Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums General Discussion Can IQ be improved?

Around here often the idea is to know what sorts of thing notto do in order to avoid the child developing 'optimally.' ((Humor Alert))
Raising IQ must be a concern somewhere on the Internet, but I come here to find out how to get the rest of the child (EQ, fine motor, gross motor, work ethic, organizational skills) to stay sort of caught up to the high IQ.

Actually I feel guilty enough about my genetic contribution, which I couldn't help, but I have to admit that I do think I provided an enriched environment by making seeing patterns a ton of fun. And singing for joy. Human brains are usually built to be pleasure seeking, so adults who enjoy 'brainy' things are going to share that fun with their kids if conditions are decent. Here's another thought - learning is easier than teaching. I listend to an audio program about Primate learning, and one has to get quite close to humans before much thoughtful teaching goes on.

In teaching there is a difference between demonstrating a skill, and demonstrating a skill, observing the student perform the skill and giving a 'just right' bit of babystep instruction. I'm currently listening to a book that says humans have many more 'mirror neurons'than other primates that allow us to form a virtual model of an other person based on observation.

So I think that people with high skill in the teaching process are going to help their kids enjoy learning more and that lots of high IQ parents will fit into that catagory.

Yeah, so I did lots of attachment parenting things, but fed him lunch meat and 'crap' (if one really doesn't want to ruffle feathers, than it's worth taking an extra minute to edit and replacing words like crap with conventional - BTW)

and let him play with anything - mouthing and all, plus daycare from age 7 weeks, 'cause I was back to work. To be honest, I think that every decision has good and bad outcomes. Being more careful than cultural norms isn't risk free.

I'll tell you what I'm still curious about - we didn't let him sleep on his stomach for fear of SIDS. I think all those extra startles were bad for him in the long run. I wonder about the science and politics behind that whole 'back to sleep' movement.

Love and More Love,
Grinity

My son was breastfed, has taken piano lessons since age 5, musical theater which includes dance, acting and singing since 4, and I let him play challenging computer games that were both fun and educational since he was about 2. I read to him and talked to him a lot since he was a baby, and I answered his many questions to the best of my ability while driving many miles to doctors appointments and museums until he got an iPhone and could look up answers himself, which only game him more ammunition to debate with me which I find even more challenging, but I didn't make him practice coloring which he hated and other fine motor activities like jigsaw puzzles or legos because his fingers seemed weak and his hands got tired so quickly. I think having a disability that affects fine motor skills can cause differences in IQ scores. Even though my son's disability doesn't affect the way he thinks, and it didn't hurt his verbal IQ score, it affects what he is able to do because some (but not all) of his muscles are a little weaker and he does not have the endurance that most other kids have, although he is working on that and improving. He often has to work through pain which can be distracting and adds to his fatigue.

I think my son's IQ increases when he manages to get plenty of sleep which seems impossible in the brace he has to wear. His memory is much better when he is not sleep deprived or getting a migraine. The psychologist, who tested my son even though we told her that my son hadn't slept well the night before because of anxiety about the test and was also getting a migraine, didn't think that would make much difference in the IQ score. I don't believe it because I know how sleep deprivation and migraines affect me.

I don't know how sleep deprivation affects anyone else, but my son and I definitely don't think as well when we are sleep deprived or have a bad headache which seems to happen more often when we are sleep deprived. My son and I have talked about this a lot since the test and I notice that my executive function and my ability to multitask and do mental math are very impaired when I can't sleep and haven't slept well for weeks. I can't imagine that anyone would do well on an IQ test while in a sleep deprived state. I am afraid to drive when I am sleep deprived. So I think getting enough sleep might also improve IQ.

I think sleep is important enough that we were often late to his musical theater class and they had to work around it. I hated being late but it was an accommodation my son needed. Melatonin only helps a little when my son is wearing the painful brace at night. If he got less than six hours of sleep at night his ability to memorize lines and learn dances was impaired. With six hours and caffeine to get through the day he can memorize and learn well enough to do what he needs to do, but he still learns better if he gets 8 or 9 hours of sleep. It is even harder for him in piano if he gets less than six hours of sleep or has a bad headache.

We often watch television, usually something educational or the news while working out on the elliptical and weight machines. Not sure what effect that would have on IQ if any. We try to exercise a little before getting started on academics. I do that that helps and I think there have been studies that support this.

I will hire a college level first chair strings graduate for any position. In six months they usually perform as if they have five years of experience.

Does that mean it's settled, then? It's half nature, half nurture..

The way I read it was as though genes were responsible for at least 40%-50% of the variation.

"The rest of people's differences in those types of intelligence could come from genetic differences we were not able to capture, or from the environment."

Also, we'll have to wait for additional studies before we put too much faith in the results obtained this time.

Thanks.
Lol @"crap". I do try to stick to "mainstream" and "conventional" when I write, but I do think "crap", especially when I eat it myself.

"So I think that people with high skill in the teaching process are going to help their kids enjoy learning more and that lots of high IQ parents will fit into that category."

So, do you think parents with a higher IQ will end up finding the stuff on my site because they are more likely to want to give their children learning opportunities? (Or, will they not be worried because they already have smart children lol.)

Depends a bit on what's on your site, but honestly the latter sounds more likely. When DS was younger I used to search for things relating to whatever I was thinking about at the time - sleep, for example! - but I certainly didn't ever search for sites that would tell me how to teach him or make him smarter. Maybe start a thread if you'd like to point at your site (just once ;-) and ask about what people might find useful?

I am sure DD#1s unsettled sleep as a baby had a long term impact on her too. Though she was so unsettled that there wasn't much putting down at all, front or back. DD#3 would ONLY be put down on her tummy or not at all from about 2w to 3mths, she still wouldn't go down often but she did go down, we put her on a breathing monitor and went with that, until she suddenly decided to only sleep on her back.... She is SO like #1 in so many ways, or rather she was, but the better handling of her sleep, forcing her to crawl and a few other things seem to be turning her into quite different a toddler. Maybe she was always going to be more different than she seemed as a newborn, but maybe we did manage to reduce rather than exacerbate some of their shared tendencies.

And I do also feel that parents being better teachers impact on the outcome, particularly if they are introducing and making fun subject areas that other parents don't ever touch on. I personally feel that much children are getting "smarter" each time and it could all be genetics but I can clearly see things that I have done differently that will have helped shape their learning and thinking. On the other hand they have not had the access to zoos, museums, etc that #1 had as I simply haven't had the same amount of time... swings and roundabouts.

But now back to Colin's Mum's awesome post. I am so not a mathematician, statistician or scientist. I should have prefaced my own post with that! Your post was fascinating. I am not sure I understood it 100% to be honest but I do think I get the general idea well enough (Lori speaking of sleep deprivation I am much more so than usual and I can feel the impact on my sluggish brain).

I get what you are saying but I am thinking (and I confess that I have not read the various studies) that the studies in question would be controlling for things like maternal IQ, family income, perhaps other social factors (and possibly lead poisoning?). But I am guessing they were not controlling for the things that the various other studies were studying.

I guess I feel that there are things you can do that impact negatively, or without which ones full genetic potential might not be reached. But I think the book sounds like snakeoil (to use somebody else's words)

I was a high IQ child raised in an adopted household. But I'm fairly certain that my parents had higher IQs than average, and I had a relatively "enriched" environment. The first piece of furniture my father made for me for my room, way back when I was 2, was a 3' tall, 6' long three-shelf bookcase...so maybe the books really are to blame!

Yes, I have wondered about this too. I don't think it negatively affected IQ, but I really wonder about what that constant startle did for sensory development and anxiety.