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Show NEA Booklet Tells Facts About Child's Intelligence The next time a worried parent par-ent asks the teacher about his child's inetlligence, here are six questions on which he's likely to get a wealth of information: What is intelligence? How is it tested? Are intelligence and talent tal-ent the same? Should parents be told their child's IQ? How are test results used? Does the IQ change? The most recent research on these questions is being made available for teachers to share with parents through a booklet now being , distributed by the National Education Association to more than a million educators. The booklet, "A Briefing for Parents: Your Child's Intelligence," Intelli-gence," was prepared by the editors of the NEA Journal. In general, seven experts who contributed to the booklet have this to say: Intelligencet is not something that comes in one piece. It is a variety of mental abilities that may be balanced in infinite ways. A successful mathematician, for example, may have the ability to reason mathematically, yet be poor in simple arithmetic. Or a person with a large vocabulary and an ability to understand complicated prose, may be unable un-able to express himself fluently. When a child's abilities are discovered dis-covered they give teachers and guidance counselors a mental 1 profile" which is more useful than an IQ rating. A variety of group and indi-; indi-; vidual tests are available which measure tasks believed to require intelligence, but intelligence itself it-self cannot be measured directly. In general, these tests measure a child's ability to learn what he is supposed to learn in school. They are not a complete index of his brain power, nor do they show a full range of his intellectual intellec-tual capacity. While most talented children are generally found to be highly intelligent, some recent surveys show that there isn't much relationship rela-tionship between creativity and academic ability. The youngster with a high IQ will not automatically auto-matically have talent or score high on creative tests. There are both dangers and advantages to parents knowing their child's IQ, but they do tell teachers and guidance counselors -nuch about a child's progress and are helpful in fitting instruction instruc-tion to his personal needs and in guiding him for the future. The IQ can and does change considerably from early childhood child-hood to high school days, with the tendency toward scores ris-;ng. ris-;ng. Most dramatic change is between the ages of six and 12. Boys show a tendency to increase in-crease their scores more than girls. Scores are likely to be better if a child has practice solving problems and if he is independent enough to Wet tests as a challenge. |