Ways to Improve Your Child's Grades (7 0f 10): Don't Believe that IQ Can't Be Changed!

Tweaking IQ's Upward Takes Effort: But Academic Performance & Working Memory Can Improve

Evelyn Smith

When I entered first grade in the fall of 1958, my teacher wanted to send me across town to a Special Education school. An awkward and immature for my age ugly duckling, I was born three months premature at 25 weeks, weighing less than two pounds after I was finally weighed after surviving my first two weeks.  By age one-and-a-half, I had limited vision only in my left eye.  Thus, as a first grader, I was easy to identify: I was the kid with my nose almost touching the chalk board.  However, my parents resisted, insisting that the Waco (Texas) ISD  main stream me before anybody officially invented the term.

Thankfully, my parents never permitted me to think that I was handicapped, so my academic performance gradually improved, even though I had to cope with a complete loss of vision from a detached retina (twice), and  I never saw facial features from across the room until I was aged 45.   Since I was a middle-class child who grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, I took ballet, tap, piano, and swimming lessons, sang in a youth choir at church, attended Girl Scout camp, served as a student council representative, and wrote news and feature stories for the high school paper.   But it wasn’t until December 1995, after I had walked across the stage to receive my Ph. D. in English from Texas Christian University with a 3.9 grade point average, did she tearfully disclose the secret that my parents had fought to keep me in a regular classroom.

Of course, I was blessed! Based on my own subjective experience, I can’t discount the effect of my devoted parents’ prayers as well as their training me in the way I should go. What’s more, since they were both children of the Depression, they weren’t immune to the idea that hard work is more likely to ensure success than any other factor.

Unfortunately, however, all too often contemporary parents and children assume that nature rather than nurture determines both intelligence and academic performance, supposing that neither can improve with age.  All the same, life style changes can gradually improve and maintain intelligence in both adults and children; for example, adhering to a Mediterranean-style diet rather than succumbing to a sugary one, getting enough restful sleep at night, limiting TV viewing, and getting at least 30 minutes of aerobic exercise each day can improve intelligence or prevent or delay the loss of it.

Furthermore, reading aloud to and along with preschool and elementary school children, encouraging children and teens to read for pleasure, urging all family members to take on new challenges, and requiring children to practice their music lessons throughout their elementary and secondary school years can substantially improve IQ scores.  This means praising effort instead of intelligence and not relying on gender and racial stereotypes to determine anyone’s self-esteem.

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Increasing a Child’s Intelligence: An Annotated Bibliography

Read to and with your child 20 minutes daily.

Barnett, W. Steven. (1995, winter).  Long-term effects on early childhood programs on cognitive and school outcomes.  The Future of Children, 5 (3), 25-50.  doi:10.1136/jech.2010.111955. [Full text].  Retrieved from http://www.princeton.edu/futureofchildren/publications/docs/05_03_01.pdf

A review of 36 studies on the long-term effect of early childhood intervention programs for children from low-income families reveals that remediation can produce large short-term increases in IQ while achieving “sizeable” long-term benefits in academic achievement, grade retention and social adjustment, although not all early childhood education programs produce the same quality of favorable results (Barnett, 1995, winter, Abstract, p. 25).

DeWar, Gwen. (2013). Intelligence in children:  Can we make our kids smarter.  Parenting Science.  Retrieved from http://www.parentingscience.com/intelligence.html

What not to do: 

• Using the TV as an electronic babysitter hampers language development in very young children since toddlers and preschoolers learn language best when interacting with others (DeWar, 2013, para. 4).

• Praising children for “being smart” doesn’t improve their intelligence (DeWar, 2013, para. 4).  Instead, praise them for their hard work.

• Similarly, awareness of popular stereotypes--like believing that boys are better at math, but girls are better at language—often undermines academic performance (DeWar, 2013, para. 8).

Participating in sports improves academic performance.

What to do:

• Voluntary aerobic exercise stimulates brain growth and focuses attention (DeWar, 2013, para. 10).

