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Intelligence and intelligence testing is a controversial topic. It is easy to think that there is only a certain type of intelligence and that intelligence can be measured on a test. There are also several myths and ideas related to bringing up children. If you do this, your child will be more intelligent, creative, or successful. If you do that, this will happen. . . Maybe the truth is that the best way to promote the development of healthy children is to allow children to respond to experiences in their own way, without being told that their responses are insufficient. As parents and educators, we can help a child to explore and discover new angles. But this is different from telling your child that his ideas are wrong.
Yet there are factors that influence and contribute to a child’s development. What can you do to promote the development? A recent study, reviewing dozens of studies related to factors that may raise a child’s intelligence suggests that supplementing children's diets with fish oil, enrolling them in quality preschool, and parents engaging kids in interactive reading are effective ways to raise a young child's intelligence. The researchers did not include emotional or social intelligence in the review. Over 70 studies were examined and IQ tests and other tests of intelligence were included.
- There's not much evidence that multivitamins do any good, but having pregnant and lactating moms and young kids take Omega-3 fatty acid supplements (particularly DHA) likely does. There is insufficient research to determine whether other types of supplements - including iron, B-complex vitamins, riboflavin, thiamine, niacin, and zinc have beneficial effects on intelligence
- Reading together with children under four could boost the IQ. This may boost a child’s language, which may explain why the review of the study did not find that it raised older children’s IQ.
- Sending children to pre-school probably help with language development and this may explain the beneficial link, (IQ often measures verbal intelligence).
- The effects of different parenting styles is for ethical reasons difficult to examine. Yet an environment that is supportive and stimulating can boost the IQ of children.
- Some studies suggested that early music training might help with spatio-temporal reasoning.
So the advice for parents is: consider some Omega-3 supplements and sit down with your child and read a book together.
There are of course lots of other things you can do – they may not increase the score on your child’s IQ test, but there may be more long-term benefits.There are several blogposts about Thinking, Think Diving, Six Hats, Creativity that may provide you with some inspiration.
“Creativity is inventing, experimenting, growing, taking risks, breaking rules, making mistakes, and having fun.”
Mary Lou CookGo here to read more about Intelligence and Thinking.Photo: "Girl With Toys On Mobile Phone" by Stuart Miles
