IQTesting101InformationEveryParentWantstoKnow.pdfVIP

IQ Testing 101: Information Every Parent Wants to Know by Becky Stamatiades, Ed.S., School Psychologist and Laura Tenenbaum, M.Ed., School Psychology Doctoral Intern Hearing the phrase, “Your child will be given an IQ test” can be anxiety provoking. As a parent you may feel concerned about what the experience will be like for your child, how to best prepare your child, and what the results will mean for your child’s future. You may wonder why your child has to take an IQ test and what type of information will be gathered during the testing. You may also have questions about your role and how you can support your child throughout the process. The goal of this article is to address some of these questions and concerns by providing parents with accurate and helpful information about IQ tests, including reasons for administration and procedures to read and truly understand your child’s psychological report. What is an IQ test? ? IQ stands for “Intelligence Quotient” and is a very general measure of learning potential that, among other things, involves the ability to reason, plan, solve problems, think abstractly, and comprehend complex ideas. ? IQ tests do not measure academic skills or test-taking smarts. ? IQ tests are standardized assessments. They contain a uniform set of instructions and yield information about a particular child’s performance in relation to a national sample of same age peers. ? Typically, IQ tests examine four general areas of functioning: ? Domain Description Verbal The ability to understand and use words to analyze, Comprehension comprehend, and solve language-based problems. Nonver