Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy To tell or not to tell....DS wants to know IQ

We will probably get an IQ test for our 7yo son this summer, administered privately (few MA schools have gifted programs). An IQ test takes a few hours, right? We will have to travel some distance to have him tested. After all that, he will certainly be very curious about his score afterward (I understand that scoring the test and writing up the results may take weeks), and I think he has a right to know what it is.
Furthermore, part of the reason to have him tested is have him join Davidson Young Scholars. If he qualifies, he will be able to look up on the web that his score exceeds 145. What is the point of suppressing the actual score?

Well, I can see reasons not to be specific at that age. Gifted kids are not necessarily emotionally mature, and I could see a kid taunting someone else (a sibling or someone at school) by bragging about their score. Also, you son's score may change. My kid's score range is about 35 points over various IQ tests over the year (lower scores as she was older, mostly I believe due to using differen tests). But I think it would have been quite jarring for her to think her IQ was one number, then get another signficantly different number later on.

One other reason we decided to share with D15 this year is because (story told on another thread) her score (highest one, in fact) was leaked by a teacher to various members of her K-12 school community several years ago (including parents and teachers who had no need to know). She didn't know at the time, but it actually came up in a conversation with someone this year, and she asked me. It didn't seem fair that other people around her should know (besides us as parents, I think that is okay while they are younger), and she didn't.

All this said, I do think it is important to talk to our kids about the fact that they are gifted. I think they need to know in order to understand why they are different from their peers (they will surely figure out that they ARE different, and as a poster said above, they might not interpret this positively!). Also, I think it helps increase their expectations from themselves, which is mostly a good thing. I didn't really figure it out (nor did the school guidance counselor, could have knocked him over with a feather!) until I had the highest SAT scores in my county, and also an ACT score in the top 150 in my state.

Perhaps if he's wanting more information, instead of giving him a specific score, you could say something like, "Well, all the testing that you have done over the years is indicating that you seem to be in the profoundly gifted/exceptionally gifted/highly gifted/gifted range. What this means is . . . . Of course, these scores don't say everything about who you are as a person, and can't be used to say who is better than someone else. Everyone has a talent in one thing or another and these tests just indicate that you are a great learner."

At some point, I think in middle school, I did find out my IQ number because they were restructuring the gifted program and making a hard 130 cutoff, so all of us already in the program had to retest. Several of my friends were not allowed to remain in the program when I was, so that is how it came up. I did find it comforting, really, to know the number because I then always knew, if nothing else, that I was smart enough to do anything I put my mind to. But still, I'm not sure that I would tell my kids "their number" until they were older and had some good reason to need to know.

Talent search programs such as Johns Hopkins CTY use standardized tests such as the SAT or SCAT effectively as group-administered IQ tests. There are online conversion calculators between the the SAT and an IQ score. People don't suppress SCAT or SAT scores from kids, and I don't see why an IQ should be different.

Bostonian, I don't see you addressing any of the reasons other posters have mentioned on this thread regarding why it might not be best to share that info, at least while the kids are younger.

Regarding the SAT and other tests used by CTY, that is somewhat self-selecting. The only kids they have to compare to are other kids who took the tests are part of the talent searches, and most of them are relatively bright. I think IQ is a much more "weighted" number in our society; many people have an idea that it is a fixed measure of intelligence that can't be studied for and is unchanging (although I think most of us know better on that second point!). The tests used by CTY can indeed be studied for, in spite of the fact that you can find a table online that supposedly converts it to an IQ score. Just because a table exists does not make it accurate, by the way.

Believe me, it raises eyebrows when I tell someone D15's SAT scores, which I have occasionally done when the situation warranted it (eg, when asking a teacher for a recommendation for THINK for her). But I would be much more hesitant to share her IQ scores with others; that, I think, would result in changes in how people treat her. In fact, we have some evidence of that from our experience with the 'leak' of her very high IQ score. It was mad gossip around school for a while (um, for years...), I can tell you! Whereas her very high SAT score is interesting to them, but I don't believe people are whispering and sharing it.

I think the important thing here is the context. If your child has the context to understand the score and not lay too much significance to the particular number, I think it's fine to tell them if they are interested.

This is coming from someone who has no IQ scores and is too cheap to get them for her kids as well. I have plenty of data now for my oldest (DS9) pointing to above that 3rd SD though in a few venues. He hasn't asked for particular data, so I haven't given it. I file all the data, so maybe someday he'll be interested in looking at it.

Just a note to say that I've been keeping up with this thread with interest. I'm taking it all "under advisement" and am grateful for the feedback and different opinions.

Fortunately, the topic hasn't come up again thus far, so it seems I have time to really think about all of these things and put them into perspective where DS is concerned. I don't feel it's a critical matter, but it's in the back of my mind for if/when the time comes.

LOLROTF - time to confiscate the tee shirt! (Hasn't he outgrown it yet?)

Smiles,
Grinity

My kids only know the general +3 SD's above mean IQ (because they were in a program that requires that and makes no secret). They don't know their specific numbers. I was tempted once to show second oldest DS his report because he felt so threatened by younger brother's math ability. I wanted him to understand he was also incredibly able. But--I'm glad I didn't.

I love the fact that I can look at my DS7 in all honesty and say, "I don't know". He hasn't completed an entire test, although he is DYS. Based on his partial and his WJ scores, I have a fair idea but I don't have a concrete number.

There is a possiblity that at some point his new school will require that he be tested as there has been some discussion with the university regarding the need for him to have scores prior to dual enrollment. So I might end up with the "number" at some point, but I much prefer to just go with "Wicked Smart!"