• Free play promotes learning memory and improves language, reasoning and math skills (DeWar, 2013, para. 11).

• A good working memory, which is crucial for academic success, improves through training (DeWar, 2013, para. 12).

• Children are more likely to remember lessons accompanied by gestures (DeWar, 2013, para. 13).

• “Securely-attached children", sure of a parent’s love, score 12 points higher on Stanford-Binet IQ tests (DeWar, 2013, para. 14).

• Getting enough sleep means children are more likely to retain what they’ve learned (DeWar, 2013, para. 25).

• Children can be trained to have intuitive number sense (DeWar, 2013, para. 35-36).

• Studying critical thinking skills and logic can raise IQs (DeWar, 2013, para. 37-38). 

• Children also need to hone their spatial intelligence skills to succeed in fields like physics, engineering, and architecture (DeWar, 2013, para. 39-41).

• The Tiger Mom approach to parenting works well with most Asian-American children while most European-American children do best when they choose those skills at which they want to excel (DeWar, 2013, para. 43).  DeWar doesn’t mention which approach works best for African- and Hispanic- American children.

So how many engineers and architects played with Legos?

• Playing with blocks improves spatial and math problem-solving skills (DeWar, 2013, para. 46).

Dubin, Julie Weingarden. (2015). Boost your baby’s IQ.  Parents.  Meredith Corporation.  Retrieved from http://www.parents.com/baby/development/intellectual/boost-your-babys-iq/

• Chat him [or her] up: A correlation exists between the number of words an infant and young child hears and later verbal IQ (Dubin, 2015, para. 3).

• Hit the books:  Not only does reading to a young child establish an emotional bond between a parent and child, but it also gives the child pre-literacy skills as well as sharpening a child’s ability to memorize (Dubin, 2015, para. 4-5).

• Let your fingers do the talking:  Using sign language with a toddler before  a child learns to speak helps him or her learn to talk earlier while also boosting intelligence (Dubin, 2015, para. 6).

• Try to nurse: The longer a mother nurses her child, the higher the child’s IQ tends to be, although the difference in IQ between breastfed and bottle babies is only a few points (Dubin, 2015, para. 7).

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Addendum

  August 22, 2015

Taking cod-liver oil while pregnant and nursing sounds old-fashioned, but it works!

Moreover, combine breastfeeding with cod liver oil supplements, starting at the onset of pregnancy and for at least the first three months of nursing.

Helland, I. B., Smith, L., and Saarem, K., et al.  (2003, January).  Maternal supplementation with very-long chains of n-3 fatty acids during pregnancy and lactation augments children’s IQ at 4 years of age. Pediatrics, 111(1), e 39-44.  [Abstract only].  Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12509593

In a randomized, double-blind study, researchers recruited mothers-to-be to take either 10 ml. of cod-liver oil or corn oil during pregnancy and until their babies were three months old at which time all of the infants were still breastfed. At four years of age, the children whose mothers had taken the cod liver oil scored higher on the mental processing composite of the K-ABC  than those whose mothers had taken the corn oil, averaging an IQ of 106.4 versus an IQ of 102.3.

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• Give [him or] her time alone:  Baby needs some down time just like parents do (Dubin, 2015, para. 8).

• Snuggle up:  Make sure to get in plenty of cuddling and carrying in while maintaining eye contact (Dubin, 2015, para. 9).

Chatting with your children at the dinner table helps them succeed in school.

 
 Haelle, Tara. (2015, March 15).  Adopted kids’ average 10 points higher than  non-adopted siblings: Study.  Health Day.  Retrieved from http://consumer.healthday.com/cognitive-health-information-26/brain-health-news-80/adopted-kids-average-iq-higher-than-non-adopted-siblings-study-697681.html

Research published in the March 23, 2015 issue of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science reveals that adopted children on average show a four percent increase in IQ scores over their non-adopted siblings—a difference that comes from the higher education levels of most adoptive parents (Haelle, 2015, March 15, para. 1-2 & 5). After all, improving a child’s environment ordinarily enhances his or her cognitive abilities (Haelle, 2015, March 15, para. 3).

