What Makes Kids Intelligent?
This is a writeup on a recent article entitled “What Makes Kids Intelligent”, published by WebMD and written by Laurie Barclay , MD.
Raising Smart Kids
How can we make our children smarter?
A tough question, since some kids are book smart while others are street smart.
Some kids build towering block skyscrapers while others paint word pictures in poetry and prose. Some kids win the school election while others have a way with words to make you feel better.
What is Intelligence?
According to Linda S. Gottfredson, PhD., a professor of education at the University of Delaware in Newark, “Intelligence reflects the general ability to process information, which promotes learning, understanding, reasoning, [and] problem-solving. It affects many sorts of everyday behaviors.”
As each child is unique, we’ll focus on why children differ in intelligence, and on how to bring out their best.
Why Children Differ In intelligence
Heredity or Environment?
Heredity accounts for more than 80% of the variation in adult intelligence. However, each successive generation appears smarter on IQ tests, highlighting the importance of environmental factors. Why is there such an apparent contradiction?
This is a paradox. The hidden assumption here is that genes and environment are unrelated, which sounds ridiculous as soon as you say it,” William T. Dickens, PhD, a senior fellow in economic studies at Brookings Institute in Washington, D.C., tells WebMD. “Genes get the credit for most of the work that the environment is doing.
Where intelligence is concerned, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. Children born with higher intelligence do better in school, which enables them to get into enriched classes or go to college where they further their intelligence.
Effects of the Environment on IQ
“If the environment affects IQ and the IQ affects environment, it’s a virtuous or vicious cycle,” says Dickens, him back in a bad one, he’ll do different things than he did before,” Dickens says. “He may choose brighter friends or watch more educational TV shows. But there are fewer options than in the good environment, so, over time, there’ll be a slow drag on his IQ.”
Measuring Intelligence
How much stock should we put in those magical IQ numbers?
Processor Linda S. Gottfredson says : “People tend to take individual test scores too seriously. I don’t think there is much point in trying to assess children’s intelligence unless they seem unusual — not developing properly or precocious”.
“A better indicator than IQ score is whether the child is curious, enjoys role playing and learning, and is happy,” says Stephen J. Schoenthaler, PhD, a professor of nutrition and behavior at California State University in Long Beach.
According to Dr. William T. Dickens, PhD, of the Brookings Institute, the one thing that best predicts how well 14-year-olds will do as adults, in terms of economic and social outcome, is their IQ score.
Brain Food
Eating smarter for better brain health begins in the womb and continues with breastfeeding, especially if Mom follows daily recommendations for vitamins and minerals.
Children need five or six daily servings of fruits and vegetables; five servings of whole grains; two or three servings of meat, fish, or poultry; and two or three servings of milk. Children should take a vitamin and mineral supplement at the prescribed dose.
“What the Food and Nutrition Board and the World Health Organization recommend for good health is great for IQ and behavior too,” says Dr. Stephen Schoenthaler of California State University in Long Beach.
In his research, children taking the recommended daily allowance of vitamin and mineral supplements for three months learned 14 different academic subjects at twice the rate of children given a placebo.
The Value of the Good Breakfast
In more than 1 million children given a good breakfast and lunch at school, academic performance improved by 16%, and 76,000 suddenly were no longer “learning disabled.”
Build Mental Muscle
“To train young minds, read something together every night. Stimulate your child’s interests and curiosity and encourage the child to play an instrument,” Ingegerd Carlsson, PhD, tells WebMD. She is a psychologist at Lund University in Sweden, and studies changes in brain function with creativity.
According to Frances P. Glascoe, PhD, an adjunct professor of pediatrics at Vanderbilt University in East Berlin, Pa., “Infants, toddlers, and preschoolers who grow up in homes where talking, listening, and reading are common tend to have higher IQs and greater success in school.”
Thomas Darvill, PhD, chairman of psychology at Oswego State University in New York, recommends a variety of safe toys that are colorful, noisy, and interesting in shape or texture. Spending more time with your child in their first year can yield big dividends later, both in terms of parent-child bonding and enhanced mental growth.
“Kids left alone to sit and watch TV or play video games on their own won’t do as well,” Shawn K. Acheson, PhD, assistant professor of psychology at Western Carolina University in Cullowhee, N.C., tells WebMD. “Encourage active learning and the exchange of ideas.”
As they grow, children need time and freedom to play and explore, Darvill says. Sports, music, and other activities demanding focused attention and discipline and stimulate mental development.
Each child’s interests and learning strategies are unique, Dr. Linda Gottfredson agrees. To develop intelligence, we must not neglect ambition, courage, and conscientiousness, which are equally important for success. We mustn’t forget to teach children how to learn.
Robert J. Sternberg, PhD, is director of the PACE Center and IBM professor of psychology and education at Yale University. “If we take into account how children think, we can improve their achievement,” Sternberg tells WebMD. “If we teach in a way that is relevant to children’s abilities, we get much better results.”
Use It or Lose It
As early environmental effects wear off, intelligence training should be a lifelong pursuit. Nourished by a healthy diet and encouraged to use his or her unique gifts most effectively, your child should be off to a running start.
“If you can accelerate children’s ability to learn — even temporarily — the knowledge they’ve acquired may still be with them 20 or 30 years later,” says William T. Dickens of the Brookings Institute. “Some skills stay with you your whole life. Parents can permanently affect their child’s job success and income, even if they can’t permanently change his IQ.”
The “Flynn Effect”
According to the “Flynn effect” discovered by James R. Flynn, PhD, a political scientist at the University of Otago in New Zealand, the average IQ for the population as a whole increases with each generation. He tells WebMD that the best gift you can give your child is a love for learning and for satisfying work.
“If you do that for your child, for heaven’s sake don’t worry about IQ,” Flynn says. “They have got what makes life rewarding anyway.”
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