Soooooo.... I had my eldest tested

[Kimba15]

Hi everyone,

I know this has been up for debate for many years to test or not to test. I know the general agree-ance has been  not to but a week ago I caved and had her tested ans we got the results today.

I decided to have her tested because I was so sick and tired of having the debate with Miss S's teaches about how smart she is and continually seeing her under-perform all the time or squirm and get out of doing work. She also has a terrible time being able to stay focused and losing her temper which is holding her back from moving up.

A quick background of us. I have been a brillkids member since 2008 (since she was born) and she is now 5 1/2

The results are as confirmed by an educational psychologist who conducted the Weschler Pre-School and Primary School Intelligence Test.

Miss S is as good or better than 99.8% of the population her age and she is now eligible for Membership with MENSA and  her IQ can be anywhere between 137-148 on any given day. So on a bad day being over tired is 137 and fully functioning is 148.

I can tell you my husband and I are shocked that her iq is that high. We are now going to be working with the psychologist to help S manage her emotions as we have both noticed that she is arguing with authority all the time and in general can be quick to lose her temper.

My husband and I both believe for her full potential to be reached we need to work on her controlling that temper and stubborness of hers.

If any of you have any advice or questions you would like to ask feel free. I'm still learning really what all this means and getting over the shock (and I know I shouldn't be she has been an LR kid since it first came out) But now I have the piece of paper that says yes she really is as smart as what I thought and now you need to listen.

I'm sure there are kids on this forum that are higher than that. I got her tested so I can now have the authority to say that you need to provide my child with a different education and what can you do.

Anyway thought you might like to know

Kimba

[TeachingMyToddlers]

Heck yeah~! This is awesome. Good for you guys! It inspires me.

[c4andy20]

That is amazing news! 

We have also been using Brillkids since 2008. While I haven't had her take an IQ test, my daughter was tested prior to entering kindergarten and she scored 99th percentile in reading and 85th percentile in math. Since we live in Chicago, Illinois in the US I am not sure what test they used because it's kept secret (they don't want any one to be able to prep their kids). Even without the test I know she is incredibly smart for her age and makes amazingly accurate observations on a variety of subjects, however, she also has issues with her temper and  emotions. She gets bored and frustrated easily. She also has some issues with sensory processing.

She started going to therapy last year and it has really helped her out. She is able to express her emotions more appropriately.

[luv2laugh]

How exciting!  Good for you for getting her the type of help she needs to succeed.  I feel like the test will be a game changer for your family.  You know what to focus on and her teachers can eat humble pie as they prepare an advanced curriculum for her.  Again, very exciting!

[Drjuliadc]

Not everyone is low in magnesium, but it is very common.  My oldest, who we adopted, has some of the emotional issues you described when he is off magnesium.  He will be three next month.

I use magnesium glycinate.  It is the one least likely to cause loose stools.  He weighs 30 ponds and I give him about 300mgs per day.  The brand I like is In Gear.  It is powdered.  I make him lemonade sweetened with stevia and put it in that.

I ran out of it once and I'm convinced there may be no such thing as "the terrible twos.". I think it may all be magnesium deficiency.  I always said I didn't think he was ever hyper or ever displayed "the terrible twos" until we ran out of magnesium.

[MamaOfWill]

Thanks for the tip Drjuliadc!  How did you discover he had low magnesium (I hope I don't have to do blood tests!)

I find this post wonderful and very inspiring.  In general I'm against IQ testing (especially for the under 5's) but in this case I totally agree with what you chose to do Kimba!  Good for you and congratulations!  I can only imagine how proud you must feel of your little one, and off course you should feel proud of yourself too!

Your experience also makes me wonder about my own.  My boy has been receiving lots of EL stimulation even from before his birth (although we've only joined BK when he was 1 year old.)  I also feel that he's "smart" but then what mom does not think that of her children?  So, I'm in no position to say he's above average or anything like that.  Where my case is similar to yours is that my boy can also get very emotional very fast!  The only thing he can really focus on for an hour or longer is reading and engaging in conversation, for any other activities, he looses focus easily (well, he's only 3, but I feel his ability to focus is worse than other 3 year olds.  Before his 3rd birthday, things use to frustrate him very easily, so he use to be a very slow learner (when it comes to physical things like dressing, eating, building, writing, working a device or even age appropriate toys)  but fortunately he's learned to control his frustration levels just enough to get sufficient practice in all sorts of areas and I'm thanking my lucky stars because he's catching up nicely!  As a toddler, he would never follow instructions, but now that he's older it's getting easier and easier to negotiate and he'll sometimes do what I ask just for the sake of being nice, but he's still not very big on being bossed.

