False IQ Scores and Chronological Age

Much of the standardized testing uses a specific age as a criterion for determining "normals" on intelligence test scores. IQ score is determined by dividing one's chronological age by his or her test score and then multiplying by a hundred. Because science tells us there is a three-year window for normal maturation, intelligence tests that use fixed years to determine normal scores will gives false readings. We end up collapsing the field of all possibilities for enormous numbers of children (see bonus article "Tests Collapse the Field of All Possibilities" and element, "What Is Intelligence?") by labeling them smart or slow based on faulty criteria. It has been reported that Einstein hardly uttered a word until he was 3 years old. If he had been given a word-based intelligence test before his linguistic skills were developed, Einstein might have done poorly and accepted a negative image of his intelligence and never gone on to change the way the world looked at physics.

In his book, Brain Based Education and Learning, Eric Jensen points out that there are many skills, such as reading, that girls develop before boys. He comments, "If we actually accounted for different brains, we suddenly find that up to 75% of all boys who are now considered 'developmentally slow' would immediately be reclassified as normal." We are now beginning to grasp the fact that each brain has its own genetic time clock and develops at its own pace, and that forcing a child to keep up with his peers when he is not neurologically ready can cause harm. (See "Windows of Super Learning Opportunity" and "The Dangers of Too Much Information Too Soon").