Young children explore the world in their own way and that gives them the opportunity to grow up and that eventually each one of us is different. The way we see the world is determined by social, economic, culture, family, motor development, IQ, education, etc. All this will make the child develop in a specific way and there are those who have a high IQ, others normal and others low, it is important to know this information to be able to serve him as well as possible.
Each child has a way of understanding things and their intellectual capacity here says a lot, this is why we are going to explain how we can find out the IQ of our child . Incidentally, the quotient does not go hand in hand with the intelligence of the child. This we must keep very clear and very present.
Throughout this text we are going to explain what the IQ is, how it is found out and we are going to explain that your IQ degree is not directly proportional to your intelligence. Besides, we will also say some signs or symptoms that our son has low or high intellectual abilities. All this will help us to find a solution to the new challenges that are presented to us and to be able to take care of our son as necessary.
What is the IQ?
It is also known as IQ and consists of carrying out an intelligence test, although it only determines the cognitive abilities, not the level of intelligence itself that that boy or girl may have, since that is where their effort, the teaching method, their level of curiosity, their tastes, etc. It is a fairly common test at school age and at the clinical level if there are suspicions of any abnormality (for better and for worse).
Currently, there are various somewhat more up-to-date methods to find out the IQ of a child or adult, but as a general rule, a generic test is still done where there are questions related to spatial intelligence, logical reasoning, verbal intelligence and math , of course.
In fact, there are children who at a certain age are in the second level, and a few years later they have risen several points. That is why we always recommend using multiple methods and asking for multiple opinions.
A test is carried out where the cognitive abilities of children are evaluated in order to assess their strengths and weaknesses. The results are numerical data and are classified into 4 grades:
- Less than 70: low intellectual abilities.
- Between 90 and 110: normal cognitive abilities.
- Over 130: gifted or highly capable.
- Above 140: genius.
The vast majority of the population is at the second level, and only 2-3% of the entire world population is gifted or has high intellectual abilities.
How is IQ calculated in a child
Many people believe that the IQ tests are like an exam where each question has a score and in the end everything is added and it is the grade, but no. In this case, the tests have another rather curious scoring system.
The test gives a score and then the age of that person is recorded. There is a table with some scores, so that, if our son is 10 years old, his IQ should be around X score. Usually the results fit.
Next, the mental age (the level of intelligence that is expected for our age) is divided by the chronological age (age in years) and the result is multiplied by 100. This is when the result is obtained and we can see in what 3 groups we enter or our children enter.
This method is still used, but in some cases it is wrong because as a general rule our age does coincide with mental age, but it is not entirely accurate, so other methods are often used with other scores. The most famous are Raven’s Progressive Matrices and Wechsler scales .
Signs of a child with a high IQ
From a very young age, children show their interests, if they like to move, if they are observant, if they like music, if they learn to speak quickly, if they are sociable, etc. This is why we can easily realize their intellectual capabilities. Although our son will always be the smartest, most handsome and perfect, it never hurts to find out officially.
In the case that a child has high capacities, it is more or less easy to find out, and if we are minimally suspicious, what we recommend is to go to a specialist such as, for example, a psychologist. This professional will tell us what to do, how to proceed and will be able to evaluate our son.
Suspicions usually start at school, so it will be there where the test is carried out, even so, we recommend repeating it independently in another place and when several weeks have passed since the first, since the child knows perfectly what is happening and that can influence the performance of the tests.
Some of the typical signs of a gifted child are:
- Raise your head before reaching the month of life.
- Babble and ask for words from 5 or 6 months of age.
- Recognize your name at 6 months of life.
- They memorize stories and phrases at an early age.
- Around the age of 2 or 3 they already draw concrete shapes.
- At 2 and a half years they can already put together 20-piece puzzles.
- They learn to read and write before the age of 4.
- They have great imagination and creativity.
- They enjoy reading and creating their stories.
- Insatiable curiosity.
- They show interest in very specific topics.
- They are often confused when something fails to capture their attention.
- Privileged memory.
- They tend to like chess, mathematics, puncture, music, etc.
- They like to challenge themselves with other children.
- They show no interest in sports and find it difficult to find common hobbies with other children.
- Social relationships are his weak point.
- They are very independent, competitive, and perfectionists.
- Sometimes they have tantrums that are considered to be below their emotional maturity.
- Broad sense of justice.
- Advanced level of humor.
- They are sensitive people.
- Critical thinking.
- They tend to question authority.
- They are usually good leaders.
Symptoms of a child with low intellectual abilities
It is difficult to determine the intellectual capacities in children, since some symptoms indicate that it is a normal child, others that it could be gifted and other symptoms indicate that it is a special case where the minor needs attention for having intellectual capacities below the average. As we have already said, intelligence varies and changes with age, so if our child is below 100 at 8 years of age, it may be that with 12 he may touch 120.
But there are cases and cases, and when there is suspicion of an intellectual capacity below 90, it is because the symptoms are clear. Professionals usually get down to work quickly and we as parents can detect it in time, since this is noticeable in the day-to-day of the child.
Children with low intellectual abilities tend to coincide with these series of factors:
- Delayed speech development. Obviously, other problems such as hearing impairment must be ruled out.
- Low motor development.
- Deficient attitudes in children’s games.
- They have a hard time withholding information.
- They are not related normally.
- Lack of concentration and interest.
- He is not able to independently cope with daily activities.
- Poor reading comprehension and difficulty in writing and doing simple calculations.
- It is difficult for them to summarize and synthesize an idea.
- Slow assimilation of ideas and concepts.
