Several important factors should be considered
when discussing an IQ score. If the child was having
a bad day or if the examiner made an error in scoring,
the results would not be typical. Psychologists must
consider these factors in addition to how the child
performs on other tests that measure the child’s aca-
demic achievement and typical behavior at home. In
other words, intelligence is not based on one score
from one test. In fact, levels of intelligence cannot be
determined unless all of these factors are considered.
Typically, psychologists who are highly trained
and professionally qualified in giving intelligence
tests will determine intelligence. For the most part,
intelligence tests are administered to elementary
school children because learning difficulties are eas-
ier to notice when children begin school. In most
cases a teacherwill suspect something different about
the performance of a child and will ask the school psy-
chologist about this occurrence. In other cases, par-
ents may want to know if their child is ready for school
and will ask about testing services in their community.
Nevertheless, assessing a child’s level of intelligence
helps identify the strengths and weaknesses in the
child’s learning abilities. This leads to individual
learning programs for the child and more useful tasks
at school.
Certainly, it is important to consider how individ-
uals think about information in order to predict
learning performance. For this reason, intelligence
tests are necessary, and in some states required by
law. However, it is equally important that educators
do not place children in less demanding classrooms
only because they think a child may not be able to
learn at a faster pace. As previously discussed, intelli-
gence may be increased. Limiting the type of learning
opportunities a child should get will prevent learning
new problem-solving skills; educators do not want to
frustrate a child who needs a different type of pro-
gram, and will change learning tasks as needed.
Environmental and Genetic Influences on
Intelligence
Typically, the way a child thinks and solves prob-
lems stays the same from age six on. After beginning
school, a child’s ability to think appears to develop at
a normal rate through grade levels that match the
child’s age. If a child is given problem-solving tasks,
then the child will learn how to solve problems and
vice versa. Fortunately, children who are not given
the chance to learn how to think about problems be-
fore attending school will ultimately catch up. Be-
cause of this, psychologists are careful when
interpreting low intelligence scores in children youn-
ger than age six. This also means that while low intel-
ligence cannot be cured, it can be changed. In fact,
educational programs are specifically planned to im-
prove environments in order to increase educational
and life skills.In addition to a child’s environment, the intelli-
gence of the child’s parents has some influence on the
amount of intelligence the child is born with. Ques-
tions about the influence of genetics are explained by
looking at characteristics children inherit from par-
ents. While studying twins, some scientists have shown
that intelligence is largely inherited. Researchers also
found that the higher the parents’ IQs, the higher
their child’s IQ tended to be. At the same time, there
was less consistency between the IQs of adoptive par-
ents and their adoptive children. Many other factors
are related to the development of intelligence. These
include parent education, family financial status, fam-
ily size, and early schooling. Parents who provide a
rich learning environment and foster good learning
behaviors will have children with better than average
IQ scores, barring any medical causes of mental retar-
dation.Low Intelligence Scores
Psychologists who identify low levels of thinking
ability will describe the child as having below average
intelligence. A score of sixty-nine or less results in this
classification. Unfortunately, this description has po-
tentially negative effects. A child may think the mean-
ing of the low score is a definite sign that they cannot
learn and will fail to learn in order to verify the classi-
fication. Historically, there is a negative meaning at-
tached to low IQ scores. Therefore, the suggestion
that a child has mental retardation can be devastating
to the child’s family. Due to the nature of errors in
testing and the fact that intelligence can be changed,
scores that fall at or around seventy, should be inter-
preted very carefully. Finally, teachers and parents
may expect that children with this classification can-
not learn, therefore giving them challenging tasks is
not necessary. If children are not expected to learn,
given a low IQ score or classification, then no one may
demand higher performances from them.It is very difficult to predict outcomes based on
the score of an intelligence test, because these tests do
not measure other important factors, such as motiva-
tion. In addition, intelligence tests are sometimes
used inappropriately with minority children who may
not understand certain items because of cultural dif-
ferences. Therefore, any intelligence test score must
be fully understood and interpreted with great care.See also: DEVELOPMENTAL NORMS218 INTELLIGENCE