For this study, researchers analyzed the intelligence scores of 2,000 male adolescences aged 18 to 20 that were drafted into Sweden’s compulsory military service.  Young men who were adopted had an average IQ of 97 while their biological siblings had an IQ of 92; thus, their adoption increased their IQ scores about four points (Haelle, 2015, March 15, para. 9).  Moreover, when compared with the IQ’s of young men raised in orphanages, their IQ scores might be up to 15 points higher (Haelle, 2015, March 15, para. 10).

Adoptive parents on average have on average 30 percent more education than their adoptive children’s biological parents (Haelle, 2015, March 15, para.11), and higher-educated parents usually provide a richer home environment—talking more to their youngsters and also using a wider vocabulary with them as well as reading more to their children (Haelle, 2015, March 15, para. 20).

Hurley, Dan.  (2014, April 7).  New studies show promise for brain training in improving fluid intelligence.  Health. The Atlantic.  Retrieved form http://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2014/04/new-studies-show-promise-for-brain-training-in-improving-fluid-intelligence/360290/

A study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science found that playing six hours of brain games over the course of ten weeks helps chronically truant, low-income children catch up with their regularly-attending peers in math and science (Hurley, 2014, April 7, para. 2 & 8).

Studies compiled and analyzed by the Cognitive Neuroscience Society in Boston conclude that computerized braining training enhances fluid intelligence in young adults (Hurley, 2014, April 7, para. 3).

Jacobson, Sandra W. and Jacobson, Joseph L. (2006, November 4).  Breast feeding and intelligence in children.  BMJ, 333 (7575), 929–930.  doi:  10.1136/bmj.39020.473322.80. [Full text]. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1633786/

Nursing mothers offer their children advantages that bottle-fed infants don't have.

The intellectual advantage bequeathed to full-term infants is approximately three to four points (Jacobson, 2006, November 4, para. 1).  However, “women who breast feed are more likely to provide their child with a more enriched and cognitively stimulating environment than those who do not breast feed, which could contribute to their children's better cognitive performance” (Jacobson, 2006, November 4, para. 2).

Nevertheless, after controlling for the mother’s socio-economic status and education, research concludes that breastfeeding has a benefit beyond providing “a better child-rearing environment (Jacobson, 2006, November 4, para. 3). When researchers also controlled for cognitive stimulation, they couldn’t find an association between breastfeeding and IQ (Jacobson, 2006, November 4, para. 3).

Of course, research has already established the benefits of colostrum found in mother’s milk on the immune system as well as the value of the cognitive 3 fatty acid found in breast milk on the cognitive and visual development in preterm and low weight infants, and the emotional bond brought about through breastfeeding (Jacobson, 2006, November 4, para. 7).

Knapp, Alex. (2011, October 6).  Music training improves verbal intelligence in children. Tech.  Forbes.  Retrieved from http://www.forbes.com/sites/alexknapp/2011/10/06/music-training-improves-verbal-intelligence-in-children/

A study published in Psychological Science claims that teaching preschool children music enhances their verbal abilities:  After dividing 48 four-to-six-year-old children into two groups—one group who learned pitch, rhythm, melody, and other fundamental musical concepts, and the other group who learned about shapes, colors, lines, and other visual art-training concepts—and giving them lessons twice daily for one hour for 20 days, researchers found no increase in verbal intelligence in the children taught art.  However, the children who studied music improved their verbal intelligence five times more than those in the art-training group (Knapp, 2011, October 6).

The basics of music training can start early.

