Learning Disabilities and IQ Testing

Intelligence tests measure a variety of mental skills, which are lumped together and called “intelligence”. The result is an IQ score. This number is supposed to be a measurement of a child’s general ability. But this score doesn’t consider factors like learning disabilities.

Learning disabilities and IQ are often not taken into account at the same time. The broad IQ score does not reveal scores for each individual skill. Therefore, an average or above average IQ score may result in the misleading assumption that all the underlying mental skills required for good learning or reading are equally high. If a student performs below expectation, it is likely that one or more of the necessary skills are significantly weak, thus signaling a learning struggle but not pinpointing the source of the struggle.

This is how IQ scores tend to either mask or overlook learning problems that deserve deliberate and specific attention. Children with an IQ of 120 (100 is considered average) might still have an undetected — potentially limiting — skill problem that could show up at any point during their education. This stresses the need for experts to look at learning disabilities and IQ separately in order to properly gauge the child’s learning ability.

Have you encountered a child with an undiagnosed learning disability in your classroom? What was your experience?

From Professional Learning Board’s online continuing education course for teachers: Cognitive Skills – Understanding Learning Challenges