Measuring Intelligence Binet-Simon Intelligence Scale –mental age Terman –intelligence quotient (IQ) –IQ=MA/CA x 100 Standardized Intelligence Tests –Stanford-Binet –Wechsler Tests

Verbal Scale General Information Similarities Arithmetic Reasoning Vocabulary Comprehension Digit Span

Performance Scale

Normal Distribution of IQ

Mental Retardation Significantly subaverage level of intellectual functioning which occurs with related limitations in two or more skill areas. –Mild mental retardation –Moderate mental retardation –Severe/profound mental retardation

Causes of Mental Retardation Organic retardation Cultural-familial retardation

Intellectually Gifted Individuals characterized by higher than average intelligence (IQ>130). Usually also have some superior talent or skill.

Intelligence in Infancy Developmental tests –Gesell Developmental Schedules –Bayley Scales of Infant Development - II –poor predictors of later intelligence Habituation

Intelligence in Childhood Considerable variability in IQ across childhood Cumulative-deficit hypothesis IQ stabilizes during adolescence

Development of Mathematical Skills Newborns have rudimentary skills – can distinguish between 2 and 3 object (habituation) Preschoolers – learning to count Age 4 – simple arithmetic; counting strategies Strategy choice model: children tend to choose the fastest approach that they can execute accurately

DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC SKILLS: Mathematics In first months after birth, infants can distinguish between small sets of objects Infants may enumerate small sets by subitizing: perceptual process where people quickly and easily determine how many objects are in a small set without actually counting them. From age two, children begin to associate words used in language with number of objects Language differences affect learning to count and understanding place value, which affects development of other math skills

DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC SKILLS: Mathematics At about age four, children develop counting strategies In elementary school, children improve efficiency of strategies Gradually come to store basic math facts and simply retrieve from memory Strategy choice model may explain how memorized and retrieved

DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC SKILLS: Reading Chall (1983) proposed six developmental stages for reading Estimated that 25% of Americans are poor readers and 38% of fourth graders score below grade level Two factors that best predict success in early reading are familiarity with letters of the alphabet and phonemic awareness

DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC SKILLS: Reading Good readers tend to read more, further enhancing reading skills and facilitating cognitive development Parent-child reading during preschool years has both direct and indirect effects

DEVELOPMENT OF ACADEMIC SKILLS: Writing Reading and writing skills highly correlated Similar progressions developmentally Inventive spellings associated with later success in conventional spelling, word recognition, reading fluency Young writers engage in knowledge telling Older children spend more time on planning and revising