Expert: Ettina - 10/31/2009

Question
Hi, Can you please tell me that my 3.5 years old daughter can be categorized as gifted child. She started operating laptop completely  @age of 2.5 years , one month after we have allowed her to touch it.

She is well ahead of class and can easily recognize small and capital letters , even write them and has very amazing memory. She remembers spellings like "Mickey Mouse Donald duck Goofy " and do goggle search.

Most noticeable qualities his her amazing memory and laptop abilities. Her teachers says they doesn't know how to keep her occupied,as she finishes her task quickly.

Is she gifted?If yes,  what is the perfect age to get her IQ tested and where can i get it done.

Answer
I'm pretty sure your daughter is in fact gifted.
As for IQ testing, typically around 5-6 years old is when IQ retest reliability stabilizes, meaning that if you test them again a year or two later they get the same score. This also means that the score is better at predicting school performance and other important things. For gifted kids, it's a good idea to get them tested fairly young, because when they're getting close to the maximum age for the test, it's possible for them to 'max out', which makes their IQ seem lower than it is. Basically, if two kids get 10/10 on a test, you can't say that they're equally smart, because it's not possible to get any higher score. Around 5-6, if they use an IQ test designed for school-age kids, it's easier to tell if a child is gifted than if they're 10-12 and using the same test.