Last week, I was interviewed for a newsmagazine program on the subject of whether of not we can raise a child's IQ. There has been a great deal of scientific research on this subject, and arguments have been written on both sides, but as an educator I lean toward the side that believes we can have a positive impact on a child's intelligence level, or capacity to learn.

The various IQ tests that are popularly used are usually accurate indications of how academically successful an individual will perform in school. This is one reason that we use such academic aptitude tests when we seek to identify both children with special needs and children with intellectual gifts, but we have to remember that they may not always recognize other exceptional gifts. However, in school, and in life, a number on an IQ test is not how we measure success. Success is more accurately measured by an individual's accomplishments, and “brilliance” is very often associated with original ideas or inventions.  I am most concerned with giving our students every advantage in developing their powers of intelligence, which include abstract thinking, reasoning, problem solving, and comprehension of both written and oral information. It is widely accepted that children learn an enormous amount of information while they are young. For example, we have found that both language and music affect brain development, and in Syosset we have a program that introduces our elementary school students to a new language each year, beginning in kindergarten with Russian, then Chinese in first grade, Spanish, French, and Italian in second through fourth grade and finally, Latin in fifth grade. The goal is not to become fluent in these languages, but for the language study to stimulate the brain to accept different messages and sounds, and increase their receptiveness to learning new information. I feel that if we can increase a child's ability to learn, that is certainly tantamount to having an effect on that child's IQ—whether or not it shows up on a test.

Our students have thrived when we have challenged them intellectually and when we give them the opportunities to use their imaginations and problem solving abilities. While we do have a separate program for those students identified as gifted, we also have our teachers of the gifted work with all of our students in each elementary school, and teach them the advanced thinking skills that are very often only taught as part of a gifted program.

The newsmagazine interview took place in a sixth grade classroom, and after we spoke, the interviewer asked the children what their parents told them would help them to be smarter and why it was important. They answered that their parents said that if they would pay attention and do their best in school, they would be smarter, and schoolwork would be easier. I can add that their parents can also help them by making reading and museum and zoo visits a family affair, and by communicating with and including their children in their day-to-day activities from the time they are very young.

The results of an intelligence test should not have an influence how a parent interacts with their child. Treat your children as if they have already been tested to be as gifted as you can imagine and you will undoubtedly give them the environment to learn all that they are capable. With children, the possibilities are always endless, no matter what number is written on the test score.#

Dr. Hankin is superintendent of Syosset Central School District. Randi Sachs is Public Information Officer of Syosset Schools.