How smart is your child?  The idea of an Intelligence Quotient (IQ) as an indicator of a child’s success is a MYTH! Academic success is determined by attitude, perseverance, discipline, and determination!

Intelligence testing began in earnest in France, when in 1904 the French government commissioned psychologist Alfred Binet to develop a screening test for the military. According to Binet, intelligence could not be described as a single score and the use of the Intelligence Quotient (IQ) as a definite statement of a child's intellectual capability would be a serious mistake. In addition, Binet feared that IQ measurement would be used to condemn a child to a permanent “condition” of stupidity, thereby negatively affecting his or her education and livelihood.

The IQ score reflects the level of difficulty it takes to learn new information. A higher IQ score predicts that one will have a faster acquisition rate (ability to learn information quickly). A lower IQ score projects that it will take a longer time for a student to learn and secure information into their long-term memory. Usually high-achieving students have incredible memories. They hold the information in their minds. They do not take a lot of effort to recall the content; therefore, they have the ability to interact with the content at a higher level.

No matter what your child’s intelligence quotient may be, your child will be assessed according to his/her performance. In the real world, no one asks for an IQ score, not on college or job applications. People want to know, what accomplishments one achieved.

This year chose to focus on engaging your child and making him/her successful at any level. All children can learn. So the real questions should be, how is your child SMART? It is important that parents be aware of your child’s learning styles, Multiple Intelligences, and learning modalities because brains process information differently. Parents need to have their children use their learning profile to study the academic content. This makes learning easier and fun – even for the child with high acquisition and retention. If one study’s using the modality his/her brain likes the best, one will be able to study smarter. This means spending less time and remembering more information.

People achieve more when they structure their study time at home according to their learning style/preference. Often, students shaped their study habits according to how their parents and/or older siblings studied. This may lead to frustration. People can learn information using any learning style or technique; however, if the method is not how their brain is wired, it will take them longer to do so.  According to Howard Gardner of Harvard University, one learning style/preference will not change. Therefore, once a child understands how he/she learns – it will help them for the rest of their lives.

The web-based inventories at the bottom of this document will help parents to discover their child’s learning profile. Your child will learn ways to study and remember content faster and easier than before! Once you know how your child learns, create a list of ways that he/she might study based on the recommendations from the web inventories pages. For personal consultations on discovering your child’s learning profile and developing a plan for utilization and implementation of one’s profile for at home and at school. Please email me at drpratte@engagingtheirminds.com for more information.

Directions: Print out the Learning for Success Profile. Visit the three website and complete the inventories. Copy the results onto the profile sheet. This will be a snap-shot of the most effective way your child will learn new information. This guide is intended for parents to structure their child’s study time at home.