I've been accused in the past of letting his "normal" developmental areas lag because I'm doing all the "school" stuff, and I've also been blamed for his short temper because (as it seems to the anti-EL world) all this learning stuff builds up a lot of frustration for our early learners!*  I will hate to admit that any of this is true, but your story makes me wonder about the correlation between EL and things like emotional IQ, ability to concentrate and even possibly some correlation with the stubbornness of a child.  I'm not thinking that the general early learner has below average abilities in any particular area, which is often what is suggested when people say EL is bad for kids. (Almost like saying you can't have your bread buttered on both sides.)  I'm thinking in terms of some abilities developing faster than others, which cause internal conflict!  Then maybe the world (including us EL-parents) just don't understand early learners well enough, since they are a bit different from the rest of the population after all.

*I think anyone on this forum will agree that EL in a loving relaxed environment is not at all frustrating or stressful for a child and most of us go through a lot of trouble to ensure a balanced development, never to be compromised for EL.  My boy has always had sufficient opportunity and encouragement to develop himself and he does, he just tends to fall behind and catch up later on certain things (but then there's areas where he'll be way ahead too sometimes.)  I also feel that his personality plays a much bigger role than my influence (or that of EL.)


One last note in my long and random post, I've also got a theory about EL kids and stubbornness, which will not necessarily apply to all.  One general unwritten rule about EL is that any activity is optional to the child, and for many of us, there's lots and lots of these optional activities in our daily lives.  Maybe some kids learn that they are always in charge of their activities.  

I'm following this thread with great interest!  I would love to hear other's thoughts and experiences.

Thank you for posting Kimba!  And please do an update about how things are going somewhere down the line.

[Drjuliadc]

I figured out he was low in magnesium because he wasn't sleeping through the night at 22 months old, when we got him.  I gave it to him for sleep, I didn't know it would effect his behavior so much.

I don't do any testing for it, I just try it.  If it works, a person is low in it.  Magnesium is water soluble and has No or very mild symptoms if you take it and don't need it.

The typical test for magnesium is a serum magnesium.  Most people who are low in magnesium won't have a low serum mag.  Mag is an intracellular mineral.  Serum is extra cellular fluid.

An rbc (red blood cell) magnesium is a non standard test, but will usually show if a person is low in it, but I feel unnecessary.

[MamaOfWill]

Very useful information, thank you Drjuliadc!

[NPLight]

Interesting. I had never thought about stubbornness as a consequence of EL. I had always thought of it as a personality issue and, you know, being a boy. My two girls, one not EL and one EL (twin sister of my son) are very kind and very easy to manage. Even though my little girl is in her two’s, she’s not showing anything like the terrible twos and seems very well balanced. In fact she seems to be much older than she is (at least if I compare her with how her sister was at that age and how my son is now) and, at least apparently, has benefitted much more from EL than my boy (she began to read books by herself at 23 months, while he’s not reading at all). But the boy, OMG, he is in constant motion, infinitely stubborn and is very, very intense.
So, I’ll follow this thread and your experiences with a lot of interest.

[Mandabplus3]

Wow. KImba. That's  awesome news for your family. ( and a really great add for EL too!    )
I do think testing is worth while if it will make a difference to the education kids will receive. I didn't test mine because it wouldn't change anything at all.
I shall remember this post for future....for the day when it might just make a difference to their education.thanks for sharing,

[Krista G]

That is such an awesome confirmation for you, Kimba.  I remember other posts you have made about your daughter and school not being ideal for her.  I am curious where you get that done and how do they perform such a test.  Were you with your daughter during the test?  Was she okay with having it done?  I know nothing about the process and began thinking that maybe you could share a bit more here.

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