How Is Your Child Intelligent?

In a society where academic achievements are regarded very highly, we put such high premium on intelligence. The most common and widely accepted measure is the Intelligence Quotient, or better known as IQ. For a long time IQ was the only index of intelligence available. We have come to assume that the IQ index is a definite indicator of how smart a person is. Even potential success in life has been pegged to this number.

But the problem with IQ is that it assumes that once a child is given his IQ number, it is fixed for life. It does not take into account that intelligence can evolve and increase over time through experience. It also doesn’t take into account that different people can have different types of ‘intelligences’.

It was Howard Gardner, who suggested that intelligence can grow over time and that each person has multiple intelligences – eight in total. The following offers a simplified description of children with the different intelligences. Find out which describes your child the best.

Linguistic
Children with linguistic intelligence will have a natural ability at language. They tend to speak early and their language ability develops faster than their peers. They are also good at memorizing words and pick up new vocabulary easily. Naturally, they show an interest in the written work and at telling stories or doing presentations. They are sometimes described as the ‘talkers’ and ‘writers’.

Logical-mathematical
These kids will have preference for information and things that are orderly. They have strong memory for patterns and links between different pieces of information, ideas and experiences. They can easily pick out something that does not fit into a pattern or a pattern that is broken. So these kids will find mathematical problems fun and exciting. They somehow find it easy to estimate and experiment.

Musical
Melodies, pitch and rhythm come naturally to these kids. They can copy actions and techniques in music sessions effortlessly while other kids struggle to keep up. They like to sing and are not self-conscious about it.

Bodily-kinesthetic
The bodily-kinesthetic children have good motor skills. They have a good sense of timing and can repeat sequence of movements easily. At the dance class, they pick up the steps and dance in time with the music while the others fumble and needs a few rounds of instructions. They learn best through activities and you may find them using tools and dismantling or rearranging toys and things around the house.

Spatial
Kids with a strong spatial intelligence will have a good sense of the space and environment around them. They also have a good sense of colour. Give them a two dimensional picture of an object and they are able to visualize it from different angles in three dimensions. They tend to recognize landmarks and figure out directions better than others.

Interpersonal
These kids are what people call the ‘people’s person’. They can empathise with others easily, being sensitive to the moods of others and changing their behaviour accordingly. They are the type that other kids go to to confide in their sorrows. These kids like to make friends and play in a group, collaboratively.

Intrapersonal
These kids will develop a sense of self early. They talk about emotions more readily than others. They watch a movie or a show and like to relate the story to their own personal experiences. They also have a strong sense of right and wrong. Probably, these are the kids who will later take on a social cause. Intrapersonal intelligence goes hand in hand with interpersonal intelligence. So a kid with one intelligence will naturally be good at the other.

Naturalist
As the name implies, children with naturalist intelligence likes nature. They want to be in the natural outdoors environment. They also notice details about such environments that others easily miss. Going to parks, nature reserves and beaches is a joy to them. They like dealing with and taking care of animals, insects and plants. They enjoy reading and knowing about the natural world.

Conclusion
The theory of multiple-intelligence says that any one person will have a combination of the eight different intelligences. Nurture (education and upbringing) will ultimately determine how well the different intelligences get developed.

In Singapore education system, it is evident that linguistic and logical-mathematical intelligences are valued above all the others. Those kids who are not developed in these intelligences are quickly dismissed as having learning difficulties.

Having knowledge about the multiple intelligences will help parents look at their kids differently. Knowing their strength and weakness can help us understand how to teach and develop them in the direction of their natural ability. We can also begin to assess if we have been putting too much emphasis on some intelligences at the expense of others.

We have always been asking how intelligent our children are. Maybe it is the wrong question. Instead we should be asking how are our children intelligent.