See:

Moreno, Sylvain, Bialystok, Ellen, and Barac, Raluca, et al. (2011, October 3).  Short-term music training enhances verbal intelligence and executive function.  Psychological Science. 22(22), 1425-1433. [Abstract only].  Retrieved from http://pss.sagepub.com/content/22/11/1425

Comparing the results of two interactive computerized programs in music and art on the verbal intelligence and executive functioning of preschoolers, researchers found that 90 percent of the children in the music training program enhanced their verbal intelligence skills.

Northstone, Kate, Joinson, Carol, Emmett, Pauline, et al. (2011, February 7). Are dietary patterns in childhood associated with IQ at 8 years of age? A population-based cohort study.  Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.  doi:10.1136/jech.2010.111955. [Abstract only]. Retrieved from http://jech.bmj.com/content/early/2011/01/21/jech.2010.111955?q=w_jech_ahead_tab

Building on the Avon Longitudinal Study of Parents and Children, British researchers consulted the answers to food questionnaires prepared by parents when their children were 3, 4, 7, and 8.5 years of age whereupon researchers gave a Wechsler Intelligence Scale test to a sampling of 3,966 eight-and-a-half-year-olds.  A diet high in fat and sugar content in children three years of age correlated with a lower IQ score at 8.5 years of age while data connected a health-conscious diet in mid-childhood with a higher IQ.

Shellenbarger, Sue. (2011, November 29).  Ways to inflate your I. Q.  The Wall Street Journal.  Retrieved from http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052970203935604577066293669642830

A thirty-year study for the National Institute of Mental health has established that work that involves complex relationships and problem-solving improves IQ scores while performing routine work that demands little though makes IQ levels decline (Shellenbarger, 2011, November 29, para. 10).  Moreover, learning new skills, like learning to juggle or learning to play an instrument, are tasks that can grow intelligence (Shellenbarger, 2011, November 29, para. 11).

Schooling ordinarily raises IQ by several points per every year of school completed.  Regularly-scheduled intense training can also raise an IQ, although these gains ordinarily stop after the training does (Shellenbarger, 2011, November 29, para. 14-16). Taking music lessons throughout childhood, however, correlates with a higher IQ throughout life (Shellenbarger, 2011, November 29, para. 17).

Schellenburg, E. Glenn. (2004). Music lessons increase IQ. Research Report. Psychological Science, 15(8), 511-514.  doi. 10.1111/j.0956-7976.2004.00711.x. Retrieved from https://www.msu.edu/course/psy/401/snapshot.afs/Readings/WK5.PresentB.Schellenberg%20(2004).pdf

Playing the piano improves working memory.

Testing revealed that early elementary school pupils of either keyboard or voice showed a greater increase in IQ points when contrasted with children who either studied drama or else didn’t take any other lessons in the arts after the parents of a large sampling of six-year-old kids recruited via a newspaper advertisement agreed to enroll their children in either music or drama lessons or else serve as controls for a year.  Drama students, however, improved their socially-adaptive behavior (Schellenburg, 2004, Abstract, p. 511 & p. 513].

Keyboard pupils increased their IQ’s from 102.6 to 108.7; voice students increased their IQ’s from 103.8 to 111.4, and drama students increased their IQ’s from 102.6 to 107.7.  Children receiving no arts instruction whatsoever increased their IQ’s from 99.4 to 103.3.

Lawlis, Frank.  (2015). Fueling your child’s IQ: How to increase your child’s intellectual capacity.  Parent Guide News. Retrieved from http://www.parentguidenews.com/Articles/FuelingYourChildsIQ/

Ten Immediate Ways to increase Your Child’s Intellectual Capacity:

• Improving breathing skills and teaching how to slow the rate of breathing can raise IQ up to 20 points;

• Serving protein and complex-carbohydrates for breakfast boosts choline levels in the brain;

• Scheduling rhythmic exercise as a daily activity helps different parts of the brain work together;

• Gum chewing while taking tests (with the teacher's permission) reduces stress, helps with breathing and enhances memory;

• Listening to music [without words] can raise learning intensity;

• Organizing activities to avoid distraction increases concentration;

• Learning to play chess and taking time for reading builds IQs;

• Limiting TV viewing and banning it before study time increases concentration;

• Drilling children in the multiplication tables or helping them learn foreign language dialogues and vocabulary builds working memory.

