Test Ease

We received the results of Conor’s screening on Friday.  Although he’s behind on his gross motor skills, he’s average or above average on all of the other areas and on his fine motor skills, he’s performing at a 15 month old. 

I am stating that up front because I have such ambivalent feelings about these sorts of tests.  Yes, it’s nice coming out on the positive side of these sorts of tests for more reasons than you may realize.  There is a great deal of research that shows that when teachers are told that students are going to score high on IQ tests (even if the students are randomly chosen and there is actually no reason for them to score high), guess what happens!?  That’s right!  They score higher!!  So teachers who are told that Conor is going to score high, will expect him to do so, and it will become a self-fulfilling prophesy.

Here’s the reverse:  what happens to kids who are expected to score low?  Although I really doubt this happens at our daycare, we are such an intervention school and every single child in there has had some issue identified and addressed and that includes both the neighborhood kids and the client kids.  BTW, I have actually heard professors at other schools (in California) talk about how stupid their students are because of the performance on papers and tests.  I expect my students to do very well and they usually do.   

But we parents get caught up in this.  Even I have since last week despite my strongest belief that Conor will learn everything he needs to know at this age by playing.  Nonetheless, I’ve been working on a couple of the tasks he didn’t perform including pointing to a cat on a page (I’ve been teaching him the names and signs of all the animals on his blocks), looking around when they asked “Where’s Patches?”  (we play where’s Patches/Duncan/Scarlett/Simba/Daddy all the time now and both Dave and I wonder if he knew that it was stupid to think that Patches would be at daycare), and using a hairbrush (which last night I showed him how to do and he brushed his hair twice and of course, I thought DAMN!  If he’d done that last week, he’d have scored at 16 months!!).  I don’t want to be that kind of parent.  I’m NOT that kind of parent.  But I did feel guilty (really) when the tester asked if Conor knew what Stop! or No! meant (as it was a task on the test) and I confessed that we simply move Conor away from what he shouldn’t be doing right now.  All of these tasks felt like we weren’t doing something right (asking him where things are, pointing at and naming objects, telling him Stop!), so now we’re trying more “quality” interactions:  “STOP tweaking Mommy’s other booby!”

And think about all the parenting interventions that purport to increase children’s IQ points:  breastfeeding which is supposed to increase IQ from 3, 5, 7 and up to 10 points, teaching baby signs can increase IQ up to 12 points, and maternal exercise during pregnancy is supposed to increase IQ by 7 points when measured at the first grade. 

You realize that all of these claims cannot possibly be true, right?  Otherwise, we’d have mothers exercise, breastfeed, and teach sign language and a perfectly normal child (IQ=100) would end up with an IQ of “highly gifted” at 139.  That’s just not how it works!!!  5 points, even just 5 points, is a big move on the IQ charts.  I don’t buy that these parenting styles have that big of an impact.  If you want to do them, do them because it meshes with your philosophy, not because they give your child an intellectual advantage.  It’s the emotional advantage of good parenting we want to work on. 

So, yes.  I’m publicly confessing to getting caught up in the test race this week.  Dave and I do think that we’ve been so focused on our chores when we get home that we haven’t been spending a lot of one-on-one time playing with Conor before his bedtime.  Our daycare providers are fantastic, but they can’t provide all the attention that we can, especially when they keep telling up that Conor screams during his tummy time at school, even laying down and sobbing on the floor, whereas at home, he’s army crawling all over the house, happy as can be on his tummy.  If he ever learns to crawl, it’s going to be from his tummy time at home, not at school. 

In other news, I’m feeling better about work.  I met with a female mentor/friend yesterday who provided sound feedback and encouragement on my progress for tenure.  I feel much, much better.  Off to work. 

9:08:45 AM