[qutoe]IQ tests measure the ability to take IQ tests. [/quote]

Total word.

My IQ score is a bit above average, but utterly meaningless - I have one narrow skill set that's off the scale, one or two others that are severely lacking, and those miles-apart figures were used to calculate the final score!

Total word.

My IQ score is a bit above average, but utterly meaningless - I have one narrow skill set that's off the scale, one or two others that are severely lacking, and those miles-apart figures were used to calculate the final score!
[/quote]

Yeah - I know what you mean. It's like -- how is averaging these things going to provide MORE information, rather than just muddle it all up in an even more misleading way than originally?

I had a wonderful maths teacher who taught all her pupils to think beyond the things that it is possible to do with numbers to the wider implications.

One of my favourites was her explanation of why averages have no bearing on what's normal.

"Some people take averages and assume them to be normal. The average family has 2.3 children, but no normal family would have 2.3 children. What would 0.3 of a child look like?

"It's like the idea that centuries ago everyone died of old age at forty because that was the average life span. She explained that given the high infant mortality rate the average life span could be accounted for even if you were virtually certain to reach seventy if you survived your fifth birthday and no-one died at forty...

"Eventually there will come a time when the current live population of the planet equals the number of people who have died. It will then be true to say that 50% of all the people who have ever lived are alive today. It won't be true to conclude that we only have a 50% chance of dying!"

Since averaging out wildly differing IQ scores gives the impression that someone should be averagely good at everything, instead of impressively good at some things and hopelessly bad at others it becomes a meaningless tool.

Word.

Your math teacher sounds like an interesting person, Tigger. And you also make a good point about the scoring on some IQ tests. Once I took one that told me my score for everything. I turned out to be good at everything and I got an above-average IQ that I can't remember. So I guess your remark would only apply to IQ tests that don't show the kinds of results as the one I just mentioned.

Total word.

My IQ score is a bit above average, but utterly meaningless - I have one narrow skill set that's off the scale, one or two others that are severely lacking, and those miles-apart figures were used to calculate the final score!
[/quote]

My score was the average of several verbal skills that were too high for the WAIS to measure, and a set of non-verbal skills that ranged from average to low.  Still wound up significantly above average, but it isn't an accurate measure of my abilities.  There is a test called Raven's Progressive Matrices that's supposedly far more accurate when working with autistics.

And if you have difficulty sustaining attention for prolonged periods of time (like me), then even on sections where you score pretty high, well that means the testing of that section lasted pretty long, and I know that towards the end of the matrix reasoning subtest that the last few I guessed on without looking at them, because I just couldn't keep concentrating on that test. No complaints though. Really what the tests measure are how good you are at those particular skills at that particular time.

A lot of times people assume that if you don't do well on those particular tasks, that this will generalize to lack of ability in language or reasoning in general, which is often not true at all. And I've known people in gifted programs who demonstrated regularly a terrible grasp of logic, even with an IQ that tested well above my score.

Well, they say geniuses often lack common sense...

What is the percentage of people with AS or PDD-NOS who have children?


What is the percentage of people with AS or PDD-NOS who marry?

I am concerned as to where eugenics-related thinking leads.  I have seen too much of it on this forum.  It increases hatred and resentment.