Intelligence is a difficult concept to define and equally difficult to measure. It includes the ability to learn, curiosity, adaptation, reasoning ability, problem solving ability, attentiveness, memory, planning and organisational ability, analytic skills and visual skills. With so many different components it is not surprising that the measurement of intelligence has to be broad and has to include diverse areas of functioning.
Comprehensive Psychology administers IQ and academic assessments for children so that you can gain an understanding of your child's development and progression. Our kids IQ tests are based around the WISC-IV and the WPPSI-III models of intelligence testing in children.
At CPAC we offer intellectual ability assessments for children over 2 years of age. We perform assessments for educational purposes, eligibility for specific programs, to determine giftedness or intellectual disability, as part of testing for learning disability and to generally evaluate children's intellectual functioning. We provide detailed descriptions of intellectual strengths and weaknesses and make appropriate recommendations.
The broadest definition of intelligence is the ability to act or think in goal directed and adaptive ways within various domains of functioning. This definition promotes the idea that intelligence is transferable between different areas of functioning and assumes adaptability when situational demands arise.
Adaptive skills can be divided between three categories. These categories are not mutually exclusive, rather overlap and require the use of different skill sets interchangeably. While intelligence is more complex than mere adaptive skills, for easy understanding the following categories serve as a good guideline:
Problem Solving Ability
Problem solving involves the analysis of a problem, collecting and correctly interpreting relevant information, the ability to see different aspects of the problem and logical reasoning skills.
Verbal Ability
Verbal ability refers to skills such as reading and writing skills, speaking clearly and articulately, using language to deal effectively with people, sound knowledge of one or more particular fields, reading widely and having a good vocabulary.
Social Competence
Social competence requires curiosity, punctuality, sensitivity to the needs of others, empathy or the accurate interpretation of others' emotional states and accurate social judgments.
IQ refers to "Intelligence Quotient", or a numerical representation of one's intellectual level. Preschool and childhood IQ tests are developed to measure children's performance on different type of tasks that correspond with different developmental levels at a given age. Generally IQ tests yield results within specific categories, such as verbal and non-verbal abilities, working memory, processing speed and reasoning abilities. Each category contains different tasks that aim to test different aspects of the same mental construct. When children's final results are analysed, clinicians look for consistency and discrepancy between and within these constructs. This way it is possible to determine strengths and weaknesses and learning styles.
Regardless of the type of intelligence test used, the two main categories are always verbal and non-verbal abilities. Generally these two categories provide relatively "pure" measures of children's intellectual functioning because they are less susceptible to attention, memory and speed of mental processing.
Verbal Ability
The Verbal IQ measures general ability to reason, solve problems and recall important information presented in a verbal format (printed or spoken). The verbal IQ also reflects children's ability to explain verbal concepts clearly, provide rationale for their choices, and explain conceptual information. Verbal ability, measured by the verbal IQ, is one of the most accurate predictors of academic success in Western cultures because of the strong reliance on reading and writing in formal school programs.
Non-verbal Ability
Non-verbal IQ measures skills in solving abstract, visually oriented problems, recalling facts and figures, solving quantitative problems shown in picture form, assembling designs, and recalling visual sequences. The non-verbal IQ measures the ability to reason, solve problems and recall information presented in pictorial and symbolic form.
IQ scores are distributed evenly around a hypothetical concept, called the "normal curve" (see drawing). It means that most children will achieve scores around the centre (the peak of the curve) and equal proportion of children will achieve either below or above the normal range. Only a very small percentage of children will have extremely low and extremely high scores (the left and right ends of the curve).
Intelligence generally refers to "innate" abilities that tend to be stable over time. Practicing for an IQ test is not necessary and in most cases not possible. Although some components of IQ tests rely on learned knowledge, others measure conceptual thinking, reasoning ability, speed of mental processing, attention, memory and visual-spatial abilities. What we ask from parents is rather to make sure that their child is well rested before the assessment session, had a healthy breakfast, not overly anxious about the test and had an opportunity to discuss any questions or concerns with the parent.
Intellectual ability is relatively stable over time. The most notable variation occurs early and late in life. Children may show the largest discrepancy between pre-school age and about age 7 years, after which IQ scores tend to gradually stabilise. This means that children tested at 3 years may show a notable difference if re-tested at age 7 years, but less likely to demonstrate a similar discrepancy between 7 years and their teenage years. Once reaching adulthood, cognitive ability and IQ scores tend to be stable and drop sharply after age 75 years.
Even if variation is probable during the early years, it is unlikely that the magnitude of difference will be large enough to dramatically change a child's intellectual category. The difference will still most likely remain within the same or adjacent category, as in a child who performed within the center of the Average range (IQ = 100) at age 3 years may perform at the upper end of the Average range (IQ = 107) or within the High Average range (IQ = 111) at age 7 years.