(Lawlis, 2015, para. 4)

Does your child's school or a local public library have a chess club?

McGraw, Phil.  (2015). Increasing your child’s intellectual performance.  Parenting.  Family First. Dr. Phil.  Peteski Productions, Inc.  Retrieved from http://www.drphil.com/articles/article/189

• Create an Empowering Internal Design:  Positive thinking enhances academic performance (McGraw, 2015, para. 4-6).

• Practice Controlled Breathing Exercises with Your Child: Children who perform controlled breathing exercises before tests make better grades by increasing the oxygen flow to their brains and reducing anxiety. Students should count to five while breathing in and then count to five while breathing in six times (McGraw, 2015, para. 7-8).

• Perform Mental Gymnastics:  Games like chess, checkers, Scrabble, and crossword puzzles improve thinking skills (McGraw, 2015, para. 9).

• Increase Opportunities for Verbal Interactions: Talking to toddlers between 16 and 26 months develops their speech and language skills at a critical time.  Children of all ages benefit when parents include children in their conversations (McGraw, 2015, para. 10).

• Encourage Repetitive Reading: Reading to toddlers improves their memory and attention span and builds their vocabularies.  Reading to [and along with] children of all ages daily “optimizes their intellectual potential” (McGraw, 2015, para. 11).

• Create a Stimulating Environment: When a parent  regularly hugs his or her children, talks to them and reads to and with them, uses expressive facial expressions, and takes them to interesting places like the library, plays, concerts, and museum, as well as including them in table talk at dinner, this stimulates young minds (McGraw, 2015, para. 12).

• Introduce Music and Rhythm into Your Child’s Life:  Listening to rhythmic music while doing homework improves concentration while learning how to read and perform music challenges the mind to perform “mental gymnastics” (McGraw, 2015, para. 13-14).

• Active Body, Active Mind: Physical activity increases blood flow to the brain as well as boosting creativity, energy and mental concentration, enhances self-esteem, develops motor skills and coordination and reduces depression (McGraw, 2015, para. 15). 

• Nourish Young Minds:  Brain foods include citrus fruits, eggs, Omega-3 fatty fish, like salmon and tuna [at least two servings weekly], green, orange, yellow and purple fruits and vegetables, lean meats, like chicken and lamb, and whole-grain breads and fortified, [non-sugary] cereals (McGraw, 2015, para. 16) 

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    Addendum

  August 22, 2015

 

Prisco, Joanna. (2015, August 7).  How to eat 3 good meals for just $4 a day.  Yahoo Food.  Retrieved from https://www.yahoo.com/food/this-cookbook-shows-you-how-to-eat-well-on-just-4-126911201931.html

Unload the cookbook app available via this Yahoo Food link free-of-charge.  Even though a nutritionist created this cookbook for New York food stamp recipients, some of its recipes sound delicious!

Additionally, make sure to give your children a vitamin-mineral supplement:

Schoenthaler, S. J., Bier, I. D., and Young, K., et al. (2000, February).  Journal of Alternative and Complementary Medicine. 6(1), 19-29. The effect of vitamin-mineral supplementation on the intelligence of American schoolchildren:  A randomized, double-blind placebo-controlled trial. [Abstract only].  Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10706232

Phoenix, Arizona, teachers dispensed either a low-dose vitamin-mineral tablet or a placebo to 245 primarily Hispanic elementary school students age 6 to 12 for three months.  At the end of the study, children taking the vitamin tablets averaged a 2.5 point gain in IQ points while a significant proportion of the children gained 15 or more IQ points.  Researchers thus concluded that while taking nutritional supplements don’t make that much of a difference in already well-nourished children, they substantially improve IQ in malnourished children.

