How is intelligence in children measured?

Question

Intelligence is dependent on mental age and education. So how can an IQ test be performed to check the mental/intellectual capabilities in children?

Answer 1

There are specific intelligence tests developed for children in different age ranges, e.g. from 4 to 8+11 months years, and 9-16 years. The site mentions that their test

...is a culture fair testing method. Test takers are equally assessed regardless of cultures, languages, backgrounds or education level. Also, the test duration is 30 minutes, which is well designed to not only suit children’s attention span but also generate precise results.

Note that I am not familiair with this website and cannot verify their claim that

Our Phd-certified test was established in 2008. Nearly ten years since, the test has received approximately 16 million sittings.

Answer 2

Correction on Education

"intelligence is dependent on ... education." This is incorrect. Intelligence is a stable trait over time (Gottfredson, 1998). The correlation between education and intelligence is that on average, people who attain higher levels of education have higher levels of intelligence (Gottfredson, 1997). We wouldn't expect someone with an IQ of 80 to be able to get a graduate degree, for example.

Age

"Intelligence is dependent on age." Correct, but needs clarification. Intelligence is measured on normed scales. So, an individual's intelligence only makes sense in the context of comparison to other individuals in the same cohort (e.g., adult, child) (Judge, et al., 1999). Because of this, difference scales are normed with different groups. Furthermore, with children, who have shorter attention spans and less world knowledge in comparison to adults, the type of items appropriate to measure intelligence may slightly differ.

Measuring Cognitive Ability

Because of this, special tests are developed and normed on the child population. The most prominent is likely the Wecshler Intelligence Scale for Children (WISC). It has been well-studied (Canivez & Watkins, 1998), well-validated, and updated throughout the years (Keith, et al., 2006). There is also a Stanford-Binet for children, as well as several more. General cognitive ability is one of the more well-established constructs in the field of psychology, so there are several longstanding methods of measurement that have a ton of supporting evidence (Kuncel, et al., 2004).

References

Canivez, G. L., & Watkins, M. W. (1998). Long-term stability of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Third Edition. Psychological Assessment, 10(3), 285-291. doi: 10.1037/1040-3590.10.3.285

Gottfredson, L. S. (1997). Why g matters: The complexity of everyday life. Intelligence, 24(1), 79-132. doi: 10.1016/S0160-2896(97)90014-3

Gottfredson, L. S. (1998). The general intelligence factor. Scientific American Presents: Exploring Intelligence 9(4), 24-29. Retrieved from: https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/a4b1/f4760274c2e5194f19bcc6573d4884aae334.pdf

Judge, T. A., Higgins, C. A., Thoresen, C. J., & Barrick, M. R. (1999). The big five personality traits, general mental ability, and career success across the life span. Personnel psychology, 52(3), 621-652. doi: 10.1111/j.1744-6570.1999.tb00174.x

Keith, T. Z., Fine, J. G., Taub, G. E., Reynolds, M. R., & Kranzler, J. H. (2006). Higher order, multisample, confirmatory factor analysis of the Wechsler Intelligence Scale for Children—Fourth Edition: What does it measure. School Psychology Review, 35(1), 108-127. Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Jodene_Fine/publication/232489100_Higher_order_multisample_confirmatory_factor_analysis_of_the_Wechsler_Intelligence_Scale_for_Children--Fourth_Edition_What_does_it_measure/links/0912f512475c7c49ec000000.pdf

Kuncel, N. R., Hezlett, S. A., & Ones, D. S. (2004). Academic Performance, Career Potential, Creativity, and Job Performance: Can One Construct Predict Them All? Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 86(1), 148-161. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.86.1.148