Horryfying/Uplifting Story of Abuse/Redemption

[jdubbs32584]

I believe that's true...

the problem is the 'tools' they use to measure assume education and socialization.

+1

Humans need socialization and affection and such at the early stages of life for the brain to wire properly and get to its full potential. These tests are meant to measure IQ if that happens.

[Kyna]

I think it's hard to know if that 50 IQ was a given at birth or if it happened because of her lack of socialization. 

Do they administer IQ tests to some people at birth?  I wonder how the heck anyone could determine what signs of a high IQ are at such a young age.

[DCXCV]

isn't IQ somethign that you are born with? it never changes (unless you suffer a head trauma)

I would say it's more likely you're born with a potential IQ.  Some people have a lower potential than others, but all that social interaction is required to start the developement.  The story said the doctors didn't find her to be autistic nor did they have any other medical explanation for her condition. 

The only way to test the theory is to take a control group of babies and isolate them from all interaction for seven years, leave them in a dark closet, not let them outside, and see if they all end up like this girl or not.  I just don't think you can take this girl's formative years out of the equation.  The only two other people on record as having a similar childhood had similar problems.  Kinda makes me think that nurture played more of a role than nature.

That's just my internet expert opinion, though.

[KnightofNi]

I would say it's more likely you're born with a potential IQ.  Some people have a lower potential than others, but all that social interaction is required to start the developement.  The story said the doctors didn't find her to be autistic nor did they have any other medical explanation for her condition. 

The only way to test the theory is to take a control group of babies and isolate them from all interaction for seven years, leave them in a dark closet, not let them outside, and see if they all end up like this girl or not.  I just don't think you can take this girl's formative years out of the equation.  The only two other people on record as having a similar childhood had similar problems.  Kinda makes me think that nurture played more of a role than nature.

That's just my internet expert opinion, though.

YOU'RE WRONG AND YOU SHOULD DIE!!!!
[/internet opinionationating]


i can understand that not having any contact would definately keep you from reaching your potential, but the woman was borderline and she already had a son that was mentally handicapped. i'm going with the odds on that one when i say that i don't think it would have had much of an effect.


but i stand by my theory that the mom should have been spayed. i realize it's easier to say this in hindsight, so i'll just have to wait until a time machine is invented.

[mstevens]

isn't IQ somethign that you are born with? it never changes (unless you suffer a head trauma)

No, not at all. IQ is whatever is being measured on a particular IQ test. It changes over time on the same instrument and certainly across different tests. Results are highly dependent on how a given test is structured and on the test conditions for an individual administration, including how well-rested, nourished, and hydrated the subject is at that moment.

For example, the Slosson is entirely verbal. The examiner speaks the questions (one is "what is uxoricide?", another is to recite a string of numbers and ask which one comes next, etc.) and the examinee speaks the answers. If you're deaf or mute, you don't do well at all. If you aren't a very auditory person or if you do better with pencil and paper, you won't do terribly well on the Slosson. The Raven Advanced Progressive Matrices, by contrast, is completely non-verbal. It presents a matrix of 3 figures (to start with, say, a circle divided into quarters with different figures shading different quadrants) then asks which one comes next. They get progressively really hard. You could be a completely deaf-mute autistic person and conceivably do very well on it. When I was doing research, we'd often get wildly divergent results on those particular two tests.

Some tests are timed, which rewards efficiency but also inspired guessing. Some tests keep going until you make a certain number of errors in a row. Some are highly cultural - I took the California Test of Mental Maturity in high school for Mensa entry, and several items included cartoon drawings of what I eventually figured out were supposed to be adding machines and (room-sized) computers. I seriously doubt my kid would recognize them at all today. Then there's the whole language issue. I suspect my "IQ" is different in English, German, and Latin (from high to low) and that I'm profoundly retarded in Swahili or Urdu. Some tests measure education more than innate ability. An extremely intelligent person who never attended school might well not be able to define "uxoricide" or "plutocracy," items that were easy for me simply because I took Latin.