Anonymous
Post 02/17/2011 21:01     Subject: Re:My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
Uh, the subject of the thread is FSIQ, so, unlike your snarky comment, my posts above are relevant to the thread. If you think I'm being boastful, too bad. It's an anonymous forum for crying out loud. The point is that, as I noted in response to OP, there are varying levels of giftedness (see Deborah Ruf's work, for example), and some are more easily accomodated than others.


...so I can hide my haughtiness behind the comfortable veil of anonynmity
Anonymous
Post 02/17/2011 20:52     Subject: Re:My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Feynman parent here. 4-yr-old DD's WPPSI-III FSIQ is 155 (>99.9th percentile) and she loves Feynman School as she is extremely passionate about learning and enjoys being around like-minded peers.


She posted her kid's IQ more than once, on the same page of this thread.


Uh, the subject of the thread is FSIQ, so, unlike your snarky comment, my posts above are relevant to the thread. If you think I'm being boastful, too bad. It's an anonymous forum for crying out loud. The point is that, as I noted in response to OP, there are varying levels of giftedness (see Deborah Ruf's work, for example), and some are more easily accomodated than others.
Anonymous
Post 02/17/2011 20:18     Subject: Re:My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
Anonymous wrote:Feynman parent here. 4-yr-old DD's WPPSI-III FSIQ is 155 (>99.9th percentile) and she loves Feynman School as she is extremely passionate about learning and enjoys being around like-minded peers.


She posted her kid's IQ more than once, on the same page of this thread.
Anonymous
Post 02/17/2011 18:36     Subject: My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
18:33 here again. The short version of my point is that the kids who apply to private schools are part of a subgroup, a self-selected subgroup, that isn't representative of the whole DC population. They aren't applying to privates because their parents "detect a reason" to think their kids are too bright for the local public (which is not necessarily a logical decision in any case).

This subset of DC families, the subset which happens to be applying to privates, is richer than the rest of DC.
Anonymous
Post 02/17/2011 18:33     Subject: My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I do not understand how supposedly every child in DC has supposedly scored in the 99th percentile? Really? What is it that's so special with local children compared to others in the country? These are toddlers, not people that have had serious instruction. I think ppl on this post are exaggerating.


DC has been alternately referred to as "Disneyworld for lawyers" and "Hollywood for geeks." Anecdotally, it does seem as if having a law degree here is tantamount to having a high school diploma in other towns. There is also a disproportionately high percentage of top-level physicians and research scientists here. You add in great emphasis on education, opportunities for cultural enrichment, as well as the fact that most children taking the WPPSI or WISC are taking it because their parent(s) detect a reason for them to do so, and what you get are a lot of high scores.

That said, presuming that the aforementioned IQ tests are valid, there is a vast difference between a child who scores in the 132-135 range, which is a 99th percentile score, and a child who scores at, say, 145 or higher. The former can probably be accomodated at a quality private with small enough class sizes and teachers who are skilled in differentiation, whereas the latter will need something more. My child tested above 150 on the WPPSI and was bored to tears at her old preschool in MoCo. We moved her to Feynman School and she is really excited to finally be learning at her own pace.


I don't understand why the second poster used the first post to brag about her kid's IQ scores. Really, there's no connection between the first post, and the second poster's extraneous second paragraph. Also, it's been said again and again, IQ scores at age 4 aren't all that reliable. Please, stop giving parents of gifted kids a bad rap with this sort of gloating post!

Kids taking the WPPSI or WISC aren't taking it because "their parent(s) detect a reason for them to do so," at least for the majority. They are doing it because they come from high-income families, i.e. families who can afford $30K for one kid and $60K for two kids. Scholarship money doesn't flow all that freely. So the link goes in the other direction: high-SES kids apply to schools, and they have high IQs because they have enriched environments. Also, I'll concede some genetic component to IQ, and a parent that earns big bucks is likely to be fairly bright too.
Anonymous
Post 02/17/2011 12:43     Subject: My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
Anonymous wrote:I do not understand how supposedly every child in DC has supposedly scored in the 99th percentile? Really? What is it that's so special with local children compared to others in the country? These are toddlers, not people that have had serious instruction. I think ppl on this post are exaggerating.


DC has been alternately referred to as "Disneyworld for lawyers" and "Hollywood for geeks." Anecdotally, it does seem as if having a law degree here is tantamount to having a high school diploma in other towns. There is also a disproportionately high percentage of top-level physicians and research scientists here. You add in great emphasis on education, opportunities for cultural enrichment, as well as the fact that most children taking the WPPSI or WISC are taking it because their parent(s) detect a reason for them to do so, and what you get are a lot of high scores.

That said, presuming that the aforementioned IQ tests are valid, there is a vast difference between a child who scores in the 132-135 range, which is a 99th percentile score, and a child who scores at, say, 145 or higher. The former can probably be accomodated at a quality private with small enough class sizes and teachers who are skilled in differentiation, whereas the latter will need something more. My child tested above 150 on the WPPSI and was bored to tears at her old preschool in MoCo. We moved her to Feynman School and she is really excited to finally be learning at her own pace.
Anonymous
Post 02/17/2011 12:12     Subject: Re:My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
Remember that this test has a very long tail - and there is a big difference between 99.0 and 99.X - plus - this is a very educated group of parents and it has been shown that prior exposure of children to a stimulating environment can affect the outcome on these tests.
Anonymous
Post 02/17/2011 00:57     Subject: My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
I do not understand how supposedly every child in DC has supposedly scored in the 99th percentile? Really? What is it that's so special with local children compared to others in the country? These are toddlers, not people that have had serious instruction. I think ppl on this post are exaggerating.
Anonymous
Post 02/16/2011 22:33     Subject: Re:My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
Our DD's IQ is higher than 131, and I honestly thought that her score was pretty average for DC. Indeed, I got that impression from the tester as well. If you look at the IQ chart (and I don't have it handy, and for all I know someone posted it on this thread as I didn't read the whole thing), I think 1 out of 100 children (or a lesser amount even) are in the 131 range. So while I am not intending to put your son down, I think you have to keep it in check. Indeed, I didn't even submit her test scores to schools that didn't require them thinking what was the point.
Anonymous
Post 02/15/2011 19:44     Subject: Re:My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
Feynman parent here. 4-yr-old DD's WPPSI-III FSIQ is 155 (>99.9th percentile) and she loves Feynman School as she is extremely passionate about learning and enjoys being around like-minded peers.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2011 18:11     Subject: My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
The question was What do I do with a gifted kid before s/he starts school? Differing answers to that question lead to a broader discussion about theories of giftedness and education.
Anonymous
Post 02/14/2011 18:06     Subject: My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
What is the point of this thread anyway?
Anonymous
Post 02/13/2011 11:34     Subject: Re:My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
Interesting the loonies and teenagers seem more brilliant than thou.
Anonymous
Post 02/13/2011 10:27     Subject: My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
Yes, you're right about the Flynn effect.

Maybe not about the teenagers. It strikes me as a distinctly adult form of crazy...
Anonymous
Post 02/13/2011 10:00     Subject: My 4 Yr Old Son's FSIQ is 131, Now What?
Not that this thread seems to be coherent any more--the loonies seem to have entered the bin, or maybe the teenagers. But:

I always thought the "Flynn effect" referred to the fact that measured IQ has increased over the last century. The hypothesis is that this is because the average kid is facing increased stimulus in school and at home (more "enrichment" if you will). However, this isn't to question a PP's assertion that the same researcher, Flynn, also found that Asian IQ scores were average when you control for SES.