My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?

Anonymous
I always knew that my son was intelligent. I had him take a WPPSI-III test, and his FSIQ was at 131. I have applied to different private schools, but in the meantime, what suggestions do you all have with developing his skills? BTW, I'm not rich, so nothing that I have to pay for (lol). Thanks!
Anonymous
That is great...I guess all I have to offer is to keep him challenged.
From my recollection, a lot of the 'troubled' children in school were those who were highly intelligent, and bored.

Maybe read some books, talk to his pediatrician about this...and just be an observant mom to his potential 'boredom'

I think unfortunately you are going to get snarky comments from people who think you are bragging...ignore them

good luck re: schools!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:I always knew that my son was intelligent. I had him take a WPPSI-III test, and his FSIQ was at 131. I have applied to different private schools, but in the meantime, what suggestions do you all have with developing his skills? BTW, I'm not rich, so nothing that I have to pay for (lol). Thanks!


That is a wonderful affirmation, but I imagine not a complete surprise if he is 4 already. I imagine you thought something might be up when he taught himself to read and demonstrated that he had a memory like a steel trap. I say wonderful affirmation because we all want our children to be able to reach what they aspire to and an IQ in that range can mean very few self limiting issues. That being said, welcome to Washington: home of the super people ; where an IQ of 131 is a dime a dozen; as in about 40% of the Pre-K applicants with the remainder being all at about 110-120's and a few 140 and up. Agree with PP who said just enrich his life as much as you can and I don't mean with "enrichments" I mean with time with you, lots of love , lots of one on one learning from experiences with his parents and family, lots of free play. Then get out of his way.
Anonymous
Is that genius level?
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Is that genius level?

No. OVer 160 is genius-ish.
Anonymous
The ceiling of the test is 160. 131 is in the top 1% I believe. From what I've learned (DS is 11) you may have better luck with the GT programs in the VA public schools. Privates in DC tend to do a great job with the kids that are in the 120s. At your son's level, it's a mixed bag.
Anonymous
131 is not out of the ordinary at the local private schools. I would not be concerned.
Anonymous
re what to do in the meanwhile. That's a great age to start playing games (e.g. Pente, Smart Mouth). Read, talk, go on walks and observe, Play with construction toys. Bake.
Anonymous
Visit museums. Teach him to use an abacus.
Anonymous
It's also helpful to understand how he obtained that score. Are the verbal and nonverbal areas fairly consistent in development, or is there a sizable split?
Anonymous
This is nice to know but ultimately doesn't mean a whole lot. There are tons of kids around here with such scores and what ultimately determines their achievement are things like determination, focus and not raw intelligence.
Anonymous
pp totally agree
Anonymous
We just follow our son's lead on things that interest him to keep his spark for learning. You can find great books in the children's non-fiction area of the library on topics of interest, whether it be dinos, outer space, animals - DK books are great. Go to the museums, hike and explore outdoors etc. Read, play games. As he got older we did science experiments.

For us Montessori was great for PK/K and then we made sure his school had a variety of subjects in early grades to make sure that all the focus wasn't just reading and writing for others to catch up. And we looked for differentiation in the core subjects.

Good luck
Anonymous
OP, you are to be congratulated, because a 131 in the WPPSI is - according to NurtureShock - more a reflection of attentive parenting than actual native intelligence. You should definitely encourage it, and one of the best ways (according to a recent study) is through games like Quirkle, SET and Rush Hour.

But - as many have pointed out - 131 is not out of the ordinary at all in this area (you can search for previous threads about how all the applicants to DC privates seem to have 99% WPPSI scores). Generally, however, IQ testing in children doesn't indicate actual intelligence until about third grade - i.e., not everyone who got 99% in Kindergarten testing will be 99% in third grade. However, they are still smart kids.
Anonymous
OP,
I did a lot of reading when my child got a comparable school.
Have at it!
Otherwise, just do what you've been doing. Follow his bliss. Do NOT tell him he's gifted. No, no, no. We value hard work in academics and making your best effort.

http://www.hoagiesgifted.org/highly_profoundly.htm
http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/About_GDC/indices.htm
http://www.gifteddevelopment.com/PDF_files/NewWISC.pdf
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