The Importance of IQ Testing Children
Hi there. My name’s Dr. Kelly Clark, and today I’d like to talk about intelligence. Intelligence Tests nowadays are something that we can conveniently have posted up on while you’re on a website, and there’ll be something come up and rate your intelligence and you’ll go through a bunch of questions and then get some form of, of intelligence.
I mean, I think that that would probably something that a lot of people would be interested in in IQ testing is, what is my intelligence? How smart am I? So I wanted to talk a little bit about that today because I think there is an interest in it. And it also relates to psychoeducational assessment assessments that I do in my practice and in schools to to help individuals who are struggling academically. So, as far as IQ tests, kind of the golden standard is what we call the Weschler adult individual Scales for adults.
And that’s going on from ages from 17 onto at later adulthood. And then the Whisk, which is the Wesler Intelligence Scales for Children Fifth Edition. There are scales on there again, that are looking at several areas that I’m gonna talk about, but those are from kids that are school-aged from, from basically six to upper 16 years old. And so those intelligence tests I’ll be talking about today, there are other IQ tests.
Those two are, are, again, some of the gold standards. And, and why that is, is because versus the, the testing that you might see online these tests have been highly scrutinized by test makers to prove that the validity of the test. So in other words, the validity has to do with what we’re actually trying to measure is being measured. So that has to do with validity.
So we could say that, you know, that hair falling out on men is a sign of low intelligence. Well, that is obviously not a true a valid construct. And so when we look at IQ tests, we’re looking at validity. So all of the subscales and the measures that are used have been rigorously tested to to ensure that they validly measure what they’re supposed to be measure measuring. There’s also reliability. So reliability has to do with if you took the test again, that you’re likely to get the same score.
And so with, with tests that are online, you know, if the individual is watching TV at the same time as, as doing this test, it’s likely going to change the result if, if they did it, and they’re really focused. So one of the benefits of doing IQ tests apart from high validity, high reliability, and that they’re the gold standard, is that you’re doing that one-on-one with a psychologist.
And and it’s in a very scrupulously ideal setting to get the best result for the test. So they’re not only valid, reliable but they’re also done one-on-one with somebody who is trained to administer them. So what is an IQ test? What, what is it actually measuring? Well, in general, there’s several areas that, that are measured. And and they have to do with people’s thinking and reasoning ability.
And so when we’re looking at intelligence, we’re looking at thinking capacity, the ability to think and manage the conceptual demands, for example, in school work life. So, IQ tests are measuring levels of language development, non-verbal intellectual reasoning that have to do with being able to think and reason through demands of school, demands of life, and using various processes to do that. So I’m just gonna quickly go through some of the things that are made up of IQ tests.
So in the adult test the waste four, what is, what is used there is what we call the verbal comprehension domain. And so the verbal comprehension looks at global knowledge. So the ability of somebody to know details or information about the world and it looks at vocabulary and looks at the ability to use analogical thinking. So that has to do with the ability to cont compare, contrast, recognize similarities between language spoken objects.
And that has something to do with the ability of the person to manipulate language-based thinking. So somebody very strong with verbal comprehension is, is predictably thought to be stronger with language reasoning. So, for example, social studies and English. And oftentimes I remember these conversations growing up. Either you’re strong at at English and social studies, or you’re strong at math and sciences, and there is some truth to that as far as the IQ testing.
The next area in the the adult inventory is called perceptual reasoning. And that domain looks at the ability to use visual spatial skills, vi visual spatial reasoning, and I’ll explain what that is, as well as fluid reasoning. And fluid reasoning has to do more with the ability to use logic deduction, scientific reasoning to think through visual problems. So this is more visual information. These tests, the, the perceptual reasoning are said to be less dependent on language.
So, you know, I could go and test somebody who actually doesn’t speak English as long as the instructions were were understandable and they could perform the task, there’s no content based on language in those ones. So it’s very visual. It’s really requires visual problem solving, deduction logic analysis. There’s also a component re requiring visual spatial skills. So for a, a, you know, a lot of us that were really good with Lego when we were kids, it’s almost kind of like that Lego reasoning, the ability to put small pieces to create a larger hole.
And so, again, the, the IQ tests have implications for learning. So, for example, with someone who has poor visual spatial skills, visual spatial skills are requisite or they’re required for math reasoning. In other words, a lot of us, when we’re thinking of math, we, we almost create a visual landscape when we’re thinking about mathematical symbols and computations.
So somebody who’s very weak with integrating parts in a visual format they struggle with math and also the logic and deduction required in, in the fluid reasoning. Part of the analysis is also a, a very required part with mathematics. So when we think of math reasoning versus math, problem solving, math reasoning is the ability to apply logic and mathematical principles to make a determination of, of how we’re gonna actually pro problem solve this. So we get to math problem solving.
So math reasoning has to do, for example, if I gave the, the equation you know, a angle A, B, and C in a triangle equal 180 degrees, if we have that construct, and we can remember that if I have angle A and angle B, but not c, I can use math reasoning, that is apply logic to go, well, if I have A and B, and I know that it equals 180, then I can determine what C is.
