Ah, the joys of parenthood. The sleepless nights, endless diaper changes and of course, that heart-melting feeling when you catch sight of your little one's face for the first time. But what about their intelligence? How do we measure that?
It might seem crazy to start thinking about it so early on in their lives, but testing your child's IQ at four years old can help identify areas where they excel and may need more support. Not to mention giving you some bragging rights among other parents.
Here is everything you need to know about testing your four-year-old's IQ (and probably more than you ever cared to know).
First things first: What is an IQ test?
For those who don't know what an IQ test measures (GASP), let me break it down for ya'. An Intelligence Quotient (IQ) test is designed to measure a person's cognitive abilities such as memory, problem-solving skills, spatial reasoning and language ability.
Sounds kinda boring right? Well hold onto your diapers because there are all sorts of quirky ways this gets put into practice!
Why should I give my toddler an IQ Test?
What parent doesn't want bragging rights?! But honestly - this isn't just for funsies. As mentioned earlier assessing our toddlers' brains helps in identifying developmental risks or gaps – catching them early means faster interventions with better outcomes.
Say for example yo' lil tyke excels in particular activities like number games/cards than others - great! That’s something worth focusing on.
Plus undiagnosed intellectual impairments can lead children developing negative impressions regarding themselves- AKA self-limiting beliefs galore!
How Exactly Does One Test a Four-Year-Old’s Intelligence?
So how exactly does one quantify baby genius potential anyways? There are various methods experts use to test the cognitive ability of a toddler... Don't worry- this isn't going to involve advanced calculus. Rather, moments that make your toddler feel like they are playing games for smarties!
Verbal Material Section/ Ability Test:
This one tests their language comprehension and verbal fluency (their verbal chitty-chatty). The examiner may say certain words or present others in picture format followed by questions about them. All whilst avoiding incorrect visual cues that might confuse lil' Jane.
This section ‘typically’ includes things such as vocabulary acquisition (the amount, breadth and retention) & reading recognition or spelling – Whatever you do DO NOT let your competitive spirit get carried away!!
Measuring Non-Verbal Intellectual Capabilities
Often with shapes/patterns!
Anything from these two aspects (combined score generally used); crystallized intelligence(learned skills/knowledge), Fluid intelligence(their problem-solving skills)
And after few trials we have an IQ range/identifiable learning style. BOOM! You're ready to sign up for MENSA on their behalf.
Why Is It Important To Keep In Mind Their Age?
In short - it varies depending on what more broadly fits within the boundaries of normality related specifically to age groups i.e 3yr olds compared with maybe 7 year old development rates/themes. So when it comes to cultural customs/family historical relevance or even sibling orders you'll get differences of opinion/response among young ones.
As a result the various aptitude measurements tend towards more skill focused - why? Because toddlers haven't covered much ground academically yet so overall performance would be difficult gauge without control measures based around measurables hard wired into culture itself.
However children develop at different paces meaning subjectivity has always been associated with testing methods...
Which brings us onto our next topic...
Interrater Inconsistency: Can we ever truly test a toddler’s intelligence?
We can but as the process isn’t perfect, one still gets inconsistency in scores between assessors. This is often due to tester subjectivity and system design such that no records of accuracy exist.
Think your kid failed so tried again with a different assessor? There's no guarantee you’ll get the same score.
Even ‘easy’ things like how many times were they told an instruction in another language pretest may throw off accurate data when scoring IQ.
But honestly – whether Little Timmy scores 90 or 110, does it make any difference if he goes on living his best life?! Not really… except for being fab dinner table conversation fodder perhaps.
What About Those Worrying Risks That Follow Identifying IQ Problems So Early?
Ah yes- whilst there are upsides to knowing stats concerning our baby Einstein... surely there must be downs right? Over-identifying could lead to over-intellectualising and thus not letting kids develop naturally without fear of living up to expectations resulting out of parental guilt/shame not necessarily their intellectual ability! Always remember that behind all those pesky numbers lies a wonderful whole human being 🙂
That said there is something respectable about finding potential areas where skills lay; giving insights into opportunities worthy pursuing / what ways will feel less rewarding (at least according to measurements)!
Thanks for reading everyone! And don't worry - I don't quiz my own toddler… He’s busy enough wreaking havoc/making mess/silly noises and eating everything else within arm reach 😉