I'm having a parent freak out! Kid's IQ score....

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If my 4yr got a preschool IQ test, I don?t know about it. However he did get a full write up from the developmentally pediatrician and the school district right before he turned 4yr. He was called pre verbal and it said his verbal development was that of an 18 mo and most of the rest of his development was between 24-36 mo. I won?t lie, it bugged me a lot for a while. The family therapist(boy could I a give a rant about that) tried to break it to me gently after his speech eval, that my son might never speak. That is what turned me around. These people might be experts but they weren?t experts on my kid. They met him for an hour or two in a situation where he wasn?t his best.

You didn?t mention any reason you thought your son was below average IQ. Do you feel he is or are you making that test into more than it should be? If you feel he has a mental delay, then maybe setting your expectations(AP highschool classes) aside and work with where he is now, would be a good thing. If you feel that it was less than great day and you know he is an average or even really smart kid, then maybe setting your expectations(AP high school classes) aside and work with where he is now, would be a good thing. See what I did He is 6, don?t worry about high school.

I am a guilty as the next mom for this. But don?t grieve over some stupid test, If your kid has any kind a speech delay or hyperactivity or is too stimmy in public, he probably didn?t do well on these test w strangers. The great side to this, is when all the sudden with therapy, educated parents and time your little guy will suddenly do much better. Then you will get to say things like, ?yes, and he wasn?t speaking 6 months ago and now he can ____ fill in the blank?. All the sudden he is a genius and you are good mommy/daddy(I know it is petty, but sometime you need it). Also next round you know what they are looking for on all those test and can help prep your son. To be honest I didn?t give a crap that my son who we were desperately trying to get to talk could use scissors, but for some reason now that we showed him he scores better on a number of their tests.

I think a lot of very important points have already been made, so I will only add what I don't see commented on yet:

Scatter. It is very common for there to be a large scatter among the components for an IQ score in autistic spectrum kids.

What does that mean, exactly?

Well, my son scored low in something called processing speed, which isn't really about how fast you can sort complex concepts, but basically how fast you move, period. My son is like me: it is like moving through life at 40rpm even though you have a 50rpm record. You notice it when composing a letter, or finishing a drawing, or playing a speed oriented computer game, and so on.

You don't notice it when trying to solve a complex problem.

My son has had IQ tests at the ages of 7 and 16. The average score, in both cases, was similar, and component scores in both cases ranged from 85/90 - 150/160. It is this broad range that is referred to as "scatter;" NTs won't have such a broad range of scores among the different components of IQ, but having clear weaknesses v. clear strengths is one of the signs of autism.

The second test, however, gave us a second component score. I can't remember the name of it, but it was explained to us as the score that used only the components most associated with the ability to handle complex ideas. That score? 25 points higher. It is that second score that I see in his school work and test taking. It is that second score which aligns to how people in real life see him.

So, beyond all the discussion that testing a 3 year old is precarious business (it is), that IQ tests never tell the full story (they don't), that all children deserve to be considered as having limitless possibility at your son's age (they do), and the caution given to you by the doctor's office; remember that you have to know the components of the test to understand what it does - or does not mean.

I am reminded of hearing the psychologist who works with Koko the Gorilla discuss how the IQ test is filled with bias: http://curiosity.discovery.com/question ... nt-is-koko

Basically, my point is not to conflate children with gorillas, but that anyone with a difference in communication and different ways of looking at things (and I mean ANYONE) is going to have problems with an IQ test. I have several friends who worry about how "smart" their AS kids are, and it turns out that "smart" is very often measured with communication, so if you have a communication deficit it appears you have deficits all over the place.

For instance, my own son struggled at the bottom reading group for years because he "wasn't able to comprehend what he read." This didn't make any sense to me, my son was able to talk about stories we'd read to him and that he read himself...and I finally figured out that he had no idea how to "put it in your own words," the rubric they were using for comprehension. As far as he was concerned, the words the author wrote were the words you use to say that! I finally told him "try to say what the book said, but use only three words."

He went from the "bottom" reading group to the "top" reading group in two weeks.

I think most of the recent threads here are making me glad that people didn't focus so much on developmental milestones and time tables e.g. "your child has X ability of 22 month old at 5 years old" when I was a kid. It would have been disastrous for me if my parents or teachers had focused on numbers like that.

All of that said, though: the milestones and rubrics are tools to red-flag places where your child might need support. Part of the problem with IQ tests is that they tend to be read as "smart" or "stupid." That's not really the point - the point of any assessment is to try to figure out what the best interventions are to make sure that the child in question has the best chance of getting the life they want as an adult.

I think often times schools do it b/c it is in their checklist of things to do. I don't think they use it to customize the educational experience much, if at all. If they use it, at all, I think they use it to bolster a case they want to make, if it fits in with the narrative.

I'm sure that's true sometimes - possibly even most of the time. That said, if you are a parent who can advocate for your child, you can use the same data to see to it that your child's experience is customized.

I wish I had known that when our school first did an assessment and then basically hung my kid out to dry.

Can you explain further when you said "try to say what the book said, but use only three words?"

She was teaching him how to summarize instead of repeating the text from the reading passage verbatim. I'm guessing this was in first or second grade, where the text may have only contained one or two sentences, and so could actually be summarized in three or four words.