So I reason that logically, and if you have strong fluid intelligence, you’re able to get that easier than somebody who does not. And so then the math problem solving part would, is the, where they’re actually performing the calculation, you’re, you’re adding the two angles together, you’re subtracting from 180. That’s the math problem solving part. So individuals that struggle with non-verbal intelligence with perceptual reasoning often have struggle with, with mathematics.
So there’s a lot of great information when we do IQ tests to explaining difficulties. Yeah, why am I really struggling with social studies in English? Well, maybe your, your language based reasoning, your verbal comprehension is weaker. Well, how come I’m struggling so much, so much with mathematics and sciences and, and reading visual cues on people’s faces? And I don’t understand emotions as well related to fluid intelligence and visual spatial skills. So IQ tests have a lot to do with how we function in the world, not just our thinking and reasoning, but even how we interpret social, social events and, and emotions and those things.
So, lots of benefit to doing an IQ test just to learn about ourselves, learn about your, your preferred learning style. So somebody who’s very strong with language and very weak with, with, say, the non-verbal side, the perceptual reasoning probably should pursue something in English and social studies or along those levels rather than, you know, accounting or engineering.
Those kind of things are very beneficial in doing IQ tests. We learn to see how our brain is functionally wired and, and how it performs through these, through these measures. The last two areas with the adult test is, is working memory. So even though the first two areas really reflect the ability to think and the navigate conceptual demands of school and work, you know, based on language and scientific reasoning, et cetera, working memory does not really require that, but it is necessary you know, for performance and is included in the IQ scales, for example.
So working memory is the ability to take short pieces of information or to absorb them, remember them over a brief period of time. So if I’m meeting John, Sally, Jack, and James, those four pieces of information, if I’m like, oh, John, Sally, I forget the last two, that has implications for learning.
If you can’t re, if your short term memory or your working memory is poor, then it will restrict your ability to encode and absorb new information. So working memory is also an important thing with IQ testing. We learn people’s functioning even with short-term memory and the ability to absorb content in school or work.
So you might be the individual that, you know, somebody will teach me something at work, I forget it five minutes later, or I’m in school, I learn a concept one day, my child learns a concept one day next day that’s it’s gone, could be attributed to a poor short-term memory. So with IQ testing, we actually put numbers on it. We compare the, the results of a child or an adult or an adolescent compared to a a basically a data bank, or we call it a normative sample and see how they compare to, to other individuals.
So you might find, you know, I always thought I had great short-term memory, and when we compare you against you know, a, a large sample of individuals who’ve done this testing, it will recognize, well, actually I’m lower than I thought. And so, but that explains some things that explains why I forget information that I’ve been exposed to. So working memory is another thing. And as implications for learning and our job performance the last area that that’s typically evaluated is processing speed.
And that’s kinda like mental working speed. It’s how quickly the mic could work through visual information. So individuals that struggle in this area, they take a long, so they, they, they’re not able to process information very quickly. They invariably have difficulties finishing tests and time. So kids with the these issues, they struggle with finishing tests and time. They’re the last to complete things.
They’re super slow in, in finishing activities in the classroom. Teacher will notice that, and again, the teachers are experts on our kids. They’ll come and say, yeah, you know, Joey’s a a smart individual or, or Jackie’s a smart individual, but they take really long to, to finish their schoolwork. And so sometimes that can be related to processing speed. Same thing for adults. So, you know, you might have actually somebody who’s quite smart.
They did well in verbal comprehension and perceptual reasoning, but they work slow slowly at work, so much so that they’re getting fired. So we might, you know, that they needed to keep up and do things more quickly. So IQ tests do a lot with showing our abilities in these four areas. And in the last one, the ability to process information visually you know, at a rate in keeping with those around us.
So we’ll be, be able to, you know, score that and let a determination be known to you or to individuals that you’re interested in having an IQ test done to see where they fall. So the, the testing period for the adult IQ testing takes about an hour to an hour and a half. Generally with the kids, it’s a little bit shorter from between an hour to an hour and 15 minutes depending on things like like ADHD or behavioral issues that might be present. So again, back to IQ testing is very useful.
Not to mention if you do really well, I’ve had people that always thought that they were not smart in school because they did poorly academically. So here’s a very important thing. You can be an average to above average intelligent person, but did very poorly in school. So just because you did poorly in school doesn’t mean you’re not intelligent.
So I’ve had adults come to me and always thought that they were not smart, and then I do an IQ test and we find out they’re above average or, or what have you. And it is, you know, it is such a prompt prop to their ego and to their self-esteem because they, you know, they always sat with, just because I did poorly in school, I must not be smart.
That’s not true. Just because a person does poorly in reading, writing, and math does not have to be, it’s not always connected to intelligence. It could be connected to a learning disability, which is what I’m gonna talk about next. So, for more information about receiving an IQ test and learning more about yourself visit Dr. Kelly clark.com. Thank you for listening.