Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Identification, Testing & Assessment Large spreads on IQ tests, what does it mean?

A friend on another board posted about some things she learned in a seminar with a counselor of gifted children on executive function. My friend has given permission for me to excerpt her post here for discussion.

I thought this was interesting in light of the avg IQ of 100.



I then asked the same question I've asked here several times...is a 30pt difference on the lower end, same as a 30pt difference on the high end. She responded:


My son has a 25 pt and 39 pt difference between VCI and WOrking Memory and Processing speed, respectively.

I've always wondered (and discussed w/ others here) exactly what this means for DS.

We have similar/even larger spreads with DS7 between his PRI (instead of VCI) and his WM & PS. It has affected the way I homeschool him because it DEFINITELY affects the way he works. He needs to write things down because his memory can get in his way, he needs time to think things over, and we have to work on memory and processing speed to try to improve them, just as we would any other weakness.

So does a spread matter? Yes, I think it does, assuming the test scores reflect what you see of your child IRL and aren't some sort of testing anomaly. I believe that my son really does have a PRI that's amazingly high and that he has a much more average memory and processing speed. That reflects what I see.

What does that mean? Well, for us for now, it means that homeschooling with me is a good educational choice for him, as is working with teachers who allow him time to think and allow him to write things down. Someone who thinks fast=smart is not for DS7, as we've learned the hard way...

However, that doesn't mean that having that high PRI or VCI is a problem, and I do NOT think there is an "optimal IQ for a successful life," unless by that the speaker meant "fitting in."

Fitting into a system as it stands and having a successful life are two very different things! Often the people commonly called the most successful don't even begin to fit in. And they are often extremely smart people.

This sounds like a valorizing of the social over the intellectual to me, FWIW...

And therein lies the problem...I don't know if it was a testing anomaly for DS or not. The psych mentioned a few things. A) DS mentally fatigues easily and that if he had done the testing over 2days he would have scored higher and B) he might need extra time on the SAT and C) DS definitely has issues w/ things being too easy. He missed easy questions and got all the hardest ones on Block Design right which of course lowered his score even though he went to the hardest ones. As the questions got harder, DS perked up significantly, the psych said.

The mental fatigue I definitely saw when I brought him to homeschool. His sustained effort was on the matter of minutes before he was asking for a break. After a few months, this is now up to a couple of hours. I attribute this to mainly being underchallenged in school and not having to sustain mental effort and therefore those brain muscles had atrophied.

Other than that, I don't really see any issues but then he's my first so perhaps i don't know what to look for. After reading up on executive function, I think those are where his issues lie rather than intellectual. I'm intrigued w/ laziness being confused w/ executive function issues. He has an issue w/ time that I think most have....time flies when you're having fun and drags when you aren't. I think he needs practice in setting goals and then putting in the effort to achieve that goal. I think most of his slowness w/ math facts for example is lack of effort. He just sees no need to be faster when he can calculate the answer in his head whereas most kids are content to put forth the effort to memorize and be done with it. I don't think it points to slower processing ... just an unwillingness to do so. When he's challenged, I don't see an issue. I recall his teacher being shocked that she gave him two step word problems to challenge him and he did them all in his head very, very quickly. We play those card memory games and DS is much better than I am at it.

Although, as others mentioned here, the more I read the more I take these tests w/ a grain of salt. My friend's DD scored 125 on VCI on WISCIV. A different psych gave her a quickie Verbal IQ test which put her 145+ ... that's quite a difference. ANd those that score low on WMI on WISCIV and very high on WMI on SBV.

I've ordered one of the executive function for kids books and will report back if there is something noteworthy.

CFK: yes I've read that and too have wondered how does that translate to the new scales. I wonder if the above quote of 110-120 compensates for new scales?

This is the area where my son's issues lie. I'll be looking forward to an update!

This one looks promising Smart But Scattered.... You can peak inside at amazon.com.

The easy test questions can become pretty hard.

If most people saw a grape, a banana, and an orange, and where asked which did not belong, most would pick the banana. But, its easy to argue that ANY one can be excluded based upon the many properties of the three items!!!

I think the problem lies in how the very high IQ kids were raised and the special sensitivities they bring to their interpretation of events. The ease of withdrawing into your own thoughts can certainly lead to living in a fantasy land.

The fact that these kids will gravitate to the purely intellectual and not get any experience in the real world may leave them without the skills to navigate the real world.

But, if they see it as something else to learn, then its no mystery.