole large population. So if a TV show made everyone smarter, then the tests would have to be renormed and there would still be a 'top 5%'
Also, at age 5 and younger, there are enough kids who are still busy with other developmental tasks that they will look rather more average at 5 than they do at 10 on a IQ test. Because the scores relate to the whole population, every time one of those later bloomers blooms, another gifted kid scores a bit lower.
But the whole point of IQ tests being useful at all is that they get it right most of the time, and wrong rather fewer times. Of course when it's your kid, it's still a huge pain in the neck. Just like most kids are ready to learn to count in Kindy, but that doesn't mean that our kids are learning to count in Kindy. It's really important to realize how tests act on large numbers of people - and it's a bit tricky, too tricky for most adults actually.
Love and More Love,
Grinity
