Make Your Child Smarter

Matching IQ with Classroom Performance - Part I

By Andrew Loh

Some children possess very high IQ and are intelligent with several naturally endowed gifts. A majority of them spend most of their day inside a formal classroom. However, most of the children with very high and good IQ values usually find set of instructions provided by teachers in the classroom inadequate and insufficient. In essence, it becomes very difficult to match their high IQ with classroom performance. It seems that this is very common between children spread all over the world. Children with high IQs (gifted children) often find themselves at the receiving end by failing to achieve the best that is true to their immense potential.

In fact, there is an immense challenge that lies ahead in front of both the parents as well as academicians to match these children’s higher IQ with their classroom performance. Parents and teachers generally agree on two important things:

• Our children must have an access to high quality education so that they can compete with other children in the class.

• They should also have an access to valued educational experiences that are unique and challenging and appropriate to their level of intelligence and educational requirements.

Sadly, most of the children find a traditional classroom very challenging because this is the place where they spend most of their time. Parents may not have full control over their children's learning abilities because of this sole reason.

Experts suggest and provide several reasons why children with higher IQs fail to match their intelligence and ability with their classroom performance. Here are some of them:

• Most of the children with higher IQ tends to work on their tasks very quickly and wait for more before others finish theirs.

• Their level of understanding about a subject is very high and they tend to ask probing questions that are different with their classmates.

• Their interests are also entirely different from those whose IQ scores are average in nature.

Children with very high IQ values tend to differ from their classmates in three distinctive areas like:

• The rate at which they learn their lessons.

• The mode and depth of their understanding and knowledge.

• The number of interests they exhibit.

Note: If you want to develop these children's classroom performance, you will need to consider all the above-mentioned guidelines.

Gifted students and students with very high IQ values tend to learn very slowly when compared to other students. As their level of skills and knowledge is very high, these children tend to lose their interest in the classroom deliberations. The risk and challenge of educating such children are as difficult, if not more, as training children with developmental delays and learning disabilities. The first difficult task for parents and teachers is to motivate these children so that they will join others to learn their lessons.

Parents and teachers should find out what exactly these children and understand. Several tools allow you to find out what your child knows and the manner in which he or she learns the lessons. Once you identify this issue, you can focus on several teaching ideas that cajole your child to learn at a faster pace.

Recognizing and training children with high IQ values and giftedness is actually very difficult. It also poses an important challenge to you as well as the teachers. Classrooms must detect and identify such children before their skills and abilities start fade away. Such abilities are unique to these children and most parents and educators simply fail to see this ability in them. To some of us giftedness is purely academic when out children start scoring top grades in all subjects. However, real giftedness or high IQ can enable a child to perform some unique and special tasks at a very early age. For example, a child who has very high IQ (at the age of four) can count 200 or read complex sentences with relative ease.

Matching high IQ with classroom performance is a very dicey challenge that needs lot of understanding and experimentation. For example, bringing children with very high IQ out of boredom, commonalties and frustration form the biggest challenge than scoring high grades in the class. Individualized attention, special work schedules, modified curriculum and differing attitude are some of the methods that can help you match very high IQs with good classroom performance. Parents must pay enough attention to their gifted children with very high IQ values to make them empowered with enough skills to perform better in their classroom. Continue to read Matching IQ with Classroom Performance - Part II here.

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