thanks for your input ariel!
first of all, i agree with you. it is impossible to tell if something is learned or cognitive, especially if they have been learning the way all of us teach on this forum.
second, my baby is just 14 mo. the example i gave in my last post was from a concerned parent from a forum about IQ tests and she was freaking out. i used it to show how educators in the states rely on these things, and it is really unfair.
unfortunately, that is the way the system works over here, so i guess you have to play the game. i just don’t want my daughter to be penalized just b/c we’ve been flashing bit cards and dot cards.
since she is really only saying a few words, i cannot tell if she is really taking this in. we do TW, doman bits, math, LR, etc. i’m going to trust the experts on this forum as well as the right brain educators out there and just keep doing what i’m doing.
will keep you up to date as i hear more. i have another tour soon and i’ll find out more about the gifted programs, testing, etc.
I know how you feel…we all feel this way now and then. All this flashing is it memorization and are they really learning anything? I think you should rely on several programs and incorporate many to prepare your daughter. Puzzles I would say are most imp for any type of IQ tests. The bits will increase the memorization skills and increase her curiosity. I am curious to know what is your goal for your daughter? and Do you live in CA or NYC?
well, i am sooooo glad i dont live anywhere like that…i live in louisiana, and we dont have any kind of test like that to get into kindergarten, or prek…please…prek?..how sad is it that this kind of pressure is being put on these children at such a young age…they will have enough pressure as they get older…cant they just enjoy being a child for just a little while…i am raising my granbabies, 5 4 2…yes, i do things with them…the 5 yr old is finishing kindergarten, and was an ace student…teacher came from a catholic school for 30 yrs, and has raved all year about how smart she is…4 yr just graduated from montisourri prek…the 2 yr old is still at home…all she wants to do is read…she cant get enough, as do the other 2…we have done work books, writing lessons, etc…they are all 3 really smart, but i have never pressured them, and dont believe in putting them in preschool untill 4 if i am able to stay home, which i am…thankfully…everything is done at their own pace, and their own time…nothing is pressured…i was the same way with my own kids, and they are all three very smart…
well, i am by far not an expert in any of this, but i believe that what they are referring to as cognitive is their ability to apply concepts…the concept of math and subtraction itself is a concept…being able to apply it in a particular situation is the cognitive part…to just simply say 3-2=1 is memorized…my 2 yr old uses concepts alot…she will tell me stuff like look i have 2 markers…she will put one behind her back and look at me and say now, how many do i have…she also has other ones too, that is just an example…
This thread is interesting to me because I grew up in L.A. and was educated in the LAUSD school system and I have a faint memory of being given an IQ test in elementary school, or some kind of evaluative test that must have gotten me on the list to be in ‘honors’ classes.
By high school I was doing speech and debate and became keenly aware of the private high schools in the county…there must have been private primary feeder schools to those high schools, and I’m assuming there was some kind of testing happening in the private school tracks.
My first instinct is to say you shouldn’t worry at all because the kind of care and attention you give your little one almost guarantees you’ll have an intellectually strong kid who will perform strong on any IQ test with no additional prep.
My second reaction, after reading through the other replies, is that even if you wanted to prep your kid for an IQ test, I don’t know if it’s really possible.
You may want to read about the history of IQ tests, find out which kinds are administered at your desired schools, and maybe try to encourage your LO to practice thinking and reasoning in ways that are asked about in IQ tests - but that seems so hard to prep for. I had the impression that people with high IQ’s simply solve problems or come to conclusions significantly faster than the average person, and I just don’t know if that can be taught. Also, I can’t imagine IQ tests can be memorized, or else how could it be trusted as a meaningful test at all? Anyone who studied the questions and memorized them would be deemed a genius! I think you can only hope to be aware of the types of intelligence the test tries to measure.
That being said, the book Raise a Smarter Child by Kindergarten does mention there are specific games and activities you can play to help boost IQ: http://www.enotalone.com/article/11553.html
It also mentions diet and household toxins can affect IQ.
Also, a simple google search for “Prepare for the Stanford Binet IQ test” revealed many interesting links:
As a school psychologist, I can tell you that practicing for an IQ test probably is not possible. Many of the tasks asked of one are not traditionally academic in nature. They do have to do with word knowledge or information and lots of other things that memory and visual perception. I supposed that you can practice stretching the memory or make sure that the vocabulary is good, but that is something that must be encouraged and nourished for years. A crash practice will not help much.
I do not give the Stanford-Binet, but even if I did, professional ethics would not allow me to comment on specifics about how to do well.
Most of those online IQ type things are way different than the real thing. In real life, the child will be using manipulatives, blocks, etc. Those online things are typically knocks offs and not reliable.
Yes, IQ does correlate with school achievement. There are a ton of studies that document that, but there are many other factors that go into how well one does. We all know that motivation and persistence can be key as well.
Also, IQ at age 5 is not stable yet - I often see 10 to 20 point differences a couple of years later. This is because the kinds of things that are measured in a 5-year-old are different than what is measured later. In general, age 6 is when IQ starts becoming stable.
So, I guess that private schools can give the test to get in, but I wouldn’t worry too much. If you have been working with your child, then the child has developed visual, auditory, memory, and language skills that will influence the score.
thank you so much for your input! very helpful! since i posted this about 6-8 mo. ago, i have discovered that they are impossible to prepare for… other than the blocks, etc.
now that my DD is 22 mo. she can recite the alphabet in english and spanish, can count to 20 in english spanish itallian and sign (because of the nanny) and is learning to solfege in 4 clefs (i am a professional composer/conductor). the is understanding shapes as well. and just now is KIND OF sounding out words and can add and take away. i think that is going to be a little while. so we will just keep going!
i think the one thing that has always worried me about these tests is that will they recognize the skills she already knows, or will they not show up on the tests?
thoughts??
the doc :clown:
Learning all of those things helps to develop the cognitive skills that will show on those tests. After starting your baby can read with my daughter at 2 years 4 months, her visual perception and memory skills went through the roof. She is monitored in a longitudinal study as part of the control group (typically developing child) and she scored in the 99th percentile on a test that measures those things. At age 2, she was only around the 50th.
I would also do puzzles and talk talk talk. Language is highly associated with those verbal tests. I’ll have to think about the reasoning tasks.
In other words, what you do at this age will affect the test scores more than what you could do 5 years from now. The brain is more plastic right now because connections are being formed.
Are you sure? A person can lose their license by selling this. It is called test security. . Showing everything off breaks test security and is a violation of our ethics. After all, if anyone could get a test kit, then the results would mean nothing.
The score you get with the IQ test is useless if the result’s not compared with people your age. In accordance with fresh tests taken by men and women your age, our organization quantifies instantly all intelligence quotient scores to help make the evaluation of your own IQ extremely accurate. Moreover, we assign a rating in accordance with the clinically honored Wechsler Scale where 100 is the average intelligence quotient.
Las Vegas also does the testing for Private kindergarten. The girl I nannied didn’t get accepted even though she could read and do basic math. She wasn’t socially ready they said. I homeschooled her then she went to a public school and is excelling and has been accepted for GATE.
If any parts of the Stanford Binet IQ test is released to be practiced it would make the test unreliable and therefore unvalid. No one can or should have access to the test for practice or any part of the test for practice.
