Dear Dr. Yael,
My five-year-old daughter recently went through a 20-minute evaluation in order to get into pre-school. After the evaluation, the psychologist told me that she is of average intelligence. This upset me as her teachers have told me that she is one of the brightest students in her nursery class.
While I know this is not something that should upset me, as she excels in school, I do wonder why any psychologist would make a judgment about a child’s IQ after only spending 20 minutes with her? And just how reliable are these IQ tests?
A Concerned Mother
Dear Concerned Mother,
Generally, the Wechsler and Stanford-Binet IQ tests are very reliable. However, as I do not know which IQ test was given to your daughter, I cannot tell you if the psychologist’s assessment is accurate. I can say that 20 minutes is not usually enough time to fully assess a child who is in pre-school, unless he or she is obviously very low functioning, which does not seem to be the case in your situation.
The most popular assessment for preschoolers is the Wechsler Preschool and Primary Scale of Intelligence – Fourth Edition. This scale has six main subtests which make up the Full Scale IQ and ten subtests if you want to obtain all of the index scores as well (Verbal Comprehension Index, Visual Spatial Index, Working Memory Index, Fluid Reasoning Index, Processing Speed Index). It takes approximately 45-60 minutes to administer just the subtests and even longer if you want to assess all five of the indices as well.
Additionally, it is hard to always get a reliable IQ on such young children since their attention span and ability to perform varies depending on the child’s mood at the time of testing. Thus, it would appear that the results in your case were not entirely reliable.
That being said, there is nothing wrong with having a child with an average IQ. Firstly, there is a wide range of what is considered average (i.e., an IQ of 90-109 and a percentile rank of 25-74) and a child that is in the upper range is considered to be quite bright. For example, a child with an IQ of 109 performs better than about 74 children when compared to 100 other children his/her age! Additionally, a child who is of average intelligence can achieve on a higher level, which would seem to be the case with your child.
Average intelligence does not connote mediocrity and people are frequently mistaken when they think that someone with average intelligence is not going to really succeed in life. Intelligence is definitely an important factor that contributes to a child’s success, but it is not the only factor that determines a child’s success; there are many factors that influence a child’s success (i.e., a child’s motivation, ambition, education, self-confidence, emotional well-being, etc.). Thus, when a child has average intelligence, specifically on the higher end of the average continuum, and high motivation, ambition, and self-confidence, a good education, high self-confidence, and emotional well-being, then he/she is very likely to achieve and succeed in life.
Intelligence also covers a broad range of abilities. A child may be very intelligent in a verbal sense, but weaker in his/her working memory or abstract reasoning. The converse may be true as well. Some children have higher ability in their abstract reasoning and lower abilities in their verbal reasoning and comprehension. Thus, it is surprising that a psychologist would just tell you that your child has average intelligence without discussing her strengths and weaknesses.
If a child is successful in school and overall, it generally does not matter what her IQ is. It is important to continue to give your child the emotional and physical support she needs to succeed and to forget about the actual numbers of her IQ.
What is more important is what we call EQ or emotional quotient. Someone with a high EQ has great social skills, confidence and is emotionally balanced. In fact, there are people with high I.Q.s who have emotional challenges that may prevent them from having a balanced healthy marriage, relate well to their children and function well in life.
Please raise your child with love, respect and positive expectations. I wish you much hatzlocha.