Supplements for smart kids.  (2012). Food for the Brain.  Retrieved from http://www.foodforthebrain.org/smart-kids/supplements-for-smart-kids.aspx

Taking vitamin and mineral supplements increases IQ, according to ten out of the ten trials that have conducted research, although research hasn’t established an optimal level of vitamins and minerals to take to increase cognitive functioning (Supplements, 2012, para. 3).

Vitamins and Minerals:

Children’s vitamin and supplement labels either claim to contain either an RDA or an “optimum” or “high potency” level of nutritional supplement. But choosing an “optimum” or “high potency” level is the smart choice (Supplements, 2012, para. 4).

Check for zinc, Vitamin C and magnesium levels.  Chewable tablets can only deliver a limited amount of zinc (Supplements, 2012, para. 5).

Essential Fats:

Omega 3 fat, or DHA, is a vital nutrient for the developing brain particularly in fetuses and infants while EPA focuses attention and controls hyperactivity, depression, and anxiety.  Fish oil contains both DHA and EPA (Supplements, 2012, para. 6). Fish, meat, eggs, and dairy produce are good sources of Omega 6 fat, or GLA (Supplements, 2012, para. 7).

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Make sure your children eat a healthy, non-sugary breakfast.

Protzko, John, Aronson, Joshua, and Blair, Clancy, (2013, January).  How to make a young child smarter.  Perspectives on Psychological Science, 8(1), 25-40. [Full text].  doi: 10.1177/1745691612462585. Retrieved from http://scottbarrykaufman.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Protzko-et-al.-2012.-DORI-young-child.pdf

Protzko, et al, use meta-analysis to confirm or disprove whether certain practices improve a young child’s intelligence:

• Pregnant and nursing mothers taking LC-PUFA raising IQ (Protzko, 2013, January, p. 28).

• Non-stressful environmental complexity in a young child’s life increases intelligence (Protzko, 2013, January, p. 30).

• Talking to two, three, and four-year olds frequently and at length and asking them open-ended questions correlates with reading readiness (Protzko, 2013, January, p. 31).

• When young children daily take part in interactive reading and storytelling before age four, this activity raises their IQ’s. The younger such give and take starts, the greater its benefits (Protzko, 2013, January, pp. 32 & 34).

• Attending a preschool raises the IQ in disadvantaged children as much as seven points; this is particularly true when the preschool focuses on language development.  However, no evidence exists that these findings apply to children from middle and high-income families (Protzko, 2013, January, p. 38).

Take toddlers and preschoolers to story time at the library.

See:

McKay, Harrison, Sinisterra, Leonardo, and McKay, Arlene, et al.  (1978, April 21). La Fundación de Investigaciones de ecología Humana (HERF). 22, 270-278. [Full text].  Science reprint].  Retrieved from http://fundacionecologiahumana.org/TEXTOS/Science_magazine.pdf

In this now classic study that touts the benefits of attending preschool, Columbian children from low-income families participated in a program that provided for their nutrition, health-care, and educational needs, thus narrowing the “cognitive gap” between these children and their more privileged peers by school age.  Furthermore, the disadvantaged children maintained these gains through their first year of primary school (McKay, 1978, April 21, Summary).

Rufus, Annelli. (2011, October 24).  15 signs you'll raise a genius.  The Daily Beast.  Retrieved from http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2011/10/24/smarter-kids-and-how-they-got-that-way.html

Children under two shouldn’t watch TV since it “impairs cognitive skills and “wastes crucial brain-development time”.

See:

Vandewater, Elizabeth A. et al. (2007, May 1).  Digital childhood: Electronic media and technology use, among infants, toddlers and preschoolers.” Pediatrics, 119 (5), 1006-15. [Full text].  doi: 10.1542/peds.2006-1804.  Retrieved from http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/119/5/e1006.full

Belarussian researchers followed 17,046 breast-fed babies for up to 6.5 years and discovered that breast-feeding infants exclusively for their first three months of life correlates with a five-point higher IQ score at age six- and-a-half years later.