Got it

Yes, exactly, and thank you for the language you've given me around that, Zette!

Thank you for these responses. As you can see, this has really bothered me more than it needed to. In fact, I'm embarrassed to say that I'm awake at 4:30 in the morning, after a little bathroom trip, going through files for evidence that the kiddo is a little "smarter". The "good news" is that I did locate, in my filing cabinet, his more recent Wechsler Test. He scored a 98 composite. Pretty average. Not really much to worry about there. Still below average overall, but not as much. And there was an element of scatter on both tests--one section that obviously lowered the overall score. Interestingly, he scored higher in the verbal section both times. His difficulty seems to be in finding visual patterns--something I have always understood to be easier for autistic kids. But he really tanked on that.

Clearly, I didn't take these seriously at all until a neighbor kid scored a 150. I know that is awful of me, and I'm appropriately ashamed. Yet, I guess I have a weakness for this particular measurement. Similar to movie or TV fathers who want their sons to be the sports stars they were, I'm the mom who took pride in my own high IQ and academic success. And I suppose I want my kid to be like me--so that life is easier for ME. Selfish, really.

It is especially funny that I became concerned now, because I never took it seriously before. My family history is that I was valued highly by my parents for my gifts, and my brother was in special education. He is dyslexic and was totally unmotivated at school. He failed so much of high school math. Well, guess who became a math teacher? Then, database programmer? Guess who earns twice what I do? Little brother did all right for himself. So I always took these tests with a grain of salt.

I think the wound to my ego is that basically, I have an average kid, and while that is something to be extremely grateful for--not to mention NOT having a kid with something terrible like leukemia--it burns a little. I suppose I thought I'd have a little genius. I have a pretty average kid (adorable and awesome, but not a genius), with some issues.

A more enlightened approach is that these scores can help me to advise his teachers at IEP meetings and stuff like that. But well, then I look at his assessments from the school district, and they tell yet another story. The district used a different assessment. Still, overall he came out average on that, too.

Regarding the Koko story, I think it's pretty funny that on the visual pattern report for the recent Wechsler test, they mention that my kiddo couldn't find the correct item for "more abstract patterns (e.g., matching clothing to the weather)." We live in LA. Of COURSE he can't match clothing to weather. A cold day for us is maybe wearing a sweater. It hasn't rained here very much since the poor kid was born. So, yeah, cultural bias.

The other Koko story that is relevant is choosing those edible flowers. When my son was three, the tester showed him a picture of two kids with ice cream. One had one cone of chocolate ice cream. The other had two cones of vanilla ice cream. The question was, "Point to the child who has more." He pointed to the kid with the chocolate ice cream. I wanted to say, "Well, duh, vanilla doesn't count, in his world. He only eats chocolate, so clearly, the kid with the chocolate ice cream was better off."

Children need to feel they are special and important, ideally to their parents when young but certainly somewhere. And when our children are precious and special to us as parents, it's quite nice to have that understood. I mean, what do we say to the parent of a young infant? Not "he looks very norma". We say "what a beautiful baby" or "he's so smart, he just ____". So I don't think you should feel ashamed or badly about feeling your child is special and looking for evidence he is, because he really is. And hopefully he knows he matters.

Also as people are saying, you don't want him pidgeonholed with low expectations at a young age. Starting school is scary, for kids and adults. It just is. Glad you're feeling some better.

JCross, I am similar in having grown up with a lot of identity tied up in being the "smartest" kid in the class. High IQ score (>135), gifted/talented program, AP classes, high SAT scores, yada yada yada. I always wondered if I would have trouble relating if I had a kid who was just average, or if I would be able to help one who struggled in school.

When DS had his initial testing done, the IQ came back at 102. Dead average. (Btw 98 is not low, that is within statistical error of being exactly middle. Anything from 85-115 is considered average IQ, 70-85 is considered "low average".) I found that I wasn't upset about the number, just surprised. DS seems strikingly intelligent when you talk to him, and people are constantly commenting on how smart he is. (For instance, after watching an Indiana Jones movie where they were riding a mining cart through a volcano, he asked me, "What kind of metal isn't melted by lava?")

I've come to realize that IQ tests measure something that is much more narrow and specific than the general level of intelligence they are said to represent.

Btw -- At one time (before they decided there was little value in making a distinction), some people thought that one way to distinguish Aspergers from HFA was in the scatter in the IQ subtests, with AS having verbal IQ much higher that performance (visual) IQ, and HFA the reverse. My DS fits this pattern. He is so far from being a visual thinker that difficulty in visual processing (rather than the usual deficit in phonemic processing) is causing him to be dyslexic.

What do you mean? Can you explain further please?

My really narrow experience.
First IQ test, done when he was 5 (at 5.30 pm after a day in school and 3 - yes, 3 - hours awaiting the NPI to visit him): below average (Leitner, i think it was 87).
Three weeks later, same hospital, Raven matrices: scored 100-120.

Now, the new NPI who deals with him told me that Raven tends to over-estimate IQ. An aspie friend told me they are more accurate for autistic kids.

Whether or not, I have came to realize these tests are sensitive to numerous factors, and cannot really describe the intelligence of my son. I am average myself, yet I hold a PhD and retired from academia only to look after him.

Let it be. Life will tell us, not IQ tests.