See:

Kramer, Michael S., et al. Breastfeeding and child cognitive development. Archives of General Psychiatry, 65 (5), 578-584. doi: 10.1001/archpsyc.65.5.578. [Abstract only].  Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18458209

Playing the piano or a string instrument raises verbal skills 15 percent over children who don’t play an instrument.

See:

Forgeard, Marie, et al.  (2008, October 29).  Practicing a musical instrument in childhood is associated with enhanced verbal ability and nonverbal Reasoning. PLoS ONE, 3 (10).  doi.10.1371/journal.pone.0003566. [full text].  Retrieved from http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0003566

Learning to delay gratification improves executive function, thereby significantly raising SAT scores.

See:

Medina, John.  (2010). Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five. Seattle: Pear Press. Media kit retrieved from http://www.brainrules.net/pdf/brain-rules-for-baby_media-kit.pdf

Raising a child in a book-filled home raises the chance that he or she will graduate from both high school and college. [Regular trips to check out books works as well.  Parents should not only read to their children daily, but they should also let their children see them reading.]

See:

Evans, M. D. R., et al. (2010). Family scholarly culture and educational success. Research in Social Stratification and Mobility, 28 (2), 171-197. [Full text].  Retrieved from http://www.international-survey.org/PQ_2010_BooksOnEd27Nations_RSSM2.pdf

Mothers-to-be who use cocaine are five times more likely to deliver a developmentally-disabled child.

See:

Singer, L.T., et al. Cognitive and motor outcomes of cocaine-exposed infants. Journal of the American Medical Association, 287, 1952-1960. doi:  10.1016/j.infbeh.2005.03.002.  [Abstract only].  Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2601650/

Overweight children average 11 percent lower on national reading tests.

See:

Shore, Stuart, et al. (2008, July).  Decreased scholastic achievement in overweight middle school students. Obesity, 16 (7), 1535-1538. [Full text]. doi. 10.1038/oby.2008.254.  Retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net/publication/5400535_Decreased_Scholastic_Achievement_in_Overweight_Middle_School_Students

Aerobic exercise increases executive functioning “by as much as 100 percent”.

See:

Medina, John. (2010). Brain Rules for Baby: How to Raise a Smart and Happy Child from Zero to Five. Seattle: Pear Press. Media Kit retrieved from http://www.brainrules.net/pdf/brain-rules-for-baby_media-kit.pdf

Children who [are economically disadvantaged] who attend preschool are 52 percent more likely to graduate from high school than children who don’t go to preschool or nursery school.

See:

Schweinhart, L. J., et al. Lifetime effects: The High Scope Perry Preschool Study through age 40. Monographs of the High Scope Educational Research Foundation, 14.  doi: 10.1038/oby.208.254.  [Full-text].  Retrieved from http://www.researchgate.net/publication/5400535_Decreased_Scholastic_Achievement_in_Overweight_Middle_School_Students

Dads also have a biological clock: Children of fathers in their 20's score from three to six points higher on IQ tests than children born to dads in their 40's.

See:

Saha, S., et al. (2009, March).  Advanced paternal age is associated with impaired neurocognitive outcomes during infancy and childhood. PLoS Medicine, 6 (3). doi:  10.1371/journal.pmed.1000040.  [Abstract only]. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2653549/

Learning to juggle [like learning any new, difficult to master skill] can increase gray matter by three percent.

See:

Gray, Jeremy and Thompson, Paul. (2004, June 4).  Neurobiology of intelligence: Science and ethics. Nature Reviews Neuroscience, 5, 471-482. [Full text]. Retrieved from http://www.yale.edu/scan/GT_2004_NRN.pdf

Talk to your child to ensure that he or she grows bigger vocabulary.

See:

Risley, Todd R. and Hart, Betty. (1995). Meaningful differences in the everyday experience of young American children. Baltimore: Brookes Publishing. ERIC.  [Abstract].  Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED387210

Studying a foreign language for at least two years can raise SAT scores by 14 percent.

See:

Cooper, Thomas C. (1987). Foreign-language study and SAT-verbal scores.  Modern Language Journal, 71 (4), 381-387. [Abstract only].  doi. 10.1111/j.1540-4781.1987.tb00376.x. Wiley Online Library.  Retrieved from http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1987.tb00376.x/abstract

Limit computer and video games:  Kids who spend more than two hours daily playing video games score 9.4 points lower on exams.

See:

Ip, Barry, et al. (2008). Gaming frequency and academic performance. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, 24 (4), 355-373. [Full text].  Retrieved from http://www.ascilite.org.au/ajet/ajet24/ip.html

Don’t use pesticides when pregnant: The children of pregnant mothers exposed to pesticides have 1.4 percent lower IQs.

See:

V. Rauh, et al.  (2011, April). Seven-year neurodevelopmental scores and prenatal exposure to chlorpyrifos.  Environmental Health Perspectives, 119 (8). http://dx.doi.org/10.1289/ehp.1003160. [Full text].  Retrieved from http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1003160/

Stuart, Annie. (2015). Can you boost your child’s IQ?  What makes kids smart may surprise you.  Health and Baby.  WebMD. Retrieved from http://www.webmd.com/parenting/baby/features/can-you-boost-your-childs-iq

• Emotion drives learning:  Emotional attachment help drive a child’s intelligence, particularly when  a child is very young. Thus, parents, teachers, and caretakers should listen carefully and make eye contact (Stuart, 2015, p. 1-2).

• Experience sculpts the brain: Thus, “the best learning comes through active engagement”; that means hands-on learning, for example, counting peas while gardening or measuring ingredients for a recipe (Stuart, 2015, p. 2).

• By way of contrast, spending too much time watching TV or playing video games puts children in a passive, “receptive mode” instead of taking part in real world experiences (Stuart, 2015, p. 3). 

• Effect and mindset: Children labeled as “smart” don’t take learning risks, but those with a “growth mindset” challenge themselves even when they first fail at a task (Stuart, 2015, p. 4).  Accordingly, praise children for their effort, but don’t praise them for being smart.  Also, focus on learning instead of grades (Stuart, 2015, p. 4).

Don't use TV as an electronic baby sitter.

7 modest tips to increase your IQ.  (2014, November 24).  Iron Shrink.  Retrieved from http://ironshrink.com/2014/11/how-to-increase-your-iq-without-gimmicks-or-fads/

IQ is malleable in both children and adults while cognitive function changes for better or worse, depending upon the life style choices one makes over time (Iron Shrink, 2014, November 24, para. 2-3 & 8-10).

Accordingly, following these tips just might increase IQ if regularly practiced:

• Exercise your weak spots;

• Memorize things and learn new skills;

• Don’t rely of technological short cuts;

• Be curious;

• Invite [constructive] criticism and watch for trends in feedback;

• Slow down and look below the surface;

• Exercise and sleep:  Regular aerobic exercise keeps the mind sharp and getting a good night’s sleep strengthens newly acquired learning.

(Iron Shrink, 2014, November 24, para. 13-35)

Getting a good night's sleep does the mind and the body good!

Wood, Janice. (2015). How to boost your child’s IQ.  Psych Central.  Retrieved from http://psychcentral.com/news/2013/01/26/how-to-boost-your-childs-iq/50835.html

• Dietary and environmental intervention can boost a child’s IQ according to a meta-analysis of various learning regimes (Wood, 2015, para. 2-4):

• When a mom-to-be takes a fish oil supplement and includes Omega-3 fatty acid fish in her diet, she can raise her baby’s IQ by 3.5 points (Wood, 2015, para. 5);

• Reading daily to children [for 20 minutes a day] starting when they are toddlers through their preschool years can raise their IQ by six points (Wood, 2015, para. 7);

• Sending [disadvantaged] children to preschool can raise their IQ by more than four points (Wood, 2